In redoing the recipe website and blog, I had to completely redo my Mom’s cookbook pages.  While most of the site had been updated at one time or another, I have resisted doing Mom’s cook books because, well… it’s a real pain in the butt.  I have had to retype every single recipe title, and manually link every one to its page in the book.  There are hundreds upon hundreds of pages – and even more recipes.  But it will have been worth the trouble when I’m finished

My Mom was a great cook.  She really enjoyed being in the kitchen and creating fun dishes.  No small feat for a woman with six kids to feed every night!  And she was innovative.  She could look at a recipe, figure out what she had on hand, and rework it to fit what she had – or what she liked.  Dinner was always an adventure in our house.

And Desserts.  We had dessert virtually every night.  She also loved to bake, make fudge, whatever… Dessert was important – and I still have dessert every night!

Re-typing all of those recipe titles has really sent me spinning down Memory Lane!  How I remember her Chinese Casserole and fabulous soups and stews. And her Pineapple Meringue Pie…  My version of “comfort food” is decidely different than the boxed Mac and Cheese of so many people.  Mom made REAL Macaroni and Cheese – from scratch – with whatever pieces of cheese she had leftover in the ‘fridge.  It was just the best.

It was great growing up in San Francisco, because we had access to so many different ethnic cuisines.  I was weaned on exotic-spiced foods and it definitely paved the way for my culinary journey through life.  there is nothing I won’t try – and very few things I don’t like.

Mom gave me her cookbooks a few years before she passed away.  She also had 4 daughters, but she knew I was the one who would appreciate them the most (that, and the fact that we have no kids meant they might stay intact for another generation to enjoy!)  I scanned the books immediately, and gave a copy to all my siblings – and then posted it on the web.

10+ years have taken their toll on the tables and layouts of the original compilation.  Within a few days I should have new, neat and clean links to everything!

And in the meantime, I’m copying down recipes and page numbers because there are an awful lot of recipes I want to revisit really soon!