Special Days: I'm now cut out of the recipe portion of the will.
This post was inspired by the theme of the next Tar Heel Tavern, "Special Days". I immediately thought about my wedding day, which brings up a recent ... discussion ... I had with my mother.
When I first started blogging for the News & Record, I sent a link to my mother, of course. I figured she might enjoy reading it, considering the fact that I get my cooking abilities from her.
It seems, however, that this was a mistake. In one of my earlier posts, I mentioned that I would post a recipe for a wonderful German potato salad at some point in the future. The next thing I know, I get a call from my mother, upset that I might be posting her German potato salad recipe. I tried to explain to her that I had taken her recipe and changed it up a bit, as I am wont to do, so it wouldn't really be her recipe I was posting.
Not good.
After getting upset about that, she asked me which of her other recipes she had already handed down to me. Most importantly, had she given me her carrot cake recipe? No? Good.
To put this in context, you have to understand that my mom was a caterer for more than 10 years. She made her living from making wonderful food, and there were certain things she was known for in our hometown, carrot cake being one of them. And she has always been very protective of her recipes.
I can't recall how many carrot cakes she made over the years, but I'm sure the number is easily in the hundreds, if not thousands. (It was a very popular cake.) As the indentured help, I got to peel and grate more than my fair share of carrots growing up. Which is probably why I really don't like carrot cake, or anything that involves carrots, really.
More importantly, my mother knows I hate carrot cake. So it might be surprising to know that when it came time to make my wedding cake a couple of years ago, my mother told me that she was going to make it a carrot cake.
Me: Mom, I really don't like carrot cake.
Mom: But Melissa, a lot of people do.
Me: *Sigh* Can we at least have satellite cakes made of something different?
I should mention here that my mom is a strong, stubborn woman used to getting her way -- so I get it honestly :-)I gave in (this time) because it wasn't worth arguing over cake flavor when it wasn't that important to me.
It ended up being a gorgeous cake, and I enjoyed the plain white cake part, while many others enjoyed the carrot part. (It was such a gorgeous cake, I think the photographer took more pictures of it than of, say, me dancing with my husband. Not kidding.)
Not that I'll be able to replicate it for my future daughter. My mom has now effectively cut me out of the recipe will, which includes her famous carrot cake. Not that the carrot cake bothers me that much -- luckily, I already have all of her recipes I like. ;-)
Comments (4)
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Mel, I had a similar situation with my mama.
A recipe she gave me for an easy dip is now called "Kimmy Dip" among my friends. It's mama's recipe, so needless to say, she wasn't thrilled when she found out that I get all the credit for how good it is.
By the way, Kimmy Dip is 1 can of hot dog chili, 8 ounces of cream cheese and between 1/2 cup and 1 cup of salsa. Melt together and serve with tortilla chips or bread.
Posted on October 6, 2005 10:13 PM
Yeah, I'm wondering what her response is going to be to this post :-)
Kimmy Dip is wonderful, by the way!!!
Posted on October 7, 2005 10:53 PM
I don't think Bootsie cares that I use her mashed potato recipe. Though the one I make can't even COMPARE to hers. (Don't tell her I used instant potatoes once.)
Posted on October 8, 2005 10:52 PM
this is my main frustration with older cooks i know -- my mom isn't selfish about her recipes but lots of her friends (and my friends) are selfish about theirs -- they know i'm writing a cookbook so they're probably afraid i'll use it -- but the thing is, if these things don't get written down they'll disappear! especially since a lot of folks these days are into quick fixes, the traditional ways of preparing dishes are falling by the wayside, and the cooks don't want them saved for future generations (or they don't understand the urgency)! argh!
Posted on October 18, 2005 9:49 PM