From Scratch

I just recently had cause to be reminded of the grandparents in my family. My Aunt created a compilation of recipes from both sides of her family a while back and I love that thing. The book even has a cover and binding. Very professional. Many of the recipes are from several generations back- people I’ve never met, but the presents they left me have me singing their praises. These women were geniuses in the kitchen. My Nana still has some of the very carefully hand-written, cards from her grandmother. They come complete with great memories of cold days and a warm gooey cookie or a satisfying stew.

My aunt had perfect timing because I was preparing to move out for the first time and neither my new roommate nor I had much cooking experience (my mother wasn’t fond of messes). I knew how to follow the simple step by step directions recipes offer and I knew some basic techniques so I wouldn’t burn down the building in my first stumbling attempts at fine cuisine. Needless to say we didn’t have a lot of money for mistakes, so I started elaborating on what I already knew. I could do things like boil pasta, sauté veggies and make cake from a box. Slowly I started working in fresh garlic to pasta and adding chopped walnuts to pre-made cookie dough. These were safe and reliable and didn’t strain the budget too much. We ate lots of ramen and drank almost exclusively mountain dew, so a good meal with real nutrients a few times a week was pretty important.

Slowly I graduated to becoming something more of a foodie. Today I made Red Lobster style cheddar biscuits with garlic and oregano butter topping for the first time. I like butter and I LOVE garlic, and if you're anything like me you need to make these.

Baking the biscuits reminded me of how much I loved to help my grandmothers bake as a child. The cookies that came out of those ovens were the Best Cookies Ever. Grandma Cookies. Nothing Beats Grandma Cookies. Nothing. I don’t know how to stress this more. Nothing.

I now have the ability to make Nana’s Chocolate Sugar Cookies and Gramma’s Marmalade-filled Sesame Seed Cookies. I can also make their dinners and appetizers and salads. This cookbook fills me with joy knowing that the amazing food I grew up with won’t die with the creator like so many family traditions are these days. Baking from scratch is almost unheard of to the point that you have to be 80 years old or a food-snob to take the time. Go on, ask the local teenagers if they have ever made bread from scratch. It would be laughable if it wasn't so sad. There’s nothing wrong with boxed cake and refrigerated cookie dough, they just don’t leave as much room for the most important ingredient (other than more butter) as my grandmothers cookies do. Love.