Mish Mash

When my brother and I went to Aunt Sarah and Aunt Jenny's home, a small apartment to visit after school they made us a special and made up dish. They were the two old ladies long before Rachael Ray or any other cooks. Of course, if they were living now, they could have their own television cooking show and it would be called Two Seniors Cooking It Up. Of course, I would be their advisor and I would write their themes and be their producer too.

I would choose the topics, make sure the ingredients were there, a table cloth, new each day and all clean utensils matching in color the cloth. They would get their hair done each week and I would choose a nice dress for the two of them, modest and they would be in style with their frilly almost to the floor and flowery material for their dress. Of course, they would have to wear a variety of styles and I would help the to pick out from a catalogue, their outfits for the day.

I have experience in producing a modeling show, also I appeared in a cooking show in about 1950 on WMAR TV Channel 2 in Baltimore, Maryland. There were only 3 stations then and this show was called Sylvia Scott. She was a nice moderator and she did some cooking, some sewing and some crafts. It was 60 minutes 5 afternoons a week and one hour long. One day, she called for 3 models from Stewarts Department Store downtown on Howard Street. The studio was out somewhere in the city and very small, a few pieces that made it look like a real kitchen. We modeled two dresses each girl, no pants for women in those days.

Then she cooked something up and it was over and she congratulated us for a well done episode and I think we received 25 dollars in a check, which was some amount of money for those days.

So when Herbert and I went to the aunts, she made us cooked spinach warm, hard boiled eggs chopped up, a sprinkle of pepper and chopped celery and mixed it all up in a huge bowl. My, it was so good and he named it mish-mash. At first, we cared not to even taste it, but we did not want to hurt their feelings. So we ate it, loved it and they were so happy to serve their niece and nephew a delicacy even with their very meager money.

So I told Sylvia about my aunts' delicacy and she said it sounded wonderful and next week, she would feature it on a cooking segment and tell the viewers about the two aunts who made it up and she named it The Two Aunties and Spinach Mish-Mash. She did that and she called me and told me this was one of her best shows and to tell Herbert she loved the name.

So I was a co-producer to the Scott show in a way, and I made my two aunties so happy to be mentioned on this show, though they had no television in those years. Mom and Dad gathered the neighbors into the living room to watch it and they were so proud.

I do not think Rachael names her dishes names. I should advise her on this and maybe, she will start naming them. The first one will be Elita's Mondel Bread which is a delicious cookie made into a bar and it is so sweet and good, though it really should be Lea's Mondel Bread because Mom Lea made hers nice and soft and not too hard,that you can break a tooth eating it, as some do.

So here is to spinach, old aunties of which I am now, having a great great niece and nephew, fashion shows, cooking shows and nice happenings to us regardless of our now age. Frank Sinatra told to Steve and Eydie "represent all that is good and the way you present your performance, because you two are the best."

We seniors are the best too. Also, I write these stories to entice everyone to dance and to be happy you got to be senior age.