FIGHTS

Did you ever get into fights with other kids? Did you ever start a fight? Or stop one?

I did everything I could to avoid fights. In fact, I paid off a guy not to fight him (gave him candy). He was not trying to extort anything from me. I was just the biggest guy in the class and fighting with me would increase his cred. That was in third or fourth grade.

Later on in high school I had about the same issue although I did not payoff anyone. I did get sent home for responding with some violence to a short kid who slapped the back of my head in class. I got up and chased him until I caught him and held him by his shirt collar and picked him up off the four. Just then a teacher walked in... 

The only other time I got into a fight it was with a friend... a church friend. To this day I do not understand what got into him. After school I was walking my bike out of the school courtyard to go home. He came up and started to pick a fight. I told him I did not want to fight with him. From behind he put his arm around my throat. I just threw him over my leg to the ground and repeated that I did not want to fight and then just walked away.  

MOTHER'S COOKING

Tell me about your mother's cooking. Can you recall your favorite meal? What made it your favorite?

I am not sure I remember my mother for her cooking. Her cooking was good but simple. We did not eat French, Italian, Hispanic, Chinese, et cetera, foods. In Brazil we ate beans and rice every day. We did eat spaghetti and lasagnas but not often. 

We always had a young woman (late teens) from the country who lived us. She wanted to go to school in the city so she lived with us. We took them in as a daughter but she was also our live-in maid. She did most of the cooking. 

I do remember Mom churning butter. Our milk came from Palma as unpasteurized whole milk, that is, with all the cream.  We had a home pasteurizer so we did that for ourselves. In the process, the cream flooted to the top and Mom would scoop it off. She would then put the cream into a jar with some cubes of ice and shock it until the result was fresh, unsalted  butter. 

Mom's best dishes were desserts. She made a delicious German Chocolate Cake. Although I rarely have it anymore, it is still my favorite.