HOW IT USED TO BE

When I got married I wanted to be the best wife ever. I wasn’t looking for a certificate that said “Best Wife -1972, 1973, 1974, …” but I wanted my husband to feel like he had a Proverbs 31 wife. The interesting thing about that was at the time I didn’t know about Proverbs 31. I only knew that I wanted to be a excellent wife.

I don’t think I thought about my strategy for winning the “Best Wife” title except to do what I saw my own mother do. It’s what women have done for centuries I guess. While the husband is out working, even if we are working, we make his home a castle.

Now my husband’s castle had a lot to be desired in the structural department. In fact when I first saw the house we were going to live in I said, “OK, Now take me to your real house!” But much to my surprise that was the real house. And I may write about that another time…

So the actual house was a bit lacking but my imagination to make my husband feel like a king in his castle was not. I did a lot of re-decorating, most of which he noticed at least once. But when I began my baking campaign I knew I was on the right track.

This fella I married was a cook in the US Navy. I had nothing on him as far as ability. Heck! the guy had people stopping by his house to see if they could get some of his fresh baked bread. (see what I was up against?) But I was a very determined gal. And one day I decided to bake him a pie. I figured bread would not be impressive but no one was stopping by for one of his pies. So a pie was waiting when he came home from work. A nice supper and then pie for dessert. He ate all but one piece - the one I ate. The next day I baked a different pie. He ate his supper and then all of the pie but one piece (mine). I repeated this every day for about 5 days. Apple, pumpkin, lemon, chocolate, rhubarb- it was like he’d died and gone to heaven. I mean he could not wait to get home to me (and my pie). I was so on my way to being the best wife ever!

And then came the custard pie. He came home eagerly anticipating what pie would he eat that night. I was almost as anxious as he was. After all it was a real favorite of mine. He took one look at it and promptly declared that he did not eat custard pie!

Well, I forgot all about wanting to be the perfect little wife. I took one look at him and set him straight. I told him if he ever wanted another pie he had darn well better eat this one. It only took a second or two for him to process that information. And naturally he took the only logical course of action. He said “Let me try that pie.” He ate most of it which was alright because I wanted more than one piece. And now, almost 36 years later, custard has become one of his favorites as well. Or at least he has the good sense to say so.

Our first year of marriage I baked just about one pie every day. Good thing my husband had a job that burned calories and a high metabolism because he never gained so much as an ounce of weight. I still love to bake something for him and often it is a pie.

Here’s the recipe for the custard pie from “The Mennonite Community Cook Book by Mary Showalter”

Old-Fashioned Baked Custard Pie (by Anna B. Showalter, Broadway, Va.)

3 cups milk
3 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons flour
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Combine sugar and flour.
Add beaten eggs.
Bring milk to boiling point and add gradually to egg mixture.
Pour into an unbaked pie shell and sprinkle nutmeg over the top.
Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until an inserted silver knife comes out clean. Makes 1(9 inch) pie.

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I had to go to the grocery store today to get milk and bread. Now back in the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s it was a lot easier to get these 2 items and save on gasoline as well.

When I was very little, my mother had a bake day like most women did. I really don’t remember this clearly and sometime in my young life this changed. The change was the Bread Man. Every week he would roll his truck into our driveway and my mother would purchase the bread, rolls, hotdog, or hamburger buns that we needed. He would make his way down the street, going into every drive that welcomed him. The transactions were conducted quickly and without fanfare. He sold bread, we bought bread. He also sold those wonderful little chocolate cupcakes with the cream filling. Sometimes we would manage to “find” a dime lying around the house and use it to buy these delightful treats. I still buy these things and they still taste as good as they did when I was a kid.

The Milk Man also made his appointed rounds. He came twice a week, if I remember correctly. My mother would leave the emty glass bottles on the porch and he would pick them up and replace them with full ones. (Conservation and recycling at work again!) He came fairly early in the morning and once a week he would leave a bill. If we needed more than we normally got my mom would leave a note for him. Milk men were delivering into the mid 1970’s in my home town and some folks would still like to see them coming down their drive.

Milk and bread were not the only things that were available at your door. The dry cleaners had a pick up and delivery service. Once a week we would send out the dry cleaning and the following week it would be back at which time he would pick up more. I have no idea what we were getting cleaned because my father did not wear a suit to work but we helped keep the cleaners solvent.

The Jewel Tea Man and the Fuller Brush Man completed the shop at home experience. These guys each had their niche. The Jewel Tea Company had all kinds of neat stuff from jewelry to knicknacks. My mother was for some reason leary of our Jewel Tea guy and would only open the door a crack to speak to him. I wonder if she heard some awful story about him. At any rate, she bought very little from him. Now the Fuller Brush man sold cleaning supplies and of course, brushes. This company started in 1906 and is still around today.

So you see how easy it was to shop from home. That’s how it used to be.  Now we sit with our computers and shop but we still have to go out to get the milk.

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