J-E-L-L-O

111209

I just made Jell-O. For my mom.

Out of nowhere today, she said I should make some. With sliced banana.

I asked her what flavors she likes…

Cherry and Blackberry.

I figured they didn’t make Blackberry. But I found that they do make Blueberry-Raspberry. Close enough. So, I bought one box of Cherry and one box of Blueberry-Raspberry.

Boil two cups water. Pour over Jell-O in a medium sized bowl. Stir two minutes (we don’t want any residual matter forming). Pour in two cups cold water. Stir and refrigerate for four hours. Now­­––if you want to shake things up a bit… get a little crazy–– you combine two Jell-O flavors together, for example Cherry (red) and Blueberry-Rapberry (blue), and add sliced banana. Be sure to refrigerate 20-30 minutes before adding the banana Mom says.

When I pulled the medium sized bowl of dark purple Jell-O out of the fridge 20-30 minutes later, it still looked very liquidy. I figured it was too soon to put in the banana slices. So, I decided to test one slice. To my chagrin, the thing plopped into the dark abyss, bobbed back up and floated atop the Jell-O as if it were sunbathing in the Dead Sea. For a moment, I’m pretty sure my eyes grew to the size of quarters.

It was pretty cool. Something little kids get all excited about. My dad happened to be standing there when it happened. He laughed when he saw how thrilled I was that the banana slices were floating. Well, how would I have known banana slices float in soupy gelatin? I’d never made Jell-O before. Never made Jell-O with Mom? Seems crazy. But it’s the truth. It’s those little tiny things that don’t matter in life… until one day.

I never once made pie with her either. Pie is her thing.

I hope I get the chance to.