Cinnamon Sunday

Cinnamon rolls on Sunday morning is a very good thing. A friend of mine in Tulsa, Okla., likes to describe his Sundays as "over easy," relaxing in his hammock or easy chair. Well, Johnny M., today is Cinnamon roll Sunday here in central Texas.

Freshly baked cinnamon rolls are hard to beat. Not the healthiest thing in the world to eat, but damn good stuff, especially with a glass of ice cold milk. I like to unwind mine and eat it piece by piece, a swallow of milk with each bite, until I get to that last soft, sweet piece in the middle. Goodness gracious ...  

Cinnamon rolls remind me of my mama, who was a really good cook and loved to bake. From her is where I inherited my sweet tooth, I'm sure. And, besides, cinnamon is being touted all over the place now for its health benefits!

Along with cinnamon rolls, one thing I remember mama teaching me how to make is cherry pie, still one of my favorites. I don't know if this was before they had ready-made pie crust at the grocery store, but she always made her own pie crust, made cookies from scratch. I kind of remember cake mixes in a box back then, but I imagine she made cakes the old-fashioned way, too.

I remember rolling out the dough on wax paper on the kitchen counter top, using one of those long wooden rolling pins and lots of flour to keep stuff from sticking. Then  you'd lay the whole thing over the top of a glass pie pan and gently push it down and around, then trim the edges that hung over with a knife. Take a fork and make those little dents all the way around the sides. Scoop up the dough trimmings and roll 'em back into a ball, then flatten it out and cut long strips to lay across the top of the pie filling, this way and that way.

But maybe the best part of the whole thing was after the pie was finished and in the oven. You take the rest of the leftover dough, roll it back out, cut it into strips, sprinkle them with cinnamon and sugar, roll 'em up and bake 'em for a few minutes until they're nice and brown. Oh, my, good stuff ...

Sunday is my usual golf day with Gator and sometimes Bubba. Sometimes Jason and Pete join in, as well. But today the wind out there is blowing 25-30 mph, which usually makes for a pretty miserable time on the golf course, even if the sun is shining brightly. You can't get a cigar lit, for one thing. Or, just when you're ready to pull the trigger on your approach shot to the green, a gust whips your hat off your head and blasts it down the fairway behind  you. Otherwise nice shots sail into unfavorable locations, sometimes very unfavorable. Usually majestic tee shots turn miserable. It can be really frustrating. We'll play another day.

And it's the last day of spring break vacation. Up and at 'em again early in the morning. I rolled out of bed about 9:30 today. Tomorrow needs to be 4:30. Oh, boy, c'mon ... you can doooooo it!