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Nature's Cupboard

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My grandparents, Walt and Liz Griffin, owned and ran a grocery store in our home town.  It was called Nature's Cupboard.  This store was the first "super" store of it's kind.  Nature's Cupboard was around long before Kroger, Wal-Mart or what my Michigan colleagues know as Meijer's.  This store had it all!  There was a full order bakery.  My grandmother did wedding cakes, birthday cakes, fresh donuts and pastries, plus bread of all kinds!  My grandfather ran the produce section, chilled foods, canned and boxed foods, and deli.  The deli had fresh cut lunch meats and any kind of salad you could think of!  Now, if that wasn't enough, they also had a green house attached to the store.  In the summer the green house had annuals, perennials and ready made flower baskets.  In the winter, the green house was full of wreaths, grave blankets and of course salt, for those awful snow/ice filled winters!  This is where I grew up, literally, in this store.  I remember running the cash register as a kid, maybe 8 years old?  I even remember selling cigarettes...clearly things have changed.  My whole family worked here. My aunts, uncles, mom, dad, cousins, everyone! It was amazing.  One of the things I remember most, is when my grandma would make pies.  The pies would always overflow onto the wax paper lining the pans.  This overflowed pie filling was a treat for the grandkids and I remember fighting for it! Especially for the strawberry rhubarb, that was my favorite!

 Sadly, my grandparents sold the store over 20 years ago.  Rex, really made me feel nostalgic with his last post, which lead to me wanting to contribute this "guest blog."  Since Nature's Cupboard is no more, I want my kids to know what it feels like to have fresh made pies, breads and all sorts of food made in our home.  The one food (sadly just one, I'm a much better doctor then I am a cook!) that I do from scratch, is pumpkin pie.  I make it twice a year. Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

 So here's my homemade pumpkin pie recipe. This is to create memories for my children and as a tribute to my grandparents, for giving me an amazing upbringing at Nature's Cupboard! 

 The recipe is from Food Network and the original author is Nancy Fuller.










Comments

  1. Rex and Ty's Food BlogDecember 3, 2017 at 3:19 PM

    Thanks for sharing your story. It sounds like the store was a lot of work, but probably a labor of love. You've shared the story, will you share the pie?

    ReplyDelete

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