The house that Mamoo* didn't cook in

A few years back, Mister C and I got Master J a cd player/radio for Christmas. We mainly got it so he could listen to his cds but after several moves over those years, the cd player quit working. So lately he has been listening to the radio. The station he listens to is fairly harmless and plays a lot of older music. Although there was the one night when I told him he needed to turn it down and he shouted back that he couldn't because "they're playing nothing but love songs tonight!" Oookaayyy, I suppose it's possible that love songs need to be played at a higher decibel. Whatever.

For the last several weeks though, they've been doing a big promotion where they are giving away a house. They have certain times where they announce a "key word" that you're supposed to type in on their site. They have times when they just announce that a certain caller will win "a key that could open the door to your new house!!!!" Master J is obsessed with winning this house. He's convinced Mister C on at least one occasion to type in the key word for him. He's convinced he's going to win this house. So it came as no surprise when he started telling me about "his house" and what he was going to do when he won it. And so, we have the following...

MJ: Well Mamoo is going to be there.
Me: Mamoo's going to live in the house too?
MJ: Yeah. It's a two story house so I figure she could live on the first floor and we could live upstairs.
Me: I suppose that could work.
MJ: Yeah, she'll have her room and I guess we could all share the kitchen.
Me: Ya think?
MJ: Yeah, you can cook sometimes and Mamoo can cook sometimes.
Me: Is Mamoo a good cook?
MJ: Oh yeah. She's a good cook.
Me: What's your favorite thing that she cooks for you?
MJ: Weeelll, pizza! And applesauce. And strawberries.
Me: Ummm, that's not really cooking. That's more "preparing".
MJ: She cuts the tops off the strawberries.
Me: Oh. Still...that's not so much cooking. She used to cook a lot when we were kids. She always cooked, not out of a box either.
MJ: Really?
Me: Yeah. When we were little, Mamoo used to make macaroni and cheese that wasn't out of a box.
MJ: (absolutely dumbfounded) What? How did she do that?
Me: Well, she would use macaroni noodles, cheese, milk, butter and flour. She would use pans on the stove and then mix it all together and then bake it.
MJ: How did it taste? Better than the box stuff?
Me: Oh yeah! It was really good.
MJ: (eyes wide) Really? Did she have a garden?
Me: Um, no.
MJ: Well where did she get the ingredients?
Me: She went to the store.
MJ: How often did she go to the store?
Me: Once every two weeks.
MJ: What? That's it? She goes like, every day now and she just preparing stuff from boxes!
Me: I know right?
MJ: (sits back and shakes his head) So it was good?
Me: Yep.

It was really good.


*For anyone not in the know, Mamoo is my mom. Much to her chagrin, it is pronounced as rhyming with Shamu, the killer whale. Master J named her that when he was around 2 years old. It is the actual name that he (and we) call her to this day. It was preceded by the more typical "G-Ma" and the not so typical "Mamushka" (rhymes with babushka).