HUNGRY GERALD

When HG was six years old, HG and Mom lived in an Athens, GA., boarding house. HG’s late Mom was there to help nurse HG’s older brother, Bernard, after his leg was amputated following a barnstorming plane cras). The boarding house cook was an amiable Black woman (HG played happily with her kids). She was a gifted cook and fried everything in lard. Breakfast was fried eggs with grits. Lunch and dinner featured fried fish, pork and savory stews and vegetables. Little HG’s favorite veggie dish was a melange of okra, corn kernels and tomatoes. Grits and sweet potatoes with everything. HG has happy nostalgia about this down home southern cuisine. HG/BSK share a fondness for okra. BSK usually buys fresh when it appears at markets. Happily, it’s now in season. That means it’s time for BSK’s tasty version of gumbo. The ingredients: okra, shrimp, onions, peppers, olive oil, garlic, fish broth and andouille sausage (Schaller & Weber). HG  made a sauce of mayonnaise and hot sauce and added spoonfuls to HG’s steaming bowl. Fabulous eating. BSK’s cooking sometimes has a deep south edge bringing back memories to HG/BSK’s Central Falls, RI, loft.