As I pack to leave for a road trip to East Texas, this week’s recipe came to me. Whenever we took road trips with my parents, my mother, Merle Mitchell, always sat in the passenger seat up front. It’s common knowledge in my family that my mother was a terrible driver. The stories are too many to recount so I’ll just pass along a few.

My first memory of her driving problems is as a kid. She drove my sister and I to the Sears catalog store in Woodville, Texas. It was near the courthouse square. In parking, she hit the parking meter. I mean she flattened it completely severing the metal pole and meter from the concrete curb. We got out of the car and she said “Oh my. Grab your sister and follow me.” She proceeded to pick up the pole with the meter attached and marched us all across the street and into the courthouse. The first open office door we went in and there was a lady behind the desk. My mom set the pole and meter across the desk and said “M’am I have hit the parking meter and I don’t know what to do.” The lady behind the desk was speechless. She just stared at this pole laying across her desk with pieces of concrete stuck to the bottom. She said “M’am I am not sure what to do either so you just leave it here.” So my mom marched us out of the courthouse, and off to the Sears catalog store we went to pick up an order.

The second story we love to tell has to do with my mom’s penchant for getting speeding tickets. Her most famous speeding ticket was on a Sunday night after church. My mom was a huge sports fan and loved the Dallas Cowboys. So the Cowboys were playing, and she was speeding home after Sunday night church service to watch them on TV. We were listening to the game on the radio. The Cowboys had just scored when suddenly flashing red lights and sirens were behind us. My mom had been caught speeding…again. So the cop comes to the window as my mom is rolling it down and asks “m’am why are you driving so fast with three children in the car on a Sunday night?” My mom with a blank face and all seriousness replies “well officer, I love the Cowboys and they just scored and I got so excited that my foot must have pressed the gas too hard.” No speeding ticket was issued that evening as the cop was a Cowboy fan as well.

Finally, when I was practicing with my learner’s permit, my mom offered to teach me and a friend. We had been practicing parallel parking, and we just could not get it down. So my mom hops in the car and declares “Well I don’t know if I can help. You know I failed my driving test 7 times before I finally passed.” My friend and I immediately started looking for a new teacher.

So given my mom’s lack of driving skills, it just makes sense that she hardly drove if we had anything to say about it. And if she did, parking meters and cops were on red alert for miles. The down side to her being a passenger though was that she would easily get motion sickness. As she got older, the motion sickness got more intense. As long as I can remember she would have a bag of ginger cookies, as ginger helps with motion sickness.

If you have ever tried store-bought ginger cookies, they are like eating rocks. The family recipe we had produced almost the same results. So once, when my mom came and stayed with me in Oregon, I got this wild hair to find or come up with a ginger cookie recipe. What follows is that recipe: the chewiest giant molasses ginger cookies we could concoct. A lot of burnt and too crispy batches were thrown out before perfection was obtained. Scorched fingers, sweat, and tears went into making this the cookie. And from that point on, whenever we went on a road trip with my mom, a bag of these cookies went with us.

This cookie is perfect for road trip snacking. Just watch out for those parking meters and cops who are Redskin fans.

AINE’S GIANT CHEWY GINGER COOKIES

Makes 36-40 cookies

4 1/2 c. flour

4 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

2 c. sugar—-3/4 c. sugar separate

1/2 c. molasses

1 1/2 c. shortening (NOTE:Make with shortening. DO NOT USE BUTTER OR MARGARINE. I use the Crisco shortening sticks for convenience)

1. in a bowl mix the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and cloves. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, beat with a mixer shortening until soft.

3. Add 2 c. sugar to shortening and beat until fluffy.

4. Add eggs and molasses. Beat well.

5. Add 1/2 of flour mixture. Beat well.

6. Add remaining flour mix. Beat well. At this point the dough will appear crumbly.

7. I then use my hand to hand knead the dough  until it forms a large soft ball as pictured below.

8. Put the other 3/4 c. sugar in a bowl. Make 2 inch round balls of dough and roll them in sugar until coated.

9. Space balls of dough on an ungreased cookie sheet or a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

10. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes. Cookies will be ready when they start to crack on top.

11. Let them cool on cookie sheet and then enjoy.