My Favorite Cook Book

Sitting in my living room, I am telling my friends that not every culinary idea discovered is really new under the sun, but that many have in fact been thought of before. As proof, I describe a cook book I inherited from my mother. A collection of independent booklets, "The Ground Meat Cookbook", "The Lunch Box Cookbook," "The Chocolate Cookbook," etc., that are printed with colorful covers and bound into two volumes.  Homemakers in the 1950s acquired these from a grocery store - I think it was A&P - but do not know for sure. When I produce two maroon and white binders, they do not look familiar to my friends, but when the colorful booklets inside appear, they both recall, "my mother had these, my aunt had these!"

The reason the books caused my observation that nothing was really new is because these volumes, published by the Culinary Arts Institute of Chicago Director, Melanie Proft and the Staff Home Economists, contain many wonderful recipes with variations.  Instead of searching online to look for something different or unique, I can open their pages and search within.

Some of the recipes are outdated.  For instance several booklets include recipes calling for monosodium glutamate. This is not on my personal list of ingredients for wholesome food, but others may disagree. The Holiday book includes recipes for civic holidays such as Washington and Lincoln's birthdays (before they were combined into Presidents Day) and 4th of July as well as New Years Day, St. Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. There are no recipes for holiday celebrations such as Passover, or Lunar New Year. This made me feel excluded for the moms who were presented with these books from the local supermarket when they were young women raising families but practiced a holiday that was not represented.

I searched the web for Melanie Proft and found that a Collectible copy of the two volume binder in very good condition was being sold for $250.  Mine are not in very good condition, but I am not interested in parting with them even if they were.  They are my own little piece of interesting culinary history.

Welcoming Spring

So many changes have occurred since I last remembered this blog. Though the page is Mumzie's, I am now more often referred to as Nonna. I have two beautiful granddaughters that I visit as often as I can.

Finally our long, harsh winter has receded and warm air replaced the chill. Narcissus in our garden sway on the breeze; their swollen buds ready to reveal yellow trumpet heads.  I am comforted by a gentle tinkling of wind chimes outside the window of my remote (home) office. It has been almost five months since I have begun working remotely twenty-five hours each week. I am still adjusting but loving every minute.

My culinary trip around the world (in alphabetical order), long stalled, has picked up again and we are on our way to Estonia where cabbage will play a role in the meal in one form or another.

Since it is nearly Pascha (Easter), I am sure it will be at least a little time before I give the blog more of my attention, but we are always hopeful!

Welcome to all who stumble upon this blog.  Wish me luck in keeping up the pace this time!

A Knight of the Global Table

I was excited to receive email from my favorite food blog host, Sasha Martin. She sent word that her reusable grocery totes would be available soon as she has found someone local to her to stitch them for her. Then she told me she was making me a Knight of the Global Table! I am honored and flattered. I have a label to post on my blog, but am not sure I can figure out how to post it!!

Also, I only wish that I could find time and energy for my own culinary adventure. But, I have not given up, I am on my way to Cook Islands and then Costa Rica. It is wonderful to be passionate about food.

That's all for now. Thanks for checking my page!

Ciao

A First Anniversary

One year has passed since beginning to Blog with Dipping a Toe in the Water . . .

Welcome to all who stumble upon this post! As mentioned in the earlier post, I have decided not to be embarrassed by my lack of consistency. I will celebrate joyfully any and all posts that I am inspired to create.

That said, let me tell you that the culinary adventure made it through Bahrain (thanks in part to Sasha Martin's Global Table where I found a recipe for Shrimp Balls). They were different, pleasant enough, but not something to add to a top ten list. I need to locate one more ingredient before I will make a spinach dish from Bangeladesh. Then back to the Caribbean with Barbados!

The 2010 summer in North Jersey has had more than it's share of heat and humidity. We made it to the Ocean (the shore) once. It was a great day with a mix of generations enjoying the day together.

My upcoming trips include weekends in Boston, Philly, and Jacksonville. I'm expecting family in from out of town for Christmas through New Years.

This year has raced by, it's hard to believe 2010 is close to finishing and we will begin another.

See you next time.

The Usual Habits

Much as I imagine myself committed to writing this blog, I find I am as dedicated to this as I was to my paper journal. I pick it up when I think of it. Disappointing to me, but I can't force it. Life is busy and my attention is pulled in too many directions right now.

Note: On further investigation, my NPR name, is not Weil der Stadt because that is NOT the smallest place I've ever visited in Europe. It is Kientzheim (pop 879) where we enjoyed the wonderful flavors of bacon and onion tart called in French Tarte Flambee or in German, flammekueche. So, my name would be Jobanneh Kientzheim, but it does not sound as romantic.

Also, we are stalled on our culinary trip around the world. We stopped in Bahamas for some amazing macaroni and cheese and have not quite continued on to Bahrain. I did find Sasha Martin's wonderful adventure out of Tulsa OK, Global Table. She is doing such a great job, I don't feel badly not blogging about my adventure at all. As a matter of fact, you should all follow HER culinary trip around the world. You can follow her on Facebook, or just Google Global Table to go directly to her blog. She is about two months ahead of me and now in Bhutan.

This will most likely turn into a ramble about this that and everything else, so check in now and then, but for a real adventure, check out Sasha's pages.

All for now, Tschüss!

Taking the Plunge

I thought that if I made it to the end of the first letter, I'd start to blog about this adventure.

Tonight we visited the last of the "A" countries on the culinary trip around the world (in alphabetical order), Azerbaijan. I made Dill Pilaf. It was delicious.

When I first found the recipe, it called for beans, but did not specify the type. I sent the recipe to Maura, who had lived in Azerbaijan, and asked what type she thought would be indicated.

She wrote back," navy beans, I hate Azeri food, the little white ones."

The recipe said to pare the beans, and I don't know about fresh navy beans, so I bought green beans. Right before I began to prepare the recipe I noticed the title of the recipe was Dill Pilaf, so I searched for Dill Pilaf and found the exact recipe on a Peace Corps site except that they specified, Lima Beans! Uh-oh, too late - green beans it was. I have to say, again, it was delicious.

So, tonight was very special. I decided to plunge into the blog. We reached the end of the "A" countries. We enjoyed our Azeri dish, which we served with steak and beer,in honor of my favorite Marine's birthday. God bless Scott, he is in another "A" country across the globe from home and today is his 21st birthday.

One Toe In

The page was started August 2009 and put aside until now. I'm on a culinary trip around the world in alphabetical order. I am two countries away from 'B.' Several have encouraged me to write. I remembered this page and although I'm not committed to writing about my culinary adventure, it is what prompted me to begin the blog, and so I may.

The title Mumzie, is the name my sons call me, but I am going by Jobanneh as in Jobanneh Weil der Stadt, which would be, according to a story I once heard, my NPR name. It works like this, take the first letter of your middle name and insert it anywhere into your first name - this becomes your first name. The last name is the smallest place you've ever visited in Europe. It's all for fun!