capers

I loved my aunt, Geri, who passed away this spring. I loved her passion for cooking. She watched the Food Network & I enjoyed talking with her about different personalities on that channel. I once printed off a recipe from the Food Network & wrote her a letter on the back of it. On the day of her funeral family gathered at her home to visit after the burial & church luncheon were over. I was in the kitchen leaning against the counter & someone stopped to get a drink out of the refrigerator. And I noticed a jar of capers in the door of the frig. I was so surprised I grabbed the bottle & asked my cousins about it. Not only did Geri watch the Food Channel but she tried new recipes. Dianne, my cousin, said Geri would fix a holiday meal with all the traditional dishes & then have two to three new recipes. (I wish I'd been invited to that spread.) And then Dianne told me I could have the jar of capers. Really, a wonderful gift. But capers don't keep forever. So the other day I opened the jar & combined a good tablespoon of them (some say to rinse them off) with some diced onion, red peppers & olive oil and spread that on some toasted French bread. It was great. They add a wonderful saltiness to food. There's always a jar of capers in my frig. From now on they will remind me of Geri.