The Sweet Smell of Nostalgia

What is it about the smell of buttermilk that can almost bring me to tears?

This past summer, while we were in Ohio, my Mammal taught me to make biscuits. This might sound like no big deal to you "yankees," but to us Southerners, and us Zirkles in particular, making biscuits is a sacred rite of passage. Up until now, the only person in my family who's been able to make biscuits has been my Mammal. She tried to teach my Mom, and pass it down, but in her own words, she can't make biscuits to save her life. I've (luckily, perhaps?) never been on the receiving end of these biscuits, but I've been told that they can function as bricks, if you ever need to ward off an attacker, or break a window! (Love you, Mom!). So, I was beyond excited to learn the secret, and I think my Mom was just as excited for me to learn.

The first thing that's important to note in the art of biscuit making (and the only tip I'm going to give away) is that in REALLY GOOD, true Southern biscuits, there is NO RECIPE. Okay, maybe this isn't much of a tip, because most of our home-cooked Zirkle family "recipes" read something like "a bunch of flour," or "a little bit of sugar," or "enough sugar to make it taste right," but biscuits are a whole new level of "guesstimate." They really are a "guess and check" (like the math reference? Algebra here I come!), kind of recipe that takes a long time to perfect.

Since Jon is going on an impromptu trip to Idaho this afternoon, and since he's been such a great support to me lately (well, always, to be honest), I thought I'd take another page out of the Zirkle Family Handbook and send him off with some homemade goodies. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to perfect my recipe, because even if they don't taste that great, he and Dayne will still scarf them down at warp speed! So, I set my oven (my OLD oven, hopefully next time I make these, it will be in the NEW one) to 500* and got to work! (Ooops, another tip).

There's just something magical that happens when the jug of buttermilk is opened. There's something about that smell, the sweet smell of buttermilk that takes me back. It transports me out of Orem, across several states (skipping ugly Nebraska, of course) back into my Mammal's kitchen. It wraps up years of memories and almost brings me to tears. And the smell of the biscuits, fresh out of the oven, seems to seamlessly integrate the child I was, in my Mammal's kitchen, with the mother I am now, in my own kitchen, sharing the biscuits, and the sacred rites that come along with them, with my own child. It's more than buttermilk and flour, it's magic!

The biscuits turned out GREAT! A little crispy on the bottom, but fluffy and light brown on top, and really yummy! But, before you ask, I have to say, that NOPE! I can't share the recipe! This is ONE recipe (probably the ONLY recipe) that I will keep close to my chest, sealed up tight, until I pass the Zirkle magic onto Landon. But, I'll be happy to share my attempts at perfecting the recipe with all of you anytime!