We have Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! A good weekend for reflection. Pause for a moment and think about how much better off we are for Martin Luther King's leadership. So many good quotes from the man lift me up when I need it.
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| My favorite Martin Luther King, Jr quote. The young lady, I found at the flea market. I want her bag and hat! |
Also, it's a long weekend and we had the grandkidlets for part of it. I'm listening to ManO and Miss B converse as I type this post. So adorable. Nothing better than a hero who can hold his own with a three year old girl's convo.
Maybe, because I am baked-goods-challenged or because my daughter is an excellent baker, I've been thinking about baking with the kids, more importantly, the grandmas' baking with my son and daughter.
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| What child doesn't like pots and pans? My daughter was designed to be a great cook from an early age. |
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| Both the kids have great memories of cooking with my mother. |
My kids have great memories of cooking with my mother, now gone, and with ManO's mother. One of the funniest stories we like to tell is about my grown daughter talking about how she loved making chocolate chip cookies with Grandma ManO. She mentioned Grandma's "secret" recipe was the one on the back of the Toll House Cookie bag. My son's eyes got wide and he was like, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO! But it was a secret recipe." We all died. But they both agree they just don't taste the same as when they baked them with Grandma.
Now I am putting together arrangements that remind people of the past and their own memories. So many goodies out there with a cooking theme!
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| This planter has a little girl cooking on a potbellied stove. I think it is an egg! |
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| These adorable pans, rolling pin and book are the size of your palm. |
Oh, and here is that recipe that my son thought was so secret. The Original Nestle's Toll House Cookie recipe. Just remember to add your own memory making mojo!
So, what about you? Do you have some great memories of cooking with Grandma? Or have you been intentional about making memories with your children? Have you ever found out a recipe that you thought was original with a relative was not?
There's the picture of the lady!
ReplyDeleteLol. There are a number of chocolate chip cookie recipes, but that one is one of the best. It's no secret!
My grandmothers were not great cooks, even though my mother's mother had a few that she has shared and passed down to me. I learned all of my cooking mojo from my mother. I'm so grateful for her patience, love and generosity in sharing her "secrets" with me, since everyone who cooks is not generous.
I can see how you resemble your mom in the picture!
So glad you had your mother's example of sharing. Can't take those memories away.
DeleteThe older I get the more folks say that. But no bouffant hair dos!
I remember my mom baking but it was when I was little- once we moved when I was in 2nd grade I don't remember her baking much ..she'd cook but usually for Sundays or holiday or something at church and not usually something baked. her mother liked to bake/cook - unfortunately she wasn't great at it LOL- I took after her in the 'hurried' department I'm afraid. I still remember her making chicken dumplings - she was cutting the dumplings then putting then in the broth then just took the rest of the dough and tossed it in saying 'it all cooks right?!'..hoo boy!
ReplyDeleteSusanna who's stealing the secret recipe...
You had me at bake a memory, of course! I love family traditions of baking. I tried to start one with my two sisters who still live in town: EPIC FAIL!!!!!
ReplyDeleteSo then I decided that now that I'm the Grammy, we can do our annual Bake a Memory day with the kids.
Baking to me is essential to life. :) I'm really not kidding, I love creating, I love making memories of creations, we keep notes on what works, what doesn't (Lacey, Mandy and I) so that we can know what's "on" if we every open an actual little bakery as part of our farm endeavor.
Dave's mom isn't a baker... My mom was in the early years, but nothing I remember and nothing that my kids ever saw, even when she was finally sober again. But the cool thing is that I got the baking gene and I flaunt it!
I ♥♥♥♥♥ Baking!!!!!!
Yay. I think that is why I love the child sized baking dishes and cookie cutters. So right for little hands. And kids are so much more agreeable to do whatever Grammy wants. Unlike sisters some times. I have two myself.
ReplyDeleteGood for you! I probably got Bake a Memory from you. I knew I heard it somewhere.
Julie, I too love MLK quotes. Very inspirational.
ReplyDeleteI used to love to bake with my grandmother and mother! My grandmother taught me to make pie crust--I specifically remember her using ice water. My mom baked just about everything and loved to let us help her because her own grandmother had kept her out of the kitchen.
Pots and pans made the best toys for kids! And I remember my oldest standing on a chair at the sink just to play with dishes in water. :)
Pie crust. My poor daughter has a time with them. I did not teach her that!
DeleteI know a lot of moms who didn't want kids running around. I can understand!
My baking memories come from two old spinster ladies at church...and don't be offended that I called them old spinster ladies because that's what they called themselves and we proud of it. Couldn't abide men in their lives but ironically couldn't resist playing matchmaker and just loved a good romance. Anyway, I came from a very dysfunctional home and leaped into the church scene in my late teens with absolutely no skills whatsoever. Hilda and Esther kindly took me under their wing and taught me the cooking basics in such a kind, sweet way. Stuff most eight year olds knew how to do but I'd never learned. They hooked me on sewing and quilting as well. They were the anchor I needed when I timidly reached out to God -- looking for a church and a new kind of life. Man, I get teary-eyed just thinking about those two.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet story, Kav.
DeleteI echo Missy. What a gift those two were to you.
DeleteI'm laughing at the memory of "baking" with my grandma.
ReplyDeleteBaking with my mother's mother consisted of using cookie cutters to cut out shapes from white bread and then decorating with colored cream cheese.
I did so love doing it though which just proves that it's more the time spent together than the complicated nature of the recipe.
Oh that is great. My grandmother loved to bake pies but considered Pillsbury biscuits to be the greatest invention known to man. Like Jo in Little Women, she hated flour on her hands.
DeletePeople here are talking about rushing and baking. Did you know that rushing supposedly caused the origin of those Toll House cookies?
ReplyDeleteMy students read a story about Ruth Wakefield. It said she was in a rush one day so instead of taking the time to melt the chocolate first, she chopped it up into pieces and dumped it in, thinking it would melt. It didn't. And the rest is history.
I love that story! Bet your students do too.
DeleteBaking memories! Always the best :)
ReplyDeleteI don't remember baking with either of my grandmothers - although they were both wonderful cooks, and I'm sure I must have cooked something with them at one time or another....
But I do remember having so much fun making Christmas cookies with my mom. Her mother had been a Home Ec teacher before she married Grandpa, so she taught my mom to do things JUST RIGHT. Sifting flour, measuring it, etc. etc. was by the book!
But one of my favorite memories was the last time my mom made cookies. It was about 12 years ago, and she had a mix to use, but her Alzheimers was advanced enough that she couldn't organize the project. Disaster was looming, but my sweet youngest son stepped in and took over. Here was this little guy - 7 or 8 years old - reading the directions and baking cookies with his grandma. It made her day, and mine.
I'm waiting for grandchildren (actually, waiting for daughters-in-law and a son-in-law, first!), and I plan on copying Ruthy's bake-a-memory day idea with them :)
Wow. That is a great memory of your mom and son.
ReplyDeleteYep, memories must be planned sometimes to make them happen.
I love this post! And those pictures... just wonderful!
ReplyDelete