It’s a wonderful thing when a patient becomes a friend. Such was the case with Valda from Kalamazoo. We found that we shared much in our views on food, music, and politics, and concern for the future of Kalamazoo. She became sort of a protegée, as I guided her along recipes, including some from my “cookbook’ (1). Of course, I had to inflict upon her my boomer music sensibilities, a boom she just missed, settling for her “Prog Rock”.
When a recent near disaster plunged me into a meeting with my recipes, I thought she’d get a kick out of my description of the proceedings, which I note below.
I know you’re rockin’ away on that boat, proggin’ down and head bangin’. I hope you’re having half as much fun as I have these past 2 ½ days. I stumbled into an unexpected project when my shaking of the screen that held all my recipe boxes left Aunt Dorie’s bigger box on the floor. Some pick up and rearranging would be in order regardless, but I knew this box was the spot where my dear late aunt also parked her torn-out recipes. I’d been meaning for years to organize these and clip them out to paste on 3X5 cards. Here was my chance. Here I am, 10 gluesticks and 2 packs of 3X5 cards done. I still have to finagle with some entries, laminating, Xeroxing, and annotating. Early on, I came across a clipped recipe for Latvian pierogis. I attach it here so you can check it for accuracy (see below). Later, I came across a 4X6 card in my dear Grandma Slater’s handwriting for “pirox” attributed to “Mrs. Miske”, her exotic Latvian neighbor. I couldn’t find the card as I started to write this. Grandma loved those little ham-filled rolls and they graced every outing table.
Fun to go through the old recipes. Grandma and the rest of the Slater women loved their cookies, pies, and cakes (as did her grandson!). But in there are some gems, like the Slater family recipe for mincemeat (annotated by my aunt as “very valuable”). I also found a recipe for “green tomato mincemeat”. I found my grandma’s recipe for “suet pudding”, but can’t decide in which category I should file it. The torn-out recipes come on so many different media. I’ve cut recipes from torn out pages of personal calendars, tops of Quaker Oats cannisters, empty packages of Lipton soup, backs of grocery cashier slips, and of course numerous clippins from newspapers and magazines. I’ve taken to including, when such info is available, the date and name of publication. Oldest so far is from a 1965 issue of Grit.
I wrote a couple years ago about the joys of going through old recipe boxes (2). Such deep memories they bring, especially in a family like mine where food was so important. Seeing the handwriting of long-dead but much-loved people, I can almost smell the goodies these recipes would produce to serve me. Who knows how much I’ll dive into these 2 boxes once organized (yes, Aunt Dorie had a separate box for 3X5 cards). There are some “dupes”, if you’re interested.
Well, it’s kept me from writing that damned article I’d promised an editor by St. Patrick’s Day. I guess that’s next. Hardly as tasty.
As promised, here’s that Latvian recipe:
References
- Ike R. Musing through a pandemic. On the sidelines. Volume V. Foodies!. Amazon (Kindle) 2022. Published 8/26. https://a.co/d/1mkh613
2. Ike B. Recipes. WordPress 1/4/23. https://theviewfromharbal.com/2021/01/04/recipes/
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