Mona's meatloaf

My grandmother was a gourmet cook..it became her profession when she came to America from Sweden at age 15.  Since she always lived with us, I can tell you that our family was always well fed.  My mother never cooked.  I do not know whether or not it was because she didn't like to, or whether it was cause Grandma wouldnt let her in the kitchen!...too many cooks you know!  Well, there was one recipe that was my mother's alone and that was this meatloaf.  I am partially posting this because my daughter Emily always is cooking nice things and posting them on her blog. I want her to know that I, her mother have not lost my touch..hello.... But, I am also posting it because my brother Raymond is coming from Florida to visit our mother.  We have not seen him in two years.  This is his favorite dish.  I made one to freeze for him to take back home.  He is only staying two days because of his work.  And then we think of my mother again..She is always on our mind lately.  We are having a family birthday party in a week and for the first time in the 11 years that she has lived in Charlotte, my mother is unable to physically get to my house for the party.   The Parkinsons is keeping her from swallowing much food so she is too tired and too fragile.  And, since her first hospitalization in August, she cannot transfer on her own.  Even if I hired a million dollar bus to drive the wheelchair onto, it is too much for her.  As much as I tell myself what I want to hear, it is clear that she has not regained what she lost before pneumonia and the fall.  And so, although there is much to be grateful for....we have now entered another phase in her disease.  It also looks to me that we will have to reinvent Thanksgiving and Christmas too.  I much prefer fantasy and dreams over reality.  But....

  Voila, my mother's meatloaf!!!



MEATLOAF recipe just as she wrote it:  1 lb hamburg, 2 slices broken bread, 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1 small onion, 1 egg, few canned tomatoe, small amount salt and pepper, bacon strips

Beat hamburg well. Add 1 finely chopped onion and 1 beaten egg. Mix.  Soak bread in milk. Add. Stir in oatmeal and tomatoes.  The more you beat, the better. Add seasoning. Mix well.  Be sure mixture is not too soft or too hard; just right for shaping into loaf.  Add dab of tomatoe soup and flour and put strips of bacon across top.  Bake about one hour at 350 F.  (As for me, I do none of the above.  I just mix it all together at once, adding more oatmeal and bread as needed and I use a bit of the sauce from the tomatoes cause I am too lazy to open tomato soup.  It tastes great anyway.  Ode to Mom.