Aunt Della's Dumplings

Please don’t think I mean any disrespect. I mean this only in the nicest way. Della was a funny person. I’ll love and remember ‘til my dying day. From the hips up she was a size sixteen From the hips down a ten. She had a laughing voice, a musical tone and said funny things. It just flowed naturally, like she was always in a zone. Everyone loved Della and... Her dumplings!! At the gatherings she would bring the biggest pot imaginable. Filled to the brim with steaming, heavenly, chicken and dumplings. The aroma infused every thing around. Light and tasty, the best I have ever found. I was a married man before braving my first pot of dumplings. What a mess. At least I started small. I definitely had not found my call. Even tho I did my best, it was not good enough. At first they would be too dry. If wet enough they were too thick. If thin enough they didn’t have any taste. Lord what a waste. Of time and good chicken. I think I got my first passable lot about the age of fifty. How much flour and chicken I had ruined was a thing of which Ripley would be proud. That first pot of tasty, hand rolled essence of success was so nifty I wanted to just sniff and gloat. And wait til someone said, Those dumpling are as good as Della’s. © Apr 04 2010