Last year when I stumbled on a recipe that my husbands family had loved, but thought they had lost when their grandma died, I got to thinking about how easy it is to loose those little things we remember that made the holidays special. This year I am resurrecting a few other old recipes of Grandma Tallman's that I found in her old cookbooks. While we'll be giving the cookies to my in-laws as gifts, I think preserving some of these traditions, left over from "the old world", is also giving a gift to ourselves and our kids. In an effort to recover some of the lost past on my side of the family, I have contacted a cousin in Ireland and explained that I don't have any old, handed down traditional Irish recipes, and would he ask his mum, and her siblings what they remember. I explained that even if they could remember a name and a few ingredients, I could likely find something close on the Internet. I'm chasing down the past and trying to make new traditions for my own family. I want my kids to have more of a sense of their heritage than just knowing where their ancestors came from.
One of the better gifts I have ever given, was homemade, and will probably never get used. In digging up old recipes, my mother-in-law gave me the names of some dishes that she remembered from her childhood. With those and a few others, I put together a "cookbook" of traditional Norwegian recipes. In between the recipes, I put old pictures of her family that I had found on Ancestry.com. Pictures of her grandparents when they were still in Norway. Pictures of her mother as a teen. Pictures of the family in later years, more the way she remembers them. My mother-in-law is in poor health. She can't do much cooking and baking the way she used to. She will probably never use even one of the recipes I printed out for that cookbook. But, when my husband gave her the cookbook, she remembered almost all the recipes I had found. Her hand traced over the pictures of her family. She murmured the names of loved ones lost long ago. And she was speechless.
Hindsight being 20/20, I should have made a copy of that cookbook for myself, as well. Someday I will. For now, I keep fining new recipes to try, I'm still chasing down the old recipes, and I'm trying to find a heritage for my children that has nearly been lost.
You are truly a beautiful woman!!!
ReplyDeleteA quick story- last year was the first holiday season without our mom. Mom, being a full blooded Italian was an incredible cook and made dozens upon dozens of cookies each holiday season. I wanted to make one of her recipes and send it to my brother so he would have the traditional cookies. One thing lead to another and I never got around to sending him those cookies. When I talked to him on xmas, he said to me "I wish I had some of Ma's cookies."
I was so furious with myself for not making that extra little effort for my own brother . . . when Easter came around this year, I made Mom's traditional Italian Easter Bread and overnighted the package to him. He was thrilled, ate the WHOLE bread and didn't share a slice with anyone.
Not sure what my point is aside from that I think you are amazing and I wish I would've had an opportunity to make a book like that for my mom before we lost her. Oh and if you want that Easter Bread recipe, you know where to find me ~xxooxxoo~
Thanks! I may take you up on that come springtime. :)
ReplyDeleteInteresting blog! I'm glad I found you and I'd like to post a suggestion of mine - do you use sites like zazzle.com, cafepress. com, fiverr? They could be a good way to promote your works/blog, etc and to help "remove" stupidity in the streets like headlines on t-shirts, fridge-magnets, cups, etc: My Boyfriend kisses Better Than Yours, FBI - female body inspector, etc. Not everything we see and think of should be about sex, right? It would be much better if there were more nice pictures of mythical creatures, good thoughts, poems from fantasy genre, etc? I'm allanbard there, I use some of my illustrations, thoughts, poems from my books (like: One can fight money only with money, Even in the hottest fire there's a bit of water, All the problems in the world lead to one - narrow-minded people, or
ReplyDeleteLove and happiness will be around,
as all the chains will disappear,
and Mountaineers will climb their mount
and there won't be any tear!
etc). I guess such lines sound and look much better than the usual we see and hear every day?Best wishes! Let the wonderful noise of the sea always sounds in your ears! (a greeting of the water dragons' hunters - my Tale Of The Rock Pieces).
BTW, have you ever tried the recipe of the Bulgarian gujvetche? No? You should try it ;). You need cheese (white and yellow), tomatoes, ham, sausages, or other meat, some olives... 1st you put a layer of chopped tomatoes in the bottom of a deep pot (of clay or glass that's suitable for baking in oven), then a layer of cheese (white), then a layer of meat (chopped ham, sausages, etc), then a layer of tomatoes and all the rest all over again. You have to put the layer of yeloow cheese after the layer of white cheese. When the pot is full, put on top an egg without the shell and some olives too. Bake it in a hot oven for about 20-30 minutes... Hope anyone would love the gujvetche meal? Have a great 2012 and years to come!