Biscuits anyone?

One of Ari's favorite things to help me make is biscuits because we really get our hands dirty. I enjoy making biscuits as well. Not only because I can get my hands dirty, but because it takes me back to my childhood.

When I was young, we would go to my grandparent's house every Sunday for biscuits and gravy. The smell of cooked bacon still takes me back to those times. To me, there was nothing better than biscuits and gravy for breakfast, especially my grandma's biscuits and gravy. I don't remember when or why we stopped going every Sunday, slowly we started going less and less.

When I was older, I remember asking my grandma to teach me how to make them and she agreed. I was thinking she would just give me a couple recipe cards and some helpful hints, but I was wrong. There were no recipe cards at all, the recipe was in her head, and the only was I was going to learn was to watch her and then do it myself.

The first few batches I made by myself were tough. I remember asking her how much flour to add to the biscuits or how much milk to add to the gravy. She responded just by showing me what it was supposed to look like and how it was supposed to feel. Those were pretty hard concepts for me to grasp as I have never cooked like that before.

After several failed attempts where my biscuits didn't rise or were too crumbly and my gravy was too thin or lumpy, I finally started to understand what needed to be done to get the results I wanted. I was so relieved the first time my biscuits came out light and fluffy. They were so delicious, and while they didn't taste exactly like grandma's, they were pretty darn close.

So now I can make biscuits or gravy without a second thought, it is almost like I have also known how to make them. It's so much fun making biscuits with Ari because I am able to show him the little tricks that I know and what to look for and how it should feel. It's a lot of responsibility making sure the boy knows how to make a good biscuit when he grows up.