When I turned 18 all hell was breaking loose. By the time I was 20 it was a different world than the peaceful times of the 50’s and early 60’s. We were the Boomers in the Peace and Love generation.
When I was a senior in high school our much loved President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was shot and killed and we watched these events unfold on TV. I remember that day like it was yesterday, when the voice of our principle came over the PA system advising us that President Kennedy shot and was dead. He closed the school and sent us home. All the way home I was in a daze and felt like nothing around me was real. I know what it means when people say things appeared surreal because of that day. When I got home the TV was on and my Mama was watching it and crying. Two days later his murderer was also shot and killed, right in front of our eyes on live television. For the next few days we were transfixed by the TV. It was the first time America was actually watching, as the whole funeral played out on the TV screen. It was very emotional to be able to watch it live, as it happened, even so it did help our grieving.
We were all so proud of Jackie as she walked behind her husband’s casket and her adorable little boy saluted his father’s coffin. We didn’t only lose a President that day, we lost a whole way of life. We didn’t feel safe and secure anymore. We lost the confidence in the knowledge that no one would hurt us because we lived in America. I think it was the first time in my life it I even lost my appetite. That was the year I graduated Morristown High School and our yearbook for the class of 1964 was dedicated to JFK.
Time moved on and in 1966 I was twenty years old and the mother of a cute little boy of my own. Lyndon B. Johnston was our president and he was escalating a war in Vietnam. No one knew why we were fighting this senseless war but it lasted for years. In 66 we still had the draft, no volunteer military. Men or should I say boys, were burning there draft cards and many were fleeing to Canada, saying the mantra of the day, “HELL NO I WON”T GO”. If I had been a boy, I think I would still be living in Canada today. We watch on TV as the demonstrator’s at the Whitehouse carried signs to end the war, or to give equal rights to women and black American and watched as women burned their bra’s.
It was a confusing time, we had all these pictures on TV and in the newspapers showing all the atrocities of this horrible war, and hippy’s at Hait Asbury in San Francisco, wearing flowers in their hair and making peace signs with their fingers and saying PEACE AND LOVE. We had songs playing on the radio about war and others about love and peace. And I started wearing jeans with the rest of young America. Boy did we love our jeans or what, and mini skirts and go-go boots. Our hair wasn’t teased anymore we were wearing it long and straight. Oh, and I can’t forget Woodstock, that was the place for Drugs and Rock and Roll. I think today the kids refer our music that was so very cool to us in the 60’s as “ Geezer Rock”. I remember one of the very popular songs was He ain't Heavy He’s My Brother. This song summed up in song what was being felt in life. Love your fellow man.
I was busy in my little house on Washington Street cooking and raising my son, Scott Rosa. Now I was Mrs. Rosa and I hated that last name. And just a funny side note , my mother in laws name was Rose Rosa. I was busy in my kitchen baking, chocolate chip cookies, sour cream cakes and Christmas cookies, which I loved to cut out and decorate. My son was right there helping me. No wonder he became a Chef. We had a doughnut maker and together we would create some pretty interesting doughnuts. While hell was breaking loose around us we were in the kitchen cooking and baking. That is still my way of escaping to this day. Just get me in the kitchen to try new recipes, create new ways to make a dish or just cook and old standard.
One lovely fall day I decided to make pumpkin pies. But not the way we make them today or even back then, I decided to cook a whole pumpkin to make the pies. Never again!!! Way to much work and they didn’t taste any different than using the canned pumpkin. But I had the bragging rights when I took them over to a friend’s dinner party. They loved them, but then again they were all smoking Mary Jane, as it was also known as, and anything would taste great. Talk about enhancing your taste buds as well as many other things, if you get the drift.
It was now 1968 and Bobby Kennedy was running for President. We Democrats were so happy. We were sure we were going to have another Kennedy in the White House. Not, that frigging Sir Han Sir Han killed him. And again we all sat in front of our TV’s and watched his wife Ethel, in the black veil, along with Jackie and what was left of the Kennedy family mourn the loss of their beloved son, husband, father and brother. Hearts were breaking everywhere. How could this be happening again?
Somewhere around this time we also lost Martin Luther King to an assassins bullet. It seems like back then we had one man killing one person. Today we have one man killing many. Columbine, World Trade Center, Virginia Tech, Batman Movie in Colorado and all those children in Newtown. Mama said this back in the day but it still applies today, “What is this world coming to.” And just this week Boston.
And while all this chaos was going around us, I got busy in the kitchen. My sister tells me that I was always making Tuna Noodle Casserole. If I did I don’t remember it, haven’t made it since. I don’t even like it. I do remember that I loved making Beef Stroganoff, which I served with a salad with Green Goddess Dressing, which was popular at that time. My Green Goddess dressing was not from a bottle, I made my own. Yes I made a mess. I remember I cut up potatoes and left them out to be cooked later in the day, and could not figure out for the life of me why they turned BLACK. I had a lot to learn.
I hate messing with flour then and now. I never make my own pie crust, seems like I get flour everywhere. Not that long ago Joe and I decided to make homemade pasta, and sure enough there was flour all over the kitchen and I have a good size kitchen. He has asked me several times when we are going to do it again, and I never answer him. TEE HEE. With my Beef Stroganoff dinner I would make a Strawberry Chiffon which everyone seemed to love because it was very refreshing.
So here is the recipe for Beef Stroganoff and the Strawberry Chiffon in memory of Anna Carlo, Nee Rocco, who we loved having as a neighbor and she loved my Strawberry Chiffon and gave it it’s name..
Strawberry Chiffon
1 large of Strawberry Jello, you can use sugar free if you choose.
1 Package of Frozen strawberries in juice, not whole.
1 large of Strawberry Jello, you can use sugar free if you choose.
1 Package of Frozen strawberries in juice, not whole.
I container of Cool Whip, you can use light or sugar free.
1 14 oz can crushed pineapple in its natural juice, larger can is okay to use.
½ cup of toasted pine nuts, optional.
Make Jello as directed using one cup less water and chill until just starting to thicken. Remove from refrigerator and in large bowl whip in, with electric mixer, the strawberries, pineapple and cool whip. Add nuts. Put back in refrigerator to set completely. You can do this in a Mold if you choose. Looks pretty when removed from Mold and served with strawberries decorating the plate. This is a very refreshing summer time dessert. Put a sprig of mint on top. I never do but I sure it would look nice. Really I don’t care how your present it, I just care that you enjoy it.
