h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I remember my sister making her usual banana cake batter in one of the large yellow mixing bowls when she would come over for a visit. She had married and moved out when I was two. My mother would pull out one of the large yellow mixing bowls every New Year's, Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas for the traditional potato salad.

Everyone in our house liked the same type of potato salad. When we visited my dad's sister for Christmas Eve the buffet would have two types of potato salad, with and without. The without potato salad was just: Potatos, mayo, eggs, and salt. The with potato salad was that and whatever else including: Olives, mustard, pickle relish etc. Both types were in (have you guessed?) large yellow mixing bowls, just like the one in our kitchen cabinet. This was the tradition from as early as I can remember.

Years later, my nephew brought a date to the Christmas Eve party. I happened to be behind him when he told his date 'that's the potato salad.'. She asked 'how can you tell both are covered?'. He turned to me to with 'aren't they always potato salad?'. They were, and those weren't mine. That was a bowl of potato salad from each of two of my aunts. I had brought cookies to the party.

Stranger still... Those large yellow pyrex bowls from the 1950's were sold in sets of four. The set was one large yellow and one each in decreasing size of green, red and blue. I can account for four of the yellow, so where are the rest of them? And, if potato salad belongs in the yellow, what belongs in the others?

Probably a jello mold.

With or without peas?

I've heard of worse things being put into jello .