I'm trying to think of what to make to take for a visit with my Uncle Robert later this week. He and his older brother never left home or got married. Except for stints in the military during the second world war and the Korean war, they were at their parents' home helping with the farming and running the family trading post, low-paid slave labor.

I know my uncle pretty well because when I was a kid my mother would see that my sister and I got down there for a visit every summer. Sometimes she took us and we stayed a week or two, and sometimes she found someone to give us a ride there, and she'd come get us a month later.

When I go visit, I try to think of foods my grandmother prepared that Uncle Robert might enjoy, but I have learned from experience that just because she put it on the table and it got eaten, it wasn't necessarily enjoyed by my uncles. One time I mentioned gooseberry pie, and Robert said "that sour old stuff? I don't know why she made that, never did like it."

She made filled cookies a lot, I remember, so I guess I'll make a batch of them. They need sour cream for a tender outside, but I'll use lemon juice to sour some milk. And we'll just see what he has to say about them.

This first recipe is from the Crisco company, back when it was first brought out as a healthy replacement for lard.

Filled Cookies
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup Crisco
1/2 cup sour milk or sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling:
1 cup chopped raisins
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Cream together egg, sugar, and Crisco. Add milk or cream, and vanilla. Sift the dry ingredients together, and combine with the wet ingredients. Roll out and cut into circles. Dot 1/2 of the circles with filling, and top with the other circles. Cut vent holes in the tops. Bake 10 to 12 minutes at 350 degrees.

Filling: Mix sugar and flour in saucepan, add raisins, nuts, and water. Stir and cook until thick. Cool before using.

I'm also taking a cherry pie. This recipe is from a 1950s 4-H cookbook from Indiana. It has just the right amount of thickening. The last time I made it I decided to get a head start on the baking of it by first heating the filling to boiling and pouring it into the crust. I worried that this would just eat through that bottom crust and it would be a soggy mess, but it came out much better than a lot of fruit pies I've made, the crust actually got browned on the bottom and not soggy at all, and the pie cooked a lot faster.

4-H Cherry Pie
Pastry for a 9-inch double-crust pie
Pitted sour cherries to fill pie pan
1 1/3 cups sugar
5 tablespoons flour
Pinch of salt
4 drops almond extract (measure into a spoon first)
2 tablespoons butter
Milk
Sugar

Line the pie pan with the bottom crust. Combine the dry ingredients in a good-sized bowl. Mix in the cherries, and when mixed well, sprinkle the almond extract over the cherries and give another stir. Pour into the pie crust and dot with butter. Cover with the top crust, a lattice top is very nice. Brush the crust with milk and sprinkle on white sugar. Bake 15 minutes at 425 degrees, then turn down the oven to 350 and bake 30 or so minutes until juices are bubbling in the center. Put foil under the pan to catch any drips; also if the edges are getting too dark put foil strips around the edge of the crust.

For an entree, I haven't decided. Uncle Robert doesn't have any teeth or dentures, so I'm trying to think what would appeal. Last time we were there, I fried a chicken for him. His kitchen is filthy, no nice way to put it, so I took spray-on cleaner and cleaned every spot before I touched it or put food down on it. Maybe fried chicken again. He probably doesn't bother making it for himself. Actually, I could make it here it home and heat it up there. He does have a microwave that I gave him.

Maybe I'll make a pasta salad for a side. I'll be packing it into a cooler for the 8 hour drive, funeral, and family get-together after, so I'll have to be sure that's what I want to do. I could put it all together without the dressing and then pick up some down there before I head for his house out in the middle of nowhere. In my heart of hearts I realize this salad is too 'modern' for Uncle Robert, but I would enjoy it, so I'm just making it for myself. I'm not going to provide a lot of directions because it's obvious what needs to be done.

Italian Pasta Salad
1 1/2 cups twist macaroni, cooked and drained
1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/2 cup green pepper, chopped
1/2 cup sliced ripe olives
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning or sweet basil
(Diced salami or pepperoni)
(Diced cheese)
(Italian peppers)

Combine.

Dressing:
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Combine and chill to blend flavors.