alice

i woke up today thinking of my grandmother, alice. she was the best cook i ever met. and she was the only grandparent i ever met. ten years ago this month, she passed away. everything i know and love about food i learned from her. at one time in her life she was the head cook at brownell talbot's school. almost everyone i ever meet that knew her, comments on her excellent cooking. it's amazing to me how much you can still miss someone when they have been gone so long. i guess that is a testament to how great some people are in this life. . .how much and how long they are missed.
she used to make this german pancakes (pretty much a crepe) that we ate with butter and sugar. she always had real butter in the house. ever had a lime jello & cucumber mold thingy? she used to make those, too. turns out, it had mayo in it. candied apples remind me of holidays at her house and date bars, too. lamb chops, too. growing up, i loved that woman and her food more than any other granddaughter in the history of the world. my greatest regret in life, is not spending near enough time with her towards the end of her life.
according to my uncle bob, she taught herself to be such a famed & great cook by reading cookbooks like they were, well, books. her first was a world's fair cookbook. the story goes, from my great aunt ruth, that she also contributed to the metz beer cookbook. (metz beer used to be located in omaha, ne.) she was almost entirely self taught. she just practiced a lot. she had 7 children who gave her a lot of practice. 5 of them were boys.
she gave me a cookbook when i was about 9 or 10. it was the better homes and gardens junior cookbook. i still have it. and i still make the chocolate chip cookies recipe. she, also, helped me make apple cinnamon muffins from scratch for the 4H fair. i won first place. almost every great memory i have from my childhood includes alice. and i just wanted to share what i lovely and wonderful woman she was with you all.