This was a long time ago, in the 1950's when there were still private butchers
and my grandmother would buy her chickens from the butcher who would pluck them
there in the store so some feathers were always left on. Yes, she was from
Odessa, Russia and only spoke German and Russian. She would tell me (in German
and broken English) that the coffee was a French recipe. My grandfather had
traveled all the way from France across Europe to Russia. He was an itinerant
philosophy professor and "taught" his way across Europe at Universities. The
French coffee was probably his idea. I was too young to drink coffee but it was
traditional to put some in my milk. Then I would watch the coffee grains float.
I loved my grandmother. She was very kind to me and I loved visiting her
because I could go through the mysterious wardrobes and inspect the dresses and
hats my aunt created. The building was in an ethnic neighborhood in New York
City, the doors were never locked
and people of every color and language were constantly walking in and out, as
were dogs and cats from the area. I picked up a rudimentary understanding of
quite a few languages before I was a teenager. There were always strangers in
the apartment having coffee or a meal and conversations with my grandmother or
my uncle and always some dog or cat being fed in the hallway.
>________________________________
> From: Bonnie Hogue <[email protected]>
>To: [email protected]
>Sent: Sunday, September 15, 2013 12:14 PM
>Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Chicken feathers
>
>
>Lee
>Was grandma from "the old country" by chance? Sounds like some ideas other
>cultures might have. The coffee actually doesn't sound half bad, but then I
>always loved the "skin" on my hot chocolate as a kid.
>The feathers? Well, I'd have to be awfully hungry on that one...
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Felvtalk [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
>Lorrie
>Sent: Sunday, September 15, 2013 5:16 AM
>To: [email protected]
>Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Chicken feathers
>
>Egads Lee, I'm sure you were not eager to visit granny!!
>
>
>On 09-14, Lee Evans wrote:
>> Not kidding about the chicken feather soup. She also specialized in
>> coffee boiled with milk and coffee grounds. Then after a while, it
>> would form a leather skin on top and we had to cut through to the
>> coffee. Yech! Burned scrambled eggs, almost raw liver, black toast. I
>> would say that my grandmother was a very intelligent woman but not a
>> gourmet cook. My uncles cat loved the liver though.
>> __________________________________________________________________
>
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