This post is a bit of a cheat. I wrote it some time ago for a different project but, as we head into our Thanksgiving weekend in Canada, it feels right. I wrote this not long after Mom started receiving more daily care as her dementia started taking a firmer grasp on her memories. I …
My family’s recipes give me a great sense of connection. A connection to the past, to fond memories of celebrations and achievements, and most importantly to family members no longer with us. There’s immediate comfort in the familiar handwriting so distinctive to my Mom and grandmothers. And when I’m in the kitchen with these …
Half the fun of reading through vintage recipes is coming across ingredients that are totally unfamiliar to me. This simple sugar cookie recipe is a great example. What the heck is Nucoa? While the answer isn’t nearly as exotic as I’d imagined, it is part of a decidedly weird food story. Nucoa is the brand …
I have an oddly complicated relationship with this recipe – starting with the fact that I have a relationship with a cookie! But oh what a cookie. Right off the bat, I’m not a baker. Recipes for baked goods always look like Grade Four math problems to me – you know the ones – “Two trains …
Here’s a question that’s puzzled me for years. Why are vegetables, on a daily basis fine on their own, but merely suggest guests for dinner, and they suddenly need to be enrobed in a cheese sauce? Our family’s recipe file has an entire section of “Company Vegetables” and Broccoli Casserole is at the top of the …
That’s what J.R.R. Tolkien would call the recipe if he was writing this article – “The One Recipe to bind them all“! While it’s not the oldest recipe in the file, it’s certainly the most used – and for me the most revered. All hail the iconic banana loaf. I think you’d be hard pressed to …
What is it about old recipes that capture our interest and imagination? For some, they recall a space in time – like a song you haven’t heard forever but that instantly transports you back to sometime special and meaningful. For others they’re like a warm blanket – familiar and comforting. For me they’re also …
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