52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2023: Week 49 (FAMILY RECIPE)
My mom was famous for her pies.
She tried many times to teach me to make pie crust, but I never had the 'feel'. So many times she would say to knead it until it felt right. No matter how many times she demonstrated for me I never knew when it felt right.
She broke all the rules. She used room temperature shortening. She handled it a lot. She rolled it out over and over again until it was just right. Every time she made pie her crust was flaky & tender - it was always perfect.
It saddens me that I can't make pie crust like my mom.
I wrote about mom's pies in my July 25th 2019 blog.
You can read it here Not So Easy ~ The Pie Strike
My mother gave me her handwritten recipe book from when she was first married to my father. She wanted me to have the recipe book because it has my dad's granny's scone recipe in it. My paternal grandmother was born in Scotland, and the recipe is her mother's recipe.
Mom's handwritten recipe book front cover, circa 1967
**How I miss seeing that handwriting**
Mom's handwritten recipe book scone ingredients, circa 1967
Mom's handwritten recipe book scone instructions, circa 1967
As I looked through the recipe book I was flooded with memories about my mom, and the food she prepared.
My mom died almost 9 years ago.
I still think about her almost everyday.
My mom was a fantastic cook.
My parents were divorced when I was 8. One of the things my dad remembers fondly about my mom was her cooking. When dad comes for dinner I often cook the recipes my mom used to make, and he tells me stories of when their marriage was happy.
When I was in my late teens I was in the hospital having my appendix out, and my mom brought me a 5 Roses cookbook as a present.
I thought my mom was a jerk for bringing me a cookbook while I was in the hospital unable to eat.
I hadn't eaten for almost 2 weeks before the surgery, and was a couple of days into not eating for a week after the surgery.
As a teenager I couldn't imagine why I would need this old fashioined recipe book.
I now know that I was the jerk.
This is my go-to recipe book almost 40 years later.
Every time I open it up I can picture my mom at the kitchen table with her copy deciding what to cook for dinner. My copy has notes that I copied from hers, no cover, and many pages are loose.
I can also picture her standing at my bedside in hospital confused why I wasn't excited about her giving me this cookbook.
I really was a jerk!
This is the time of year I miss my mom the most.
She loved Christmas, and baked so many treats.
She never forgot what treat each of us kids loved as children, and would mail us a Christmas care package with our favourites.
Mine was her rolled shortbread cookies.
One year she was visiting me at Christmas time and watched as I pulled the dried fruit off the round shortbread cookie & dropped it into the trash.
She asked me why I did that.
I told her I hate dried fruit.
She replied she would stop putting dried fruit on my cookies.
I looked at her horrified and explained that would ruin my favourite childhood cookie - that picking the dried fruit off to go in the trash was part of my special childhood memory.
She muttered that dried fruits weren't cheap and it added extra work to the cookie making.
In the following years my shortbread always arrived with the dried fruit in place.
Have I mentioned recently what a jerk I am?
A couple years after mom died my husband offered to make me shortbread using my mom's recipe.
I told him I only loved them because they were made with the special ingredient of mommy love, and if he really wanted to make me shortbread that I would love it needed to be whipped shortbread.
I am definitely a jerk --
I frequently remind my husband that if it weren't for his faults he would have a better wife than I!
When you love your moms recipes, and substitutions just won't do!
This is why I search -
Cause ...
You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***
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