Grandmother's Dutch Oven

     A few weeks ago I was in an antique store with a friend.  We saw an old iron dutch oven with a rusted handle.  I had to stop, remove the lid and take a peek inside.  I told my friend that I had this same thing at home.  It was my grandmother's.  I don't use it.  I don't think it would work on my ceramic top stove without leaving a mark.  It sits on the bottom shelf of a little writing desk in my living room.  At one time it was used a lot.
      Grandmother liked to have pot roast for Sunday lunch after church.  She would start the pot roast cooking in the dutch oven on Sunday morning.  When we'd leave for church she would turn it down to low heat and let it simmer while we were gone.  When we got home she'd turn the heat up and add potatoes, carrots and onion.  In a short while we'd have a delicious pot roast meal. 
      My favorite memory is of white beans cooking in the dutch oven.  I always knew when grandmother would be cooking white beans the next day.  The night before she would pour out dried beans in a bowl and sort through them to remove any old or discolored beans.  Then they would soak in water overnight.  After I'd leave for school the next morning she would put the beans on to cook in the dutch oven on the coal stove we had in our den.  They would slowly cook all day.  I always liked getting off the school bus on a cold wintry day, coming into the house and being greeted by the smell of white beans cooking on the old stove.  I would have to have a small bowl then.  The rest were served for dinner.
      I will occasionally make white beans for dinner but mine never taste as good as those did.  Today the old iron dutch oven sits on a shelf in my living room, a reminder of old times, good meals and white beans on cold wintry days.