Cooking is a necessity of life and for some, like Jaguar
Julie and Chef Keem, perhaps, cooking is is one of those
great enjoyments of life. I certainly admire that. And I
wish I could muster up the same enthusiasm. But I'd rather
go dancing!
I am one of those fortunate ones whose husband does all the
cooking. And I do not take that for granted. I admire all
of his meals and thank him for every one.
If I had to cook, I would. And I have.
Especially if I wanted to invite people to the house, I
would consider the menu very carefully. The meal would be
full of vegetables, even though I am no longer a strict
vegetarian.
I inherited a box full of recipes that have been in the
family for several generations.
I went to dinner with my cousins the other night and we had
a discussion about old family recipes. My cousin's wife,
Eleanor, said she has a similar box of precious ancestrial
recipes and she wants to create a family cookbook. She says
she has a classic Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Pot Pie recipe
passed down from her grandmother, that she hasn't tried to
make yet, but that she remembers eating it as a child. She
remembers the food tasting so exquisitely that it literally
seemed to melt into every taste bud.
She also mentioned Aunt Ella's Cinnamon Flop Recipe. As,
yes, that one is in my recipe box. too. Everyone raved
about that dish!
In two weeks, I will be going to my Aunt Helen's 100th
birthday party and I know that the Cinnamon Flop Dish will
be the topic of conversation more than once.
Aunt Ella was my Aunt Helen's Aunt and my Great Aunt. When
I knew her, she lived in a nursing home, but in her day,
was a spirited and loving woman. She never married, so
everyone referred to her as the Maiden Aunt.
The Ike Eisenhower Eggnog recipe was there, and I made a
lens about that, just before the recipe crumbled to pieces
forever. That particular recipe was passed down from then
General Eisenhower to my Uncle Earl, who played bridge with
him in WW2. Earl was a Military Chaplain, at the time,
later to become Bishop of the Episcopalian Church.
Family photos will also be the subject at my Aunt's 100th
birthday party. My Aunt took up painting at age 99, so I
know we will have an art exhibit of her work. She sent me a
painting, which I also made a lens of. Grandma Moses took
up painting at age 77. My Aunt has her beat. She took it up
at age 99.
So I continued to look through the box. I discovered that
different recipes brought up different memories.
For instance, all of my Mother's christmas cookie recipe
recipes are in that box. I remember both of my parents
making at least ten different types of cookies, I kid you
not, and staying up all night every night for three nights,
to bake forty dozen cookies, at least. My mom was obsessed
by making these cookies. Then we'd have them and eat them,
until Easter.
Many people stopped by to eat a few cookies. My mom had an
open door policy--drop in anytime, and you'd get a real
treat, far beyond any of those cookies!
Finally, I came across the Cinnamon Flop recipe!!
Cinnamon Flop
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3/4 cup of sugar
2 heaping tbsp crisco
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 cups of flour
salt (pinch)
3 tsp baking powder
put in pan
1 cup brown sugar packed, sprinkle over top--put butter in
holes, then sprinkle with cinnamon Bake 350 degrees for 30
minutes? (here she has a question mark!
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Perhaps Eleanor and I can get it together to write a family
recipe book. I wonder if it would be more interesting if
each recipe had a story behind it?
Perhaps interviewing different family members to get their
memory of the dish or a memory about the person who created
it.
As Joan wrote in her comment below, the handwritten recipe
is a thing of the past. Did it go out with handwritten
letters? Or handwritten notes to people? Or reading a book?
Is it possible to bring back these wonderful practices from
the past, and slow down life so that "time" doesn't feel so
fleeting?
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Kate Loving Shenk is a writer, healer, musician and the
creator of the e-book called "Transform Your Nursing Career
and Discover Your Calling and Destiny." Click here to order
the e-book:
http://www.nursingcareertransformation.com
Check Out Kate's Blog and Lens:
http://www.katelovingshenk.com/blog
http://kateloving.podbean.com
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