Comments on: A vintage cookbook just like Mother’s – David’s entry

By: Pam Kueber

Pam Kueber — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:34:06 +0000

Hey, Ben, declare yourself! Are you kin to Dave and Laura?

By: Ben Warrior

Ben Warrior — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:08:00 +0000

She did always make excellent food.

By: Colleen

Colleen — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 17:09:17 +0000

Atomicbowler, it sounds like you and Laura are doing a great thing by those kids. I’m sure they will someday pass it along to their kids too! My sister has her kids help make cookies and they all look forward to it. She has made each of them an apron and they all go put them on and jostle for position and stir time! I watch them and think how priceless those memories are they are making. They are also learning other valuable things in the process! I’m sure you are right and someone was listening and guideing you to find those special things.

By: Colleen

Colleen — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 16:53:10 +0000

I was kinda thinking of it as a “Recession” Garden but I suppose since we are at war the old term does fit. (Just doesn’t feel like the motivation/spirit is the same as it sounds like it was then.)

I tried planting my first Recession Garden last year but the squirrels and rabbits got a much better harvest than I did. This year I am planning on integrating my garden plants in with my perennial beds so to improve the soil I planted a cover crop (winter rye, hairy vetch, and red clover) but the rabbits have found it so tasty that my bed that I planted it in looks mowed! I also visited the Restore here last Saturday and got a window to make a cold frame out of. While I was there I spotted a vintage yellow wall-mount sink…but it had a slight crack in it so I didn’t take a picture of it for anybody. They ARE out there though!

By: Pam Kueber

Pam Kueber — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 13:27:22 +0000

Wow atomicbowler, with everyone planning victory gardens for the spring given the economy – I think you are on to something big with all your vintage gadgets to put up food. If you have the time – and get the chance – maybe you could send me pics of your ‘grandma’s kitchen’ essentials? that would be a great feature! p.s. I have picked up both electric and handcrank ice cream makers at tag sales super cheap. We actually have a jersey dairy here still. I go get cream, mix it with fresh picked fruit – ice cream that is to die for and yes, a memory the kids will have forever!

By: atomicbowler

atomicbowler — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 05:19:13 +0000

Tikimama, you would enjoy this book…keep on the lookout for a copy. I say this because there are an AMAZING number of vegetable recipes in it, some I’d never have imagined and some with veg I have never seen or previously heard of and must be either regional or no longer commercially grown. Anyone know where to get a big tuberous thing called “Vegetable Marrow”? There are a ton of recipes for that alone!
There are also large sections on pies, cookies, cakes, salads and relishes…even if you were to be a vegan you would probably find some odd-sounding “old-school” (VERY old-school) recipes that are just killer when you dare to make them.
Thanks to all for the kind words…I have truly been blessed to find as many treasures as I have in such a short period of time. I also collect (sort of) old-school kitchen tools and small appliances. L and I have in a fairly short time (actually a span of about 4 weeks) found EVERYTHING we needed to functionally duplicate My and Her grandmothers’ kitchen equipment both. Some of it I really wanted just so her kids could have experiences (home-made icecream with blackberries everyone picked, hand-squeezed orange juice, homemade hand cut fries, all sorts of things). Mother had an awful lot of things still (all of it really) that she had gotten when my mother, aunt and uncle had been children, and she was very big on giving children educational and memorable experiences. I still remember using the fry-cutter when I was 8, right?
So, everything I wanted to give Laura’s kids these experiences…we found in less than 6 weeks. Probably spent less than 200.00 total. It really was spooky in and of itself. One day I was lamenting the difficulty of finding a strawberry huller in the thrift stores, and two days later found not one but THREE in the SallyAnn for .29 each…enough to have one adult and two children do it together. There were a lot of goofy experiences like that with the apple corer, the cherry pitter, even my huge combo SS stockpot/roaster. I could go on and on and already have, but all I could really say at the end of the day to my self was ‘Thanks, Carol’. I am sure that Mother had some hand in it all somehow from beyond, and I try to dignify it best I can.

AB David

By: Tikimama

Tikimama — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 00:53:15 +0000

I just love these stories that make ME cry along with the writer! I am such a sucker for the near-misses, coincidences and at long-last finding your true love…and mother’s old cookbook to boot! It’s so fun to be here amongst other sentimental people! I got my grandma’s old cookbook, and it is one of my treasures… I’d love to try your recipe, but I’m vegetarian, so I’d have to modify it even more! If I try it, I’ll let you know if it’s any good without the ham!

By: Pam Kueber

Pam Kueber — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 00:24:03 +0000

Yum. You know, my mom and grandma (who lived with us) made a soup quite like this – but with white beans. Great White Northerns, I think. It was my all time favorite and like you, atomicbowler, even better than the ham it came in…Oh, on day 2 there were scalloped potatoes with ham…and on day three – the soup.

By: atomicbowler

atomicbowler — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:23:47 +0000

OK-here is the recipe. Actually, the recipe from the book with a few small modifications to make it the way Mother did. This recipe is for a single batch, but I usually do a double-batch and freeze half. This is a very thick soup and I like to serve it in sourdough bread bowls, or at least with some good crusty french bread.

3 Qt water
3 C split peas, cleaned and rinsed (do not soak)
1-Ham bone with meat and marrow attached
1-1/2 C. slivered, cooked ham if available
2 Tsp. Salt (if adding more ham as above, reduce salt by 50%)
1/2 Tsp. Black Pepper
1 Lg. carrot chopped or grated
1 Medium onion, sliced
1 Stick celery, minced

Put all ingredients in pot, cook at slow simmer for 3-4 hours or until peas are unrecognizable. The soup will be a bit grainy in appearance, you want this. Most all the marrow should have been cooked out of the bone now–this is important.
Remove bone from soup, cut off any attached meat and return meat to soup.
Skim fat before serving, ladle from bootom of pot to top.

Enjoy!
Dave

By: sablemable

sablemable — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 20:07:25 +0000

David, Such a wonderful story! And there’s nothing like Mom’s cooking, is there?