Dishes Sherry remembers from our childhood.
My sister Sherry lived with Grandma one summer, watching her and our great-aunt Angelina prepare the good simple dishes they brought to Idaho from Calabria, way down south in Italy. We don't have recipes for many of them, just a sense of how they were made.

In the case of tripe, blood pudding and headcheese, we do not want to know. And to the shirttail relation who sent us canned figs every year: What were you thinking? Kids hate squishy things.

Below Sherry offers a remembrance of things past. Think of the lovely fragrances filling the spotless kitchens, the tables covered with flowered oilcloth, the beautiful Blue Willow china on the oak table. An army of little children, forks in hand, waiting to be served. The comments are Sherry's.

Fresh trout or bass from an Idaho lake: Roll in egg, then flour, and fry in oil. Salt and pepper.

Dandelion salad. Washed and tossed with oil, vinegar, and salt.

Pickled pigs' feet. Boil, drain, season and add vinegar.

Tripe: sliced, boiled, cooked in tomato sauce.

Wild mushrooms sautéed and stewed in a little tomato sauce. I saw Grandma and Angelina do this once. Odd types of mushrooms they used to pick. Dad used to take us mushroom hunting in the fall. We picked only one kind, a big gold mushroom with green markings. That way we knew we wouldn't get poisoned. Slice these, fry in butter and die happy.

Bean soup. Grandma made this once, kind of a fresh vegetable soup with white beans--I think.

Bean salad. Cook green or wax beans until tender. Add roughly cut onions and garlic clove. Add oil, vinegar, a pinch of sugar and salt, and oregano or basil if you like.

Red beet salad. Boiled, peeled, and sliced, then dressed in olive oil, oregano, a little sugar, salt, garlic clove, and vinegar.

Eggplant salad. Slice eggplant into strips. Blanch in boiling water, drain, and put into a colander, then put a plate on top with a weight on it to wring out the eggplant juices. Later, oil, vinegar, salt, and oregano if wished.

Dried zucchini rings, dipped in egg and flour and fried. Large, ripened zucchini peeled, sliced in rings, and dried. Take dried zucchini and soak in a bit of kettle water. Now it is ready. Slightly chewy and sweet, unique. I adore this dish.

Hot rolls and bread. Grandma baked her famous hard rolls at the little house and let us kids eat them all, hot and slathered with butter. I can taste them still and have never had their like since. Crusty, rich wheat flavor, good farm butter lightly salted.

Types of sausage: liver sausage, super sauté, regular (as in not liver) Liver was my favorite. Grandma made them herself. Uncle Art still has these recipes.

Steaks. Fry in oil until fairly well-done. Or salt a cast-iron pan, put steak on top, fry on both sides. Season on both sides.