Granddaughters in the Kitchen

Didn't check the temperature this morning, but think it was around 50°f. Breezy all day, thin clouds but sunny. Changing weather on the way?

I admit, I love it when another woman makes herself at home in my kitchen. Perhaps it is because I had no daughters to cook with me. I did have granddaughters (eleven, I think,  and counting) and we would often be in the kitchen when they visited, making cakes and cookies, or canning in the summer months. But they all grew up and moved on. Over the years I had a few womanfriends who cooked with me but they too have moved on, so now it is rare to have another woman in my kitchen.

Which is why it feels like such a treat when Sarah comes to her cabin for a few weeks. We are very alike, and she moves with ease in the old-fashioned--some would say out of date-- kitchen, comfortable with my vintage stove and utensils. 

I enjoy just sitting and watching, answering her questions as needed. What bliss. 

Yesterday Sarah whipped up two big pans of brownies from scratch before all our company arrived. Last week she made salsa from veggies she brought with her from Colorado that needed to be used up, and canned it. Now that sure pleased my old heart! 

Granddaughter Grace is very much the same, so when she comes, first we put on the kettle for tea, which she drinks English style with milk and sugar, in one if my pretty cups. Then if there is cooking to be done, she's right there to help as needed.  The photo below is from 2011, when Grace and I made a pineapple upside down cake for her Dad's birthday, using my antique cake mixer. Today, Grace is 26! How the years fly by.

Grace will be here for a few days at the end of the month, so once again I will be enjoying watching another woman, at home in my kitchen.

Writing this post made me journey back through years of posts about cooking with granddaughters. Hannah and Haley were here almost every weekend when their Dad was deployed, and they loved to bake. We made Wacky Cake, cookies, redbud jelly and grape juice, among other things. 

They were so little then! Now Haley (right) is in the Army National Guard full-time, and Hannah is the single working mom of two little ones. When they come to Granny's these days, they want tea, and relax time!

And Michaela: another little baker, now a senior in forensic chemistry at WVU. She and I made cakes together too, but I doubt she has much time for baking right now.

Sisters Kate, Cassie, and Ally loved to cook too, and I know I have photos of them in the kitchen but my internet is being wonky with these stiff winds today. I well remember one time the three of them stayed for a week or two , and we canned tomatoes. The three of them sitting around the table,  laughing and singing as they peeled the red fruit is a vivid and treasured memory. 

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.