Family. That is one word that creates a thrill when I haven’t seen them in a long time.

My great-grandma, Grandma Parker as we call her, loves us dearly and we love her just as much. When we get together, gifts get exchanged, and we share hugs, kisses, tears as we leave, and most of all, food. You see, my great-grandma LOVES cooking. She cooks Christmas dinners for lunch. Every time we go there, we gain a few pounds after only a few days. She is VERY healthy for her age, that being 93 years old. She still drives occasionally and she goes shopping herself most of the time. Nobody has complaints about her.

Anyway, back to food. Breakfast is usually a small deal at her house for her, but for us it is a feast laid out. She expects us to eat all of the food she lays out and is slightly disappointed when we don’t. It varies daily, but the most common breakfast is bacon, sausage, eggs, Jello, fruit, cereal, juice, and milk. Although some of the readers may be thinking, “Really? That is not much.” I should mention that those few things are piled high and really filling.

Lunch. This is more like dinner for a normal cook than lunch. Potatoes, Jello, fruit, chicken, broccoli, cauliflower, beans, cake, and so many other variations. I can’t remember all she puts on the table because there is way too much.

Dinner is like all of the meals combined. Although there is not any cereal or stuff like that it is just as big, and always bigger. It consists of (and remember this is just a more common set up) chicken, beef, pork, a large range of cooked vegetables, not usually any fresh ones, two cakes, lots of Jello, and all sorts of drinks. You may be noticing a pattern here. Jello for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

One of the more famous of all of mom’s stories of Grandma Parker is this. One day when I was around eight years old, as we were sitting in Grandma Parker’s house for dinner, I showed my plate to mom which was FULL of Jello and said to her, “Mom, look at this jelly fish stuff! It tastes soooo good.” And she said, “Honey, that is Jello.” And so I ran around saying all these things about Jello and Grandma Parker went to mom and asked, “Has he never had Jello?” And mom answered with a negative. Then great-grandma gave her a look like, ‘how could you do this to your child? Never shown him jello?’ and then took it in her hands to educate me in the ways of the Jello. She even got me a Jello cookbook!

Her Jello is one of my favorite foods she makes. It is not just plain Jello, but she puts fruit in it, lemons sometimes, and once she put shaved carrots in it. That one was REALLY good. My grandma is like a cooking machine. She is very nice to us, loves us, takes care of us, and educates us in the “Ways of the Jello.” Never in her life have I heard her raise her voice for any reason. Of course, I have not known her for very long, but I do know that I love her and couldn’t ask for a nice great-grandma. Or a better cook!!!

Gabriel Miller is a member of the Youth Travel Blogging Mentorship Program

All photos courtesy and copyright Gabriel Miller and family