How It Came About

I come from a family of many great cooks, for many generations back. Recipes have been passed down from generation to generation, embedded into the next generation's mind. Some recipes were scribbled onto scraps of paper, tucked away into little boxes for safe keeping. As my mom grew up and moved out on her own, she began calling her mom to ask how to make those familiar favorites of her childhood. Most recipes were simply verbally passed down. Some were merely a vague ingredient list scribbled down on a scrap of paper, no instructions and no concrete measurements (a handful of this, and a scoop of that).

As I grew up and moved out on my own, I began to miss the foods my mom cooked. I began repeatedly calling her and asking, "Mom, how do you make...?" And so began another generation of recipes passed down from parents' head to child's, and many boxes of recipes scribbled on scraps of paper that are now so yellowed and brittle, some are barely legible. I say parents-to-child because a few of the recipes in this book were passed down to me from my dad.

As I began to have a family of my own, I found much joy in cooking for my six children, searching for and creating recipes that pleased them. They, too, quickly developed their favorites.

As my children began growing up and moving out on their own, they, also, began to miss the foods I cooked. Soon, they began calling me and asking, "Mom,how do you make...?"  As I began to repeatedly answer, "I don't have that written down anywhere. I will just have to tell you how to make it." and began digging through boxes of old recipes I did have, recipes that are now barely readable and crumbly, I realized that generations of recipes were in great danger of being lost. Thus, this cookbook was born.

My cookbook, "Hello, Mom, How Do You Make...." has been available in book form for about five years, and will remain available to anyone that would like to purchase one. And I will now bring it to you online, a few recipes at a time. And here, I will also be including the history behind many of the recipes. I hope you get much enjoyment from many of them. Feel free to email me with any questions you might have or suggestions as to which category you would like to see a recipe posted in next. You can reach me at: tentfire@hotmail.com