make what yer mama gave you

Often when you find a teeny gem in the media or online you want to be the first to share it with your friends.  C'mon we all wanna be that one to stumble upon 'something' that sparks a feeling and great emotion within us (whether it's a baby laughing, stupid dog tricks or giant karaoke events).   But then again, what sparks for me may not spark for you, mostly because I'm a huge cheeseball.  And this is where Clara comes in...

What I want to share with you, hopefully for the first time, is sweet Clara.  I first heard of Clara about 3 weeks ago when I was driving in my car listening to Q on CBC.  Jian Ghomeshi was interviewing Clara, a 93-year-old grandmother and her grandson, Chris.  Basically, Chris made Clara famous by posting videos on YouTube of her cooking her "Great Depression" recipes. These are cheap-as-hell recipes that her mother made for her large family in an incredibly tough time.  While these meals may completely feel like they are out of the 1920s (because they are so basic in nature) they are timeless.  They are so similar to what me ma was putting on our dinner table 20 years ago.  

After listening to Clara's endearing, little cracklin' voice coming through my radio that morning, I instantly grabbed a pen and my notebook (on the passenger seat) and wrote down a reminder to look her up on YouTube.  Sssooooooo the reason this might be ancient news to you is because when I googled "Clara great depression" -  a million (slight exaggeration) links came up where various media have covered Clara and Chris' story.  Now, she has her own website, blog and DVD.  Clara has become an internet sensation because her grandson saw something special in her - her personality, her youthfulness and her simple cooking.  And after doing a bit of 'research', the thing I found most intriguing is that her grandson had been posting these snippets of her cooking since 2007....well before our own economic crash.  How timely that everything old really does become new (and topical) again.          

Clara and Chris really impacted me; their special bond and relationship.  I lost all four of my grandparents before the age of thirteen - they were all in their sixties. There have been many, many moments in my life when I wished so desperately that they were by my side.   My niece Samantha is turning thirteen this summer and I look at how young she is and how there is so much more living that she can hopefully share with her remaining three grandparents. 

Aside from sharing this with you so that you can make cheap and easy recipes (take it from me cheap is super cool now and I love it).  I hope you spend time with your grandparents and parents, loving them for their quirks and their sweet nuances, because those are the memories that will make you smile years from now.  (note: I did warn you that I'm a cheeseball, no?)

Heck, Clara isn't even my grandma and she makes me smile like crazy.