The fourth of July makes me think of banana pudding, a fun summer dessert. It makes me think of my mom. She makes the best. Banana Pudding has three main ingredients, vanilla pudding, vanilla wafers and bananas.

When I was young I would help Mom make this. She made it better than anyone else. She did this by simply making the pudding from scratch. It was my job to line the giant bowl with vanilla wafers. As best that I can remember we always used the same bowl. It was white but you could still see through it. It was made to not have a lid. The bowl had a scar on the side. It had gotten too close to something hot and there was a spot about an inch and a half in diameter that sunk in.

While Mom cooked the pudding I lined the bowl. Mom's pudding wasn't yellow. It was white. She made it from milk, sugar, cornstarch, salt and vanilla. I wonder if she would add extra vanilla. It sure smelled like it as its sweet gentle aroma would fill our kitchen. It didn't take a long time to cook. Mom would pour the pudding on top of the vanilla wafers. We would have the bananas already sliced and Mom would put a layer of them and then a layer of pudding until both were used up. Then I would place some more of the cookies on the top. When we had broken cookies sometimes I would place them on the bottom where they couldn't be seen or just eat them.

I liked eating the pudding while it was hot. The taste of the warm pudding would make my mouth water as the flavor mixed with the real bananas and semi-soggy wafers. I also liked it after it had been put in the refrigerator as "fresh" leftovers. The coldness and just setting would soften the vanilla wafers and they would melt in your mouth. Usually when Mom made this, since I had three big hungry teenage brothers and two or three younger siblings, we could quickly, if not held back, devour the double recipe treat. But Mom would always make sure there was a good amount left for my Dad.