I recently paged through a copy of your "Mom's Recipe Book". I have come to realize that the book is the sensory link to the family past. It contains many of the recipes that our family experienced as you Grasshoppers grew up. For the first time I went through the book page by page, read the quotations and looked at the pictures. I was struck by the awesome number of recipes.
You Grasshoppers are privledged to have a book dedicated to you. Even I don't have that. Imagine the historical significance of having a timeless reference book that you inspired.
It has been 10 years since the book was finished. The copyright date is 1996. Your mother includes her maiden name in the author signature. I have never seen her do that before. I forget that the Steger side of the family provided most of scrumptious recipes! Certainly more than my side of the family.
I find that the book includes many quotes that I have espoused over the years. I don't remember anyone getting my approval to use the quotes. Maybe there is a lawsuit in all this.
OKay! Stay with me now (mentally). This is the deep part. We are all the result of the sum total of all our life experiences. Those experiences include food. All the tastes, all the smells and all the sensory pleasures (or displeasures) that go with food are included in our memories. Mom's Recipe Book lets you go back and revisit most of the memories you have of food and cooking.
Some of my distinct memories of people and food are as follows (most are not in Mom's book):
Your mom as a child could not swallow raw oysters (and still can't). Money bribes won't help.
I can't eat cooked spinach. The "gagging" reflex kicks in.
Kelly won't eat peas (yes, I caused that issue). All the milk in the world won't help swallowing.
Grandpa George liked to eat horse-radish right from the spoon. He must have had a cast iron stomach.
Christopher hankered for fresh bread. He probably was suffering some deep emotional anxiety.
Margaret likes cold pizza for breakfast. I have no idea what is going on?
Nana likes potato pancakes. You need to sprinkle sugar on the top.
Paul used to abuse Macaroni and Cheese. Variety was not in his menu choices.
Debs has become a master of the "soups". Chicken soup. Beef soup. Chili. Maybe it is the healing power.
And so it goes. There are fetish desires that affect us all. And Mom's book takes us there. Who can forget the smell of baking bread? The aroma of boiling shrimp. Soup brewing in a huge kettle.
The book is a work in progress. Recipes are added to the book. Modifications do occur. It gets better and better. And the best part is that is done by your Mom. She gives you a souce of life long pleasure. How special is that?
Grasshoppers stay tuned. In future blogs I will pick my Top 10 favorite recipes. I encourage you to tell me your favorite memories about food. Who knows, some of that "feedback" might end up in the "Book". I have a little (sometimes very little) influence on the author.
Love,
Dad