Grandma Ida was born in Kansas on October 25, 1899. She died in Albany, Oregon on January 28, 1988, three days after her first great-great-great grandchild was born, my son. It was in her home in Albany, Oregon that I have many good food memories.

Grandma was a missionary in India, with my Grandpa George, who was a minister for the Mennonite church. Grandma loved to give speeches on their missionary work that they performed in India. After her missionary work, she continued to support other missionaries by hand knitting bandages.

Grandma spoiled me, like any good grandmother does. If I wanted some pudding, we'd have pudding. Chocolate milk, I got it. You get the point. However, she also loved to have me in the kitchen "helping" by giving me little tasks to perform, such as stir this or "It won't turn out just right." I later found out one of the reasons, my mother informs me, that she spoiled me so much is that I was the first boy child born in three or four generations. I guess that was something back then.

I have two really strong food memories that influence me to this day. First, one evening for dinner our whole family was at grandma's, a fairly regular occurrence. We sat down, said our prayers, and dug into the food like we always did (we knew we were in for some good eating and family conversion.) I filled my plate with a little of everything that was on the table, including mashed potatoes. Now, mind you, I loved grandma's mashed potatoes. So, when I took the first bite, I knew something wasn't right. I asked "Grandma, these are fake mashed potatoes, huh?" She replied, "Yes!" then turning to my mother, "How did he know that? Boy I'll never do that again." And, she never did, it was the real stuff or no potatoes at all. The second memory is the fact that I invented taco salad. "Sure!" I can hear you all saying. It was truly by accident, since I could never eat crispy shell tacos without them breaking apart and going all over my clothes and the floor, I would simply take my taco and start breaking them apart over my plate, mix up the contents and eat them with a fork. This was back in 1969 or 1970. A couple of years later, I can remember being in the grocery store with grandma when I say Lawry's Taco Salad mix. "Grandma, they stole my idea!" I exclaimed. Her reply was simply "That's okay, I'm sure yours is better." What a great thing to say to a five or six year old. So, to this day, I credit grandma for my love of cooking.

One thing I regret is that I never learned how she was able to can her fruit without a drop of sugar or juice or any sweetener at all and still make it taste so good. Her canned Queen Anne cherries were always a much anticipated Christmas present. Now, I try to carry on this tradition, and give canned goods for Christmas to family and friends. Even though everyone is always so grateful and thoughtful with their compliments, I know Grandma's were always better, so each year I try to hone my canning skills to match up with hers. I haven't even come close yet, but I'm getting there.

Love you Grandma. Thanks for all the great memories. — John