Thank You Recipes

Hard not to feel the sting of separation this holiday locked away from our families and friends. Usually I’d put out my grandmother’s cut glass olive dish, a tablecloth I stole from Mom and fill GG’s vintage Bacardi trifle dish to make them feel closer. But all of it, like ourselves, is locked away for another time.

Feeling particularly hollow, I decided to dig into a treasure I could never put in storage: the cookbook my mother-in-law had made for our wedding. Stuffed with recipes from our families and friends, I went looking for dishes to bring family to our table. What I found was gold: their handwriting.

Scratched down with a pencil coated in flour or perfectly lettered in pen, their writing brought pieces of people I love carried through time.

Uncle Henny; a true Romeo and hell of a dancer.

GG: the woman who taught me how to cook AND eat.

Pop Pop Cook: known for throwing chocolate donuts into a blender. And Dad. I’m not totally sure this is Dad’s recipe but the handwriting looks like his. Of course we’re throwing alcohol over fruit… very Dad.

I’m incredibly thankful for these passed down recipes that blurred the boundaries of time and brought them back to me. #thanksgiving2020