About Me
- un petit morceau
- Corrales, New Mexico, United States
- My mother grew up in Paris, one of 11 children, and had memories of bomb shelters and only flour and water to eat, as well as raucous family meals.[What else could they have been with 11 children?]When she landed in America as a young girl, she paid her way by assisting the dietitian with all the meals at her Ann Arbor, Michigan school.So family tradition,hunger and a decidedly forward thinking school cook all led to food and dinner time being somewhat of an obsession.My mother would always prepare a 2 and sometimes 3 course meal for us.Working beside Mama in the kitchen was a cloth woven with long periods of comfortable silences,confessions,laughing and the intricate ballet required when you have more than one person in a New York City apartment kitchen.What I write here has so much to do with this woman who would literally swoon eating a marron glace. Appreciation, gratitude and wonder.She had those and I hope to share some with you.
Man, memories.
ReplyDeleteAs we comb my mother's recipe books, we can tell the favorites by the cooking stains on the pages. And like yours, some are written on scraps, backs of ads, etc.
Flipping those pages often bring back childhood taste memories, and (imagined) kitchen smell memories.
Still regret the ones either never commited to paper, or tossed out in clean outs since..... Miss you Mom!
I was reading happily along in the post below, thinking, 'Man, I wish she'd posted the document itself!' You see, I spend a lot of my professional life looking at handwritten recipes a lot like this one (only mine are usually about three hundred years older, like this one or this one). So the archive-rat in me was not satisfied with transcription – and then I clicked through in my RSS reader, and lo!, the Thing Itself. The thrill of the personal archive. Wonderful – thank you for sharing it!
ReplyDeleteMoria, those images were cool! Can you make out the recipes?
ReplyDeletewhat a cool profession you have,Moira!
ReplyDeleteWebmasterPerson: yes, I can. Transcripts take time (especially with a hand like the one in the first image), but if you're really interested, let me know and I'll do one up for you.
ReplyDeleteNana: Ha! Just a grad student; not at all glamorous.
Well, I hate to take your time! I work in an academic library as well, as a web developer, so I know how things go. Your blog is great (as is this one), and fun to read.
ReplyDeleteMy name actually, is Lisa, btw.
May all your wishes and dreams will come true. Have an amazing day, month, year and life! Happy Birthday, Nana!
ReplyDeleteYes, Happy Birthday!
ReplyDeleteWhat do you choose for your birthday dinner!?
:-)
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ReplyDeleteHmmph... how did my profile name get changed (to "BassFace")?? Oh well, reposting...
ReplyDeleteNana, have a wonderful birthday!! Here's a little home grown jazz. Enjoy the day..
BV