Kitchen Treasures of the Heart

Kitchen treasures are part of the home of our beloved family member who passed away last year – she was 85 years young, with farming in her family line, and the ability to bake, can, or cook anything into a tasty, savory experience. Dorothy never threw out any kitchen tool, baking supply, casserole dish, or appliance as long as it worked – it didn’t matter how old something was. Items lasted for her because she cared for the things that she had with meticulousness and respect…and just simply did not add to that. One wooden spoon in the kitchen was plenty for decades of cooking and baking. One wooden spatula. One rolling pin. At least seven antique bread loaf pans and pie pans. A grinder that looks like it could mince bone into paste. The evidence of cooking and baking for the hundreds and hundreds of gatherings for church events (where Dorothy had her own “gravy station” in the wide open kitchen), at the house with family and friends…at picnics, parties, holidays, birthdays. She used every item and utensil in her kitchen and yet she always kept the place immaculate, organized, antique, and classic.

The cabinet in the dining area showed a few heavy glass appetizer platters with their elegant shapely glass dividers – you could tell those platters were not just stored there – they were used yet cared for and stored in mint condition by careful hands. Carefully folded tablecloths organized in a flat drawer and I’m already thinking, “memory quilt”.

Recipe box goldmine: and there it was...the Holy Grail itself…Dot’s little avocado green tin recipe box stuffed with her chosen favorites - an exciting mini-chest of different mis-matched pieces that all go together. The box has seen some serious cooking time – if it could only speak! And it has some rust on it along with the signs of being lovingly handled and unintentionally spattered upon. Hand-written recipes, typed recipes, recipes cut from newspapers, magazines; an empty folded Lipton soup envelope with a recipe for Onion-Roasted Chicken & Vegetables; Aunt Frida’s broccoli soufflé; dozens of home-cooking casseroles; biscuits, bread, four different recipes for date oatmeal cookies, and at least ten different approaches to cooking cabbage. The recipes for “putting up” relishes, cucumbers, three-bean salad, cabbage ‘n’ peppers, jellies…tried and true and hand-chosen…I want to “can” my way through all of them.

“Thank you for everything you taught us and continue to teach, Dot!...We Love You!”