MY COOKBOOK MIMI & ME

MIMI’S CHERISHED MEMORIES

For many years, my children begged me to write down my old family recipes … and for many years, I did jot them down … and stuffed them in drawers, used them for bookmarks, scribbled them on scrap paper, clipped them from newspapers and magazines, and piled them in boxes and plastic bags. Many favorite recipes I’ve adapted from my large cookbook collection that I buy and read like novels. Many recipes were given to me by word of mouth, handed down from generation to generation, mother to daughters, friends and neighbors. Most are of my own making. Soon after I learned to cook a decent meal, I experimented with my own recipes. I adapted most menus from watching my Mom, other family members, TV shows, girl talk, magazines, and newspapers, whatever. Thus, over the years I have accumulated thousands of recipes. I have boxes of clippings filed away … most of the time I ‘wing it ‘… except for baking when I must follow a recipe more closely.

Food has always been a big part of our life. We never lacked for food, even during the ‘lean times’ like during WWII when we were very young kids and foodstuffs were rationed. Somehow my folks found a way to keep us fed, clothed and shoed … and with a roof over our heads. Mom could make a pound of ground meat last for several ingenious meals … the same with a chicken. First boil it … use the broth for soup, the meat for a meal and the leftovers for sandwiches. Then she would boil the bones and make more broth. Mom was a genius at making something tasty out of practically ‘nothing’.

During the food rationing, we went without frills, like candy and gum, butter, sugar and chocolate. I remember my folks yearning for real coffee, complaining about having to drink chicory coffee. Gasoline was only for necessities. We chewed our wad of bubble gum for a whole week, sticking it on our bedpost overnight, just like in the song. We had our Victory garden, as did most of the town, and grew our own vegetables. We were lucky to have a grandfather and two uncles who owned a grocery store and butchered their own meat, so we managed to have some meat to eat. When they received their quota of chocolate or gum, they would put one piece aside for each of us kids, but were careful not to give us more than our share … as every kid in town was waiting as patiently as we were for their treats and my Grandfather and uncles saw to it that all children had their share.

When someone died, the sexton ran the old church bell and my Mom would send us to the market for a soup bone to make soup for the grieving family … many times her soup was well under way before she knew who died. It was what people in Linwood, MI did for each other. If sugar was scarce and someone needed something for a special occasion, they shared their portions for birthday cakes, or evenings of fudge making or taffy pulling.

Food was always a topic of conversation in our big family. It was, “What are we having for Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, the Fourth of July, New Years, for the company coming next weekend … for a birthday party, a special occasion, Sunday dinner, whatever … life was centered around talk of FOOD. And there was always room for anyone who stopped by to join us at our table. Mom made our meal ‘stretch’. She even found enough food to feed the bums that jumped off the boxcars of trains passing our house. She often found them sitting on our doorstep, almost as if they knew they would get a hand out from the kind lady in the little white house with green shutters … and they did. Mom said she thought there was some coded mark on our house that told them they were welcome and would be fed.

My father thought my Mother was the ‘World’s Best Cooker’. He’d still be eating a meal when he would ask Mom what we were having for the next one. I can still see him sniffing around the Thanksgiving turkey when Mom opened the oven to baste the cheesecloth covering our big bird. Dad could hardly contain himself when eyeing his favorite drumsticks. He got one and my brother got the other. Me? I LOVED the browned crispy turkey skin best. Mom always enjoyed a wing, my sisters had the white and dark meat and my Grandma La Flamme, by choice, loved ‘the part that went over the fence last’ as she put it … and oh how she enjoyed it. I can still see her sitting at the table, savoring the fatty goodness, while we kids looked on, confused, wondering why Grandma would choose such a strange piece … YUK!’

We all love good food. It is considered one of life’s greatest pleasures. When I was a kid, I was downright skinny … oh those were the days! Mom tried to fatten me up with fortified milkshakes with eggs whipped in. I hated to drink milk, ever since a farmer squirted milk from a cow’s teat directly in my mouth. It was so warm … I gagged and ever since, I disliked milk … and it got worse when my Mom made me drink warm milk when I was very ill with measles and delirious with fever. YUK! But it was a rule in our house, we kids had to have a glass of milk with each meal … so I would plug my nose and swallow it down, unless I could bribe my little sister, Nancy, to drink it for me, if I promised her a nickel or let her follow me around with my friends.

Mom’s cooking was known far and wide. Lots of ‘good cookers’ my Dad called the women in our family. Everyone had his or her specialties. My aunts were all wonderful cooks. Each had special meat dishes, desserts, breads, wild game, but of them all, to me, my Dad and brother and sisters, Mom was the ‘best cooker’ of them all.

Food was a big part of our French heritage … and it still is. Our holidays are FEASTS! Most of our families have great cooks, as are many of their children and spouses. All my children are good cooks … some cook extremely well. When I married Larry, there were more good dishes his mother, Martha Beighey, and Grandmother Sallie Vestal brought into family meals. As the children grew, married and had families of their own our extended family grew and produced even more new recipes.

We all can cook, some like to better than others. I confess I am getting a bit tired of compulsory cooking after having to feed my big family of six children and a hungry husband three meals a day for all those years. I do enjoy cooking when I feel like cooking. I love eating out, but we all agree that there is nothing like a good home-cooked meal. So I still do a lot of cooking … when I want to … when I feel like it.

Most of our big family meals are done in the summertime when Larry and I move from Amelia Island, Florida Up North to our lake home at Hubbard Lake, Michigan. All of our children come with their families to visit. We have two places at the lake … one the old family cabin, 'The Shack’, which has countless memories for all of us since we began going there in the early 1940’s. Now it is remodeled, [upscale rustic is how my son, Tim, describes it] … with the luxury of running water, laundry facilities, a shower, toilet and fully equipped kitchen … actually it is very cozy and convenient with a dormitory that holds many.

Our lake home, Mighty Oaks, is very comfortable with all the facilities. We have a wonderful time at the lake and do much cooking for a lot of people. My two sisters live there, one permanently and the other’s family has a place directly across the lake from us and spends much time there in summer and winter. We enjoy boating, water skiing, fishing. Everyone joins in cooking. We have bonfires, skits with campfire programs, boat rides, jet skiing, canoeing, hiking, snowshoeing, camping, swimming, tubing, there is always a lot going on, not to mention biking, playing bocce, croquet, softball, lots of board games, card games, etc. but the thing everyone likes to do the most is … EAT! And we certainly do our share of that! We are learning to eat a little healthier, even taken to whole-wheat pasta and brown rice, which I never thought I would learn to enjoy as much as I do now … even like it best. We eat much less red meat and more fish and poultry, whole grain cereals and breads, lots of fruits and vegetables. Got to admit, just as we do at our home, Spyglass, on Amelia Island, while at the lake we enjoy eating out, but the best meals are right at home by our grills in our own homes and on our own decks and porches … with family.

I had a great time getting all these recipes together. There were many little stories about food I wanted to include and there was not room in the recipe section so I made a Notebook Section to include the tidbits I wanted my family to know and remember. Do not hold me responsible if I have not explained the recipes well. Many of my recipes are ‘by-guess-and-by gosh’ [that’s how my Mom described them] recipes that I try to recall … or emulate. Some are from recipes I’ve used for years, some fancy, some not so fancy, but all of those entered are among my favorites. I hope you will all try them and enjoy them as much as we do. My brother, Richard, said they were all, “Scrumptious! Simply Scrumptious!”

I wish to thank all who offered recipes and to my family for their loving encouragement. I dedicate this effort, especially to my Mother, who taught me so much. And a big grateful thanks to my husband, Larry, who helped tremendously with the many details and editing it took to create this labor of love. I love you all. Bon Appetit!

Carole La Flamme Beighey
Author
CBeighey@aol.com