Covid Journal, Day 279: Pie Day

30 this morning, heavy frost. Clear, then cloudy toward evening.

The birds are feeding heavy these days. Today they were really busy, as if they knew a snowstorm is heading our way tomorrow night. 

I was in the kitchen again all day, this time making pies. How I do love to bake. I have to admit, though, i have never learned to make pretty crimped pie edges. Ah well, they all eat the same. Today was pumpkin, apple, and mincemeat and cherry tarts. Two apple pies because that's the family favorite.

I also made some brownies. I found this recipe that uses instant chocolate pudding. I rarely have instant mixes, and these have been around a while, bought for some purpose I can no longer remember. So I thought I'd try the brownie recipe. They are delicious. I made some plain, and the second batch I used cherry juice instead of vanilla, and put maraschino cherries on top, one for each brownie when cut. They came out lovely--I dusted with confectionery sugar to dress them up a bit. I doubt I'll ever make them with the pudding mix again since it's not something I usually buy, but it was an interesting change.

And then there was one more batch of cookies. These were to use up some bits and pieces left over. The recipe was for chocolate chunk cookies, on the back of the package, but I added dried cranberries, white chocolate chips, and hazelnut pieces along with the chocolate chunks. Delicious. 

Last night Larry took the neighbors' cookie plates and kahlua around, so a lot of cookies left the house, a good thing. I have plenty for my family, that's for sure. 

Tomorrow, if the weather cooperates, we will pick up our youngest son at the airport in Charleston. I am so looking forward to seeing him; it's been a long year with no visits. We are supposed to have some heavy rain, then snow Christmas Eve night and morning, so please pray that the weather cooperates long enough to get him here. I would hate for him to be stuck in some airport at Christmas. Weather this time of year is so tricky.

I listened--several times--to Bruce Cockburn's Christmas album as I cooked today. This song, Early on One Christmas Morn, is one of my favorites--perfect for baking! 

Right now there is venison stew cooking in the crockpot, to be put in the fridge for tomorrow evening. I have enjoyed getting ready for Christmas this year, because we had the time to really concentrate on it. Not even one trip to Wal-Mart for us. It's been nice to really sink into the joy of it. I hope you have had a as nice a time as we have. 

Merry Christmas Eve Eve, everyone!

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

Covid Journal, Day 238: A Fun Day with the Sisters, Virtually

57 with sun early, but rain showers by 9:00am. Looks to be an overcast, wet day. 

We did it. The fruitcakes are done, and five sisters gathered to do it together, online.

It wasn't as much fun as our usual gathering, I have to admit. But it worked to bring us together for our annual cake-making ritual.

I prepared in advance, making sure all my ingredients were on the table or close at hand. 

I zested and juiced the oranges and lemons beforehand too, as that process can take a while. I was ten minutes late to the gathering because I forgot our kitchen clock was 10 minutes slow, but I quickly caught up, and my cakes were the first in the oven. The advance prep really helped.

Almost mixed...notice my rigged-up place for the laptop. I have to leave it hooked to the modem because my satellite internet wifi signal is not really good enough for Zoom. So to get the computer in a good spot and high enough up, I used a little table I'd just painted and a cardboard box as a stand. It worked.

Preparing the pans is a lot of work. I planned to do that in advance too but ran out of time. Each pan must be greased, then lined with parchment paper, then the parchment paper greased. I didn't have any parchment paper this year, but used aluminum foil in its place, which worked just as well.

Into the oven of my old 1950 Tappan stove.

And done. Aren't they pretty?

Thirteen cakes later, I could sit down with my coffee and visit. We stayed online together until almost all the cakes were baked, a long, leisurely few hours. Most of my sisters and I get together weekly on Zoom, but this time we stayed longer and really got to cover all the bases. 

Our get-together was certainly different this year, but it worked. Some things were better, in a way. I didn't have to travel hours to do it, and I had all my familiar tools and my own kitchen to work in. I am pretty efficient in my kitchen, but cooking in someone else's...well, you know how that is. When it was over, I was right here at home, not facing more miles of travel. This might be the way I participate as we get older, since I live at least 5 hours from any of my siblings. It's nice to know I will still be able to do it if travel is no longer an option.

Time with my sisters. What a precious gift.

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

Covid Journal, Day 38: Homely Things

51 and stormy this morning. We've had sheeting rain, hail, clouds, high winds (again!) and sunshine today. April is such a temperamental month.

Since it was really nasty this morning, we both decided on inside work. I started my day listing things on ebay, which I seem to do better in the mornings. I think listing, and writing in general for me, go better with coffee. I got four items done--an antique lamp shade, a gooseneck lamp with no shade, an antique oil lamp without its burner or chimney (already sold), a set of 4 art prints of pretty birdhouses, and a Fenton glass bell.

The glass shade. Such a pretty thing.

 I was going to do more, but went to make more coffee and got sidetracked. I wanted something with the coffee, and we had no cookies or cake, so I thought I'd make some biscotti. To do that meant hunting up all the ingredients. Larry had rearranged my big pantry cupboard after spilling some honey in there, and I have not been able to find anything since. So I set to getting it back the way I like it. I found all kinds of things--the missing raisins, three opened bags of all-purpose flour, a jar of chocolate chips, extra jars of peanut butter. A lot of things. Then I got to work on the biscotti.

Biscotti isn't hard to make but it is time-consuming, a point I'd forgotten. You mix it, then shape it, bake it a while, take it out and slice it, put the slices back in the oven to toast on one side, take them out again and turn them over, toast on the other side, then finally let them cool on a rack. By the time I was finished, my coffee was long gone. But now I have two jars of a lovely treat to have with my coffee.

I do like these old made-in-Japan cookie jars. My mother disliked anything from Japan because she lived through WWII, and for years I carried on her dislike, until one day I realized that there really were some pretty things made there. And finally overcame my aversion.

When I finished that I put together a pot of lentil and ham soup, one of my favorites. I've been meaning to make it all last winter, so when I came upon a jar (actually, 2 jars) of lentils in the cupboard, I decided today was the day. There's plenty leftover for tomorrow, which is fine with me.

I'd no sooner got the soup on to cook when Larry came in with the mail and a box. It was my order from San Francisco Herb Company. I've ordered from this company off and on for 40 years. Their prices are so good--but you have to buy in bulk, and I believe there's a $30 minimum. But just look at these prices:

Now, a 1/2 pound of Chamomile is a LOT of chamomile; ditto the orange peel, pepper, rosehips and spearmint. I have plenty to blend my own herb teas now for a year or more, which is what I plan to do. A friend gave me a blend she made with spearmint, rosehips, chamomile and cinnamon and I want to make it myself, adding a bit of orange peel to the mix. And candied ginger is as good for my stomach as an antacid; this is far, far less than I would pay anywhere else for candied ginger. Coconut is always a favorite, and I'm thinking to make some macaroons soon. I would pay more than this for just a few ounces each of the things on my list. So I was happy to get them, but it was back to the pantry to put everything in containers and stored away.

When I finished with the herbs and spices, I got to work on the two painting projects I've been working on, and got them both finished and ready to take to the booth tomorrow. As I mentioned before, the antique mall is closed but the owner is working there on other projects and online selling, so we can take things in. I am so glad to be done with this because now I'll get my kitchen cleared out. I've had 4 chairs and the small table I was working on in there and it was getting cramped! Here's the dining table, all finished. It has a neat folding center leaf.

And the little table. This one has leaves too; the sides fold down.

Larry worked on the bathroom floor again, this time replacing some tiles. He's worked on this in fits and starts, and I think it may be midsummer before he gets done. Joking of course, but tile is not his favorite thing to do. He was glad when the weather cleared up and he could escape outside.

With these high winds, we had to tie down the two little greenhouses. I'd already tied the one with Christmas ribbon in the middle of the night last week when a bad storm blew up, but Larry found some actual rope to tie the other. All the plants are looking good so far.

The day ended with a beautiful evening, although the winds continued. Sometime maybe we'll get to sit out on the patio again and enjoy a fire, but not yet.

So that was our day. Nothing outstanding, just lots of little tasks that kept us busy right up to 7pm. Tomorrow I go back to the doctor to take this monitor back, and drop off the furniture at the mall. Maybe we'll take the long way home. Why not? There's not a lot of places to go these days!

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

Fruitcake Day

They're done. About 50 fruitcakes, all packed up, some soaked with brandy, and waiting for the holidays.

Three of my seven sisters made the long trek from northern Virginia to my home in the West Virginia hills, not far from the Ohio River. My aunt and her daughter-in-law, our beloved Bridget, also came, as did three granddaughters and a couple of their friends.

We had a blast. We ate and baked and laughed and mixed,

made messes and cleaned them up and completely enjoyed our time together.

The tradition came from our mother, who may have learned it from her mother. Get together with other women and girls to make the holiday cakes. And everyone gets three stirs of each bowl and makes a wish on each one. We are passing it on to our grandchildren in hopes this fun tradition will continue to bring our womenfolk together long after we're gone.

We make good cakes too. Even those who say they don't like fruitcake like our cakes. Each batch comes out a little differently from the others, and every year the cakes are different from the year before. Which is odd because we use basically the same ingredients. But sometimes we add more or less fruit; the fruits vary year to year; sometimes some of us use honey instead of molasses, or sorghum molasses instead of blackstrap. Sometimes we put in peach jam, other times blackberry or other berries, sometimes jelly; sometimes the eggs are bigger, and other years some might use dark brown sugar while others use light brown. Sometimes we add brandy to the mix, sometimes not.

Mine are now soaked with brandy, to sit and absorb the flavor into the fruits and cake. I've already sampled one without brandy, and it was delicious...but the brandy will make it better!

My house is now back in order, the dishes washed and put away, the bed linens and towels washed and sorted and put away, the floors swept. But the joy that permeated this place over the weekend is still here. It seeped into every corner and cupboard, and still hovers around the corners of my mouth.

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

Cottage Pudding: the Taste of Memories

When I was a child, my mother sometimes allowed my sisters and me to bake, or to make desserts. For a short while we had a "cooking class" taught by a friend of our mother, who taught us the basics of baking. We had great fun but the classes ended after too short a time, probably because the cost of ingredients were just too much for the family food budget.

One dessert we learned to make was Cottage Pudding. It was a sort of heavy cake with a translucent lemon sauce served warm over it. That dessert remained in my mind for years but I never found the recipe for it, and my mother had no recollection of where we got it when I asked her about it years later.

When Mom passed away, some of my sisters and I helped Dad sort and clear up the kitchen. Mom loved to cook but organization? Not so much her thing. There were pans of every kind, gadgets and tools and cookbooks. LOTS of cookbooks. One of them was an old, beat-up Betty Crocker with the red-and-white patterned cover. And in that book, I found the recipe I'd been looking for.

I wrote the recipe out carefully because one of my other sisters wanted to keep the book--she had so many memories of using it. So I copied the recipe into a little notebook I carried with me. The next 10 months were a blur for me of work, storytelling and driving back and forth to Virginia to take my turn at caring for Dad.  And then Dad died too, and life was very dark for a while.

Somewhere in all of that I misplaced the little notebook and could not even remember what notebook I'd used to copy down the recipe. But the other day as I was sorting out a drawer in my desk a little book fell out and pages scattered on the floor. And I found my recipe.

Today I tried making Cottage Pudding for the first time in over 50 years. It is not quite how I remember it--my cake came out a bit heavier than I remember it, but the lemon sauce was perfect. It was like jumping in a time machine and going back in time to the large table surrounded by my brothers and sisters, everyone scraping the last of the lemon sauce out of their bowls.

When I make this again, I will use the usual method of cake-making, adding wet and dry ingredients alternatively and beating them in. I believe that might improve the texture. As it is, it is delicious. Larry and I both had two helpings. So here's the recipe for you to try. If you do try it, tell me what you think. I'm curious to know if others like it as well as I do.

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

When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Cookies

One day last week the coupons booklet from the grocery store arrived. These come every couple months or so, and usually have some good recipes along with the coupons. This time the booklet had lots of lemon recipes, and the one for Lemon Shortbread Cookies jumped out at me.

I made them on Monday and they are about the best cookies I've ever made. So light and crisp, with a nice zing of lemon. They were easy to make too.

Here's the recipe:

1 cup of softened, unsalted butter
3/4 cup of granulated sugar
1 packed tablespoon lemon zest
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Yellow decorative sugar, if you have it. I didn't so I substituted regulat granulated sugar

In a mixing bowl of stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar til light and fluffy. Add zest, lemon juice, flour and salt and combine well. I set my mixer on low and let it do the work. Form onto 2 or 3 logs about 1 1/2-2" in diameter. Wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate for 2 hours. (I skipped this step--the dough was firm enough to slice easily without chilling).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If you skip the chilling step, preheat the oven before you start mixing the cookies.

Unwrap and roll in the decorative sugar (or granulated sugar). Slice into 1/3" slices and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until the cookies look dry but not brown on top (I lifted one and checked the bottom--if it was a golden brown, I figured they were done). Cool on a rack and store in an airtight container. Makes (they say) 4 dozen, but I ended up with about 30 of the yummiest cookies I've ever tasted.

Four days later they are still as fresh and crisp as the day I made them.

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

Reflection, and Baking Vintage

As always, the days leading up to yesterday were difficult--knowing that the anniversary date was coming, fear of how it might affect me, worry that I might get too depressed, wondering how quickly I will recover this time. It all sounds very self-involved, isn't it? And yet, who cannot be that way when grief and loss are involved? It is after all, a personal experience that is only mine and no one else's. We all deal with tragedy in our own ways.

Normally I go somewhere and stay very busy on that date, avoidance being the best route in the past. This year I stayed home and stayed busy with mundane things like painting the kitchen cabinets, working on a big dresser and entering data for my taxes. And it was okay. There was time for reflection and remembrance, time to communicate online with friends and by phone with a couple family members who thought to call. One day at a time, right? And yesterday was not a bad day in the end. I got through it, and this morning woke up cheerful and ready to move on.

So today it's back to mundane. I have no need to go out for the third day in a row. The cabinets got their final coat of paint this morning and await the polyurethane coating to protect them. Larry has finished the doors with new stain and polyurethane and I have new-to-us old white glass knobs for handles. We painted inside the cabinets and they look fresh and clean. Last week I painted the cabinets the same sage green I used on the inside, and guess what? I didn't like it! It looked too blah, somehow. So now I have painted them a deep red called Tuscan Red. It's one of the General Finishes paint colors. I really like General Finishes milk paints and have been using them almost exclusively. I tell you though, that green was good paint, whatever it was. I bought it at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Charleston and it was some of the best paint I have ever used. Two coats gave excellent coverage.

I decided to bake this morning to warm up the house. It was cold last night, down in the low teens and there is a chill in the air that makes it feel even colder than that. Since I had an open jar of applesauce and some raisins leftover from Christmas baking, I decided to make Applesauce Cake (my recipe is here), but to bake it in muffin tins. Two reasons for that: I love my old muffin tins' shape, and muffins give a controlled portion, unlike a cake where a piece can be as big as a person wants to cut it! (I was surprised when I linked the recipe to find I posted it on February 2, 2008, just two years to the day before I lost my son. Life has odd coincidences.)

It hit me as I finished making the muffins that I use pretty much all vintage kitchen tools these days. This morning for example I used  my old muffin tins, Pyrex bowl and measuring cup, aluminum measuring spoons, my mother's KitchenAid mixer, a red-handled dipper, and the recipe is kept with all my other favorites in an old photo holder. Then there is the Ball jar that held the applesauce, my little Hazel Atlas nut chopper I used for the walnuts, and of course my trusty Tappan range. Even the butter was melted in an old cast iron saucepan.

What is the pleasure of cooking with these old tools? Perhaps it is that they've stood the test of time and are still here, ready to work. There is comfort in holding a ladle that was held by cooks before me; perhaps some of them also experienced tragedy and loss and yet they too probably continued to cook, laugh and love.


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

Pumpkin Recipes and Pie Crust How-To

Reposting some of my favorite pumpkin recipes, in case you, like me, just can't get enough of that spicy pumpkin goodness.

PUMPKIN NUT COOKIES
1/2 cup butter 1 tsp salt
1 cup sugar 2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup pumpkin 1/4 tsp ginger
2 cups flour 1 cup raisins
4 tsp baking powder 1 cup nuts

Cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and pumpkin and mix well. Add flour, baking powder, salt and spices. Stir in raisins and nuts. Drop onto greased cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. 4 dozen.


PUMPKIN CAKE

2 cups sugar
1 cup salad oil
4 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups mashed, cooked pumpkin or 16 oz canned pumpkin
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Combine sugar, salad oil, and eggs in a large bowl. Mix well.
Combine dry ingredients; add to oil mixture, beating well. Stir in pumpkin. Pour batter into 2 greased and floured 9' cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Turn out onto racks to cool. Frost with cream cheese icing.

PUMPKIN PIE
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups cooked, well-drained pumpkin (or use canned store-bought)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1 2/3 cup 2% milk--or you can use a can of evaporated milk (13 fl. Oz.)
1 9" unbaked pie shell, homemade or store-bought (if using frozen pie shells, this recipe makes 2 pies. Bake as pie shell package directs)

Mix filling ingredients in the order given. Pour into pie shell. Bake in a preheated 425-degree oven for 15 minutes; reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center of the pie comes out clean. Cool. Garnish with whipped cream, if desired.

Pie Crust

To make the pie, you'll need a crust unless you use the pre-made ones. Here's my recipe:

Gather your tools: favorite mixing bowl, pastry blender, measuring cup, rolling pin, cutter for the circles, pastry board(or table or counter top or wherever you plan to roll out your dough), and pie pans.

Ingredients:

2 cups plain flour (not self-rising)

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup of butter (margarine or shortening can work; I like real butter)

about 6-8 tablespoons cold water (put ice cubes in the water to get it really cold. Really.)

Mix the flour and salt together. 

Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or a fork (but the pastry blender is works best). 

Add the water, using only a little at a time, until the mixture will hold together. 

Divide the dough into two parts. 

Roll out on a floured surface to the desired thickness and size (you may need to sprinkle a little flour on the dough as you roll it out if it sticks to your rolling pin, and add a little to the floured surface).

 Roll to the desired thickness and lift into your pie plate. 

 Pinch the extra dough that will probably be hanging off the edges of the pastry and then trim with a knife.

 Prick the bottom to prevent bubbling up. Some people recommend pie weights but I have never used them so can't say how they work.

Add your favorite filling, and bake. That's it--it's really simple. The real keys are using ice water and not working the dough too much as that makes it tough. I like a mixture of shortening and butter instead of all one or the other. Some people also add a little sugar, but I prefer my crust without it.

SUSANNA'S PUMPKIN NUT BREAD
2 eggs
1/4 cup softened butter
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 /14 cups self-rising flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup chopped pecans

Beat eggs with softened butter. Add pumpkin, sugar, and milk. Add next three ingredients and mix well. Add nuts.
Spread in well-greased loaf pan (9x5x3in). Bake in 350 degree oven for 45-55 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

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

Making Scones

When I was young, scones were one of the treats I looked forward to. They were also one of my earlier ventures into baking. No wonder; my mother's recipe was so simple anyone could make them successfully.
As I got older and had my own family I experimented a bit, adding this or that to see what the result might be, but the basic recipe remained the same; on;y the additions changed.

So when I decided I wanted scones the other day, I checked my cabinet to see what was available. There was actually quite a lot: dried cranberries, raisins, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, fried orange peel and chocolate chips. I decided to make orange-hazelnut-cranberry scones but in my hurry I grabbed the walnuts.
And you know, I'm not sorry. The scones were/are delicious and I think I'll make that mistake on purpose next time.

Here's my recipe

Scones

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. This is important to make your scones (or your biscuits) rise properly.

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour (I used self-rising today, and still added the baking powder. The scones are light and flaky).
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. sugar
pinch of salt
1/4 c. butter or shortening (I like to use half of each)
2 c. raisins or other dried fruits, nuts, orange peel, etc.
Enough milk to mix the above ingredients. (Cider or buttermilk also make great scones. Experiment!)

Mix together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder with a fork. Cut in the butter or shortening with a pastry blender. Add raisins (and I added candied cherries today too. You can vary what you add--nuts, cranberries, blueberries, orange peel, etc).

Add milk and mix with a fork into a dough to about the consistency of biscuit dough--moistened and forming a nice ball,  but not sticky. Less mixing is better than more. 

Pat out to about 1" thick on a floured pastry board and cut into squares. I sprinkle flour onto the board first, so the scones pat out easily and don't get sticky. Place the squares on an ungreased baking sheeet.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes (mine were done in 10 minutes today, because the oven was already hot).

Copyright 2012 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

When I Learned to Cook

Do you remember when you first learned to cook?

If you are like me, the learning took place over quite a few years, beginning as a child of about nine when my sister Judy and I began experimenting with making desserts. We had helped our mother make Christmas cookies and fruitcake but that summer we wanted to try cooking all by ourselves. We made Floating Islands first as I recall, a thin, pale yellow custard with a dob of meringue floating on top and sprinkled with nutmeg. We then learned to make meringues, whipping eggs whites and sugar to stiff peaks, adding vanilla and food coloring and baking them to a golden brown. We went on to make cakes, scones and cookies before we became teenagers and our training took a new turn: cooking meals for our very large family of 13 children.

By the time I was a teenager, Mom had begun to have some serious health issues. When I was in eighth grade, she had to be in the hospital for a six-week stay. It was up to Judy and me to take care of the house and do the cooking. We managed it by taking off from school, alternately missing days so that while one was in school, the other was home, cleaning, doing laundry and cooking. When the rest of the family came home, they had work to do too: bringing in and putting away laundry, washing dishes, and helping get dinner on the table.

Today such absence from school would not be tolerated but back then in the 1960's no one objected much. We kept our grades up, making the honor roll so I suppose there was no reason for concern. I remember that I missed over 40 days of school that year as I learned instead some complicated home management.

When I married at 17, I thought I knew how to cook but I soon discovered that cooking for 15 and cooking for two are vastly different. My recipes were mostly inexpensive, hearty, and used very little meat because meat was expensive and Mom had taught us to make the most of any meat we used. My first husband, on the other hand, was Texas-raised and thought a meal meant meat, potatoes and an optional vegetable. I learned to broil steaks, fry chicken and bake potatoes. I tried making my first pies, using a piecrust mix and instant pudding, and found a recipe for something called Bavarian that used Cool Whip and Jello. I puttered around my tiny pre-World War II apartment in Fairlington, Virginia and loved the view from its window, overlooking huge oaks and the winding road up which my husband would travel on his way home.

After a year of marriage and the birth of our first son we found a little house we could afford to buy. We had $1500 to put down--can you imagine doing that today? The kitchen in this house was even more basic than the apartment kitchen, although it was a little larger. This house was a log cabin that had been covered on the exterior with smooth stucco, and on the inside with poorly installed drywall. We tore our the drywall to expose the round logs, put up a few shelves, painted the homemade cabinets, put in a dutch door that opened in the middle to swing open at the top while the bottom stayed closed. That was about the extent of our renovations to the kitchen but I loved that kitchen too--it opened out onto a porch that ran the length of the back of the house, and overlooked the Occoquan River far below. In winter I could see the water sparkling through the trees between my house and the water; in spring the water could still be glimpsed through young green trees but in summer I only had the memory of seeing the water. ( The photo at left was taken in December 1973--I was holding baby Aaron, and Derek is beside me; Jon on the left and oldest son George on the right, ex-hubby in background. On the mantle is the coffee grinder I still use today, and we still have the old crock too).

After the birth of our second son less than a year after we moved, I began to experiment more with cooking. One beautiful spring day I took out a book that had been a wedding present, Fine Old Old New England Recipes, and found a recipe for bean soup. Believe it or not, I do not remember ever having eaten any kind of bean soup except split pea. I followed the recipe and made the soup. The heavenly aroma filled the kitchen and spilled out the door into the soft spring air. That same day, I attempted my first fruit pie--apple. This time I did not use packaged pie crust mix--my cookbook had a recipe for making pastry and a recipe for Deep Dish Apple Pie.

Both recipes worked. When my husband came home I spread a cloth over a table on the porch and we ate our dinner where we could smell the sweet blossoms on our plum tree (that never had any plums) and enjoy the greening of the world around us. I remember the spicy sweet smell of the pie and the rich heartiness of the soup.

I also remember how very happy I was on that day in my kitchen, wearing my apron and following the recipes so carefully as I mixed and rolled and chopped and baked. I remember the pretty curtains I had hand-sewn, fluttering in the breeze coming in the kitchen window. But mostly I remember the feeling of supreme satisfaction at having successfully made such good food all by myself. I was hooked at the moment on cooking from scratch and I have never left that path. It was no historic day; no one but me probably remembers the pie or the soup and yet it is one that stays in my memory as golden moment, a treasured memory of scents and sights and contentment.

That is how I learned to cook. How about you? Do you remember your early cooking experiences?


Copyright 2012 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Sisters and Fruitcakes Are Not the Same Thing

I cannot believe I've let so much time go by without posting here. The truth is the days have been nonstop full of all sorts of good things. Here's a quick rundown:

Last week I worked on getting ready for my sisters to visit. That sounds simple but it's a little more complicated than it might seem. You see, my house has one bedroom and five sisters were coming. So how to house everyone? We do have a single and a double hide-a-bed sofas, so that accounted for three. I could put two in my room and that took care of everyone, but where would Larry and I sleep? The problem was solved fairly simply--he spent the nights at our son's house, and I bought a camping cot with a nice little mattress on it, and slept here in my office. It all worked out just fine. Whew.

It's funny. Over the years this house has been full of my sons and their families many times. We throw down air mattresses or sleeping bags, the kids pile onto them and we're all set. But my sisters were a different story. We're all getting a little too "mature" for  air mattresses and definitely past the sleeping bag age. Beds are not a luxury anymore, they're pretty much a necessity. I cannot wait for this new room to be finished so that we will actually have room to house guests in a comfortable space. Patience is not a virtue I am familiar with, but I know that I have to have it since the room progresses as we get the funds to more ahead. I take comfort in knowing that is is almost to the point that the grandkids can camp out in there.

We had a wonderful time together, my sisters and me. Only five of the seven could come, but we made enough noise for an army. We laughed, talked and laughed some more. We cooked, we ate, we visited. Our Aunt Georgette came to make fruitcakes with us and that was a real pleasure.

We can make a mess when we get to baking:

 

 But we usually don't care since it's so much fun:

There are a lot of cooks, but in this case they don't spoil the cakes:

 

And of course we need someone to take pictures:

and help mix:

 

and just help with anything we ask (granddaughter Haley was with us for a while):

 

 And our lovely aunt put up with all the commotion and was still smiling at then end of the day:

even though I think she really wanted to escape!

Copyright 2012 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.