Honoring My Father

Thanks, Dad!

I collect cookbooks. Now, I’m not known for my cooking, though I do bake some wonderful cheesecakes that do very well at my church’s dessert auctions. The youth of our church decided to produce a cookbook as a fundraiser. We were all asked to provide recipes. As I’m not a person who makes up recipes, I was a bit stumped until I remembered my father’s cookbook. I’m not talking a published cookbook, but a collection of recipes in Dad’s own handwriting. Soups, stews, potpies, vegetable side dishes—to say they took me back in time is an understatement.

Dad would start with something out of cookbook and rework it until it was his own. I’ve often wondered how many times my mother had to taste test a recipe before it had Dad’s seal of approval. I do know the only tomato soup my son and his cousins would eat was Papo Bill’s.

Dad died over five years ago, so the recipes I submitted were in his name and in his honor. Thanks, Dad.

By Nancy Jelinek
Broadening Horizons Blog