Grandma Roos

As today is Saint Patrick's Day I feel it is only appropriate to write about a person by the name of Margaret Lorraine Teresa Francis Dooley (Roos). Okay, so Roos might not be so Irish, but it was her married name.

Grandma is probably the one person I am most like: I inherited her stubbornness, her love of books and history, and her Irish temperament. People often see the picture we have on our wall of her in her mid-twenties and immediately comment that I look like her. I always take it as a compliment.

Grandma truly lived the American Dream. She was born in Butte, Montana on 14 May 1921. Nobody really knows what happened to her father (she was told he went out to buy a pack of cigarettes when her mother was eight months pregnant and never came back, but due to other facts we've found that story doesn't exactly hold water) and her mother spent many years as an invalid before dying in 1937. Grandma was mostly raised by her older sister Mae and Mae's husband, Hanks. Grandma had a love of learning and a strong desire to get out of Butte and see the world, so she decided to become a military doctor. Her brothers, like most people in Butte, were mine workers but one sold everything he could to pay for her nursing school tuition. She wanted to apply for med school but was turned away because she was poor, an orphan, and a woman.

After completing nursing school, Grandma joined the Army and headed for Heidleberg, Germany where she was one of the many nurses who cared for General Patton in his final days. It was in Heidleberg that she fell in love with one of her patients, John Keith Roos, a young officer from Utah; they were married in 1948 in Salt Lake City.

Both Grandma and Grandpa returned to school at the University of Utah using the GI Bill and Grandma received a degree in English. They had only one child, my dad, and they settled into a split-level home in a friendly neighborhood Murray, Utah. Grandma was the quintessential 1950's housewife as well as an amazing military officer's wife. She never worked outside the home, but she managed the household as a pro. She was an amazing cook! She was not a fancy cook, but she made killer versions of all the standard comfort foods: meatloaf, spaghetti, tuna casserole, and cream potatoes with peas. Desserts were really her specialty: Devil's Food Cake, Creme Puffs, Turtle Cake, and Cranberry Muffins with Caramel Sauce. When we lived in Utah we ate Sunday Dinner with them each week and she ALWAYS made dessert.

Grandma was never a person to just casually like somebody. If she liked you, she LOVED you and considered you a dear friend (if she didn't like you, then that's a different story - I said in the beginning she was STUBBORN). She was an amazing mother and Grandmother because I always knew how much she loved me, no matter what.

I could go on for ages about Grandma, but it's late so I guess I have to draw the line somewhere. As I said earlier she lived the American Dream. She began her life as the daughter of a poor immigrant family working in a mining town and she completed her life living in a comfortable et modest home with a husband who adored who and friends who would have done just about anything for her - what more can one ask for? Grandma left an amazing legacy in the world and I hope I can live up to it!

A New Approach to Blogging

I really want to be a great blogger and have a blog people feel is worth reading, but I often get stuck in a rut. I either think I have nothing exciting to write about, or I start a post but never publish it because I can't make it perfect. But from now on, no more excuses!

I am a big believer that we our shaped by those we love. Parents, siblings, friends, co-workers, extended family, teachers, etc all help to make us who we are. I feel like I sometimes fail to express gratitude or even recognize those who have helped me reach where I am now. From now on, whenever I think I have nothing to write about I am going to write about someone who has touched my life for good (I don't believe in cyber-bashing, so I pledge to say only good things about the people I write about). Hopefully my readers will feel like this is a blog worth reading.

Devil's Food Cake

I am determined to perfect this cake. My Grandma Roos was famous for her desserts and Devil's Food was one of her specialties. She used to make this for my dad, her "Little Keesie" all the time and it is one of his favorite desserts. The problem was, my Grandma always made the cake as a surprise so nobody ever watched her make it. When she passed away nine years ago, we thought the recipe was gone with her. About two years ago we found the recipe on a card in her recipe box and a few months ago my mom joked that if I really wanted my dad to make me a wooden shoe shelf (because he spends all his woodworking time making toys for the grandbabies) I should learn to make this cake, so I decided to try.

Some recipes are easy - you just do what it says. This cake is not one of those recipes. If the water is not the right temperature, it won't turn out; if the oven shelf is in the wrong position, it won't turn out; if the butter and sugar are not perfectly creamed, it won't turn out. These are all tricks Grandma had perfected but never shared because she never taught anyone to make the cake. The boiled frosting isn't any easier. You heat egg whites, corn syrup, and sugar over a double boiler until the sugar is dissolved (under cooking means grainy frosting and raw egg white, overcooking means all the unpleasantness of burnt sugar), then you have to beat it until it is just the right consistency (not long enough makes it runny, too long and it becomes a giant marshmallow).

I have made this cake three times so far. It gets closer each time, but I still haven't perfected it. I made the cake for a Stake Relief Society Meeting last week and it was okay, but not great. It was a little dry and I had to ice it before it was completely cool so the peaks on the icing were saggy. Thelady in front of me in line looked at the cake and (without tasting it) said, "Who would put Fluff on a chocolate cake. That's a little disgusting." I just had to bite my tongue.

If anyone would like to be a test dummy with this cake, let me know. If I eat all of my practice cakes I will end up shaped like it!

A Perfect Saturday

Woke up, made homemade bagels, went on a walk with my mom and Anastasia, made new friends (and by that I mean I waved awkwardly at Anastasia's friends in Russia as she was Skyping with them), made a Devil's Food cake, and enjoyed an amazing Stake Women's Conference. It was a perfectly relaxing without feeling overly lazy. Top it off with a great Fast and Testimony meeting, a nice "family" dinner with the Gregorys and a kids from the ward, and the Oscar and it was an almost perfect weekend.

Dear Winter

Dear Winter:

Thank you for visiting this year, but you can go now. I enjoyed the January snowfall and the February snowfall, but it is now March and I don't want anymore snow.
Tell Spring that everyone in Georgia is anxiously awaiting her arrival.

Sincerely,
Rachel