Fortune Cookies and Aunt 'Nida

My father's younger sister, Anita was known as Aunt 'Nida for most of my childhood. I remember when I went off to college, she finally put her foot down and demanded I start including the "A" and pronouncing the "T" by emphasizing it in her letters and postcards.

Sometimes when my Mom needed a babysitter, I would make a request to Aunt 'Nida to babysit for me instead of my Mom hiring the local teen. Aunt 'Nida was rare in the sense that when asked to babysit or host a sleepover, she was not the type to complain or wish she had turned me down. In fact, she was quite the opposite. She always had something fun planned and there was never a dull moment. I wanted to be around her constantly and she never seemed to get annoyed by that. She had two daughters, both younger than me, Summer and Amber. My cousins and I would always create a scene. We would host our own karaoke shows or rollerskate in the basement. Neither of these activities were quiet ones and Aunt 'Nida would just watch and applaud.

Aunt 'Nida and Uncle JD owned what was known as "The Shop." Dancin' Tables, an outdoor furniture store with beautiful, handcrafted furniture that my Uncle made himself. They would let me hang out there all of the time- I would swing on the swing with my Aunt and she would make me laugh. Customers would show up and Aunt 'Nida would give them her sales pitch and I listened to learn about how to sell things. Sometimes, she would let me sit at her desk and I would answer the phone. I loved "playing store." Obviously this is the beginning of a long career in retail.

When we got hungry, we would walk down the street to Grandma's who lived only two blocks away in a cute, red brick house with a beautiful yard and garden. She would fix us something amazing in a jiffy. She always had incredible leftovers wrapped in tin foil in her fridge. Meatballs, sausage and peppers, and if you asked nicely, she would whip up some fried dough with powdered sugar. Sometimes Grandma would walk back up with us after dinner and she would have a glass of white wine with an ice cube. We would all sit together and Aunt 'Nida would make us laugh until we had tears in our eyes.

I remember a couple of times where I actually got Aunt 'Nida all to myself. There's the time that my class was going on a field trip to a bee farm and I couldn't go because I was allergic to bees. She picked me up and took me to Woodstock for a fun day of shopping and lunch. This trip was much better than the bee farm. Of course, I wasn't at the bee farm, but I can tell you a few bees and a stick of honey was not as good as a day with Aunt 'Nida.

Another time, we came across a recipe for fortune cookies. We just decided to make them. We cut strips of paper and we made up our own fortunes. I remember that I wanted her to write them because she had such nice handwriting and she also came up with some great fortunes. Her fortunes were much more clever than mine were. She would write things like, "You will soon eat a delicious cookie." This would have me rolling with laughter.

The first few cookies did not turn out well, but she was determined to make these work. If you have ever made fortune cookies, you know that the batter is very thin and you have to work quickly. They have to be cooked at the perfect temperature. If it is too hot, they will stick and if it is too cool, they will set up like cake. She finally got the hang of it and she would flip them off the pan and hand them to me to quickly fold. We made beautiful cookies and we had so much fun while making them.

If you're ever going to make fortune cookies, I suggest you contact my Aunt AniTa. They can be frustrating and disastrous to make without her. Take it from one who knows.