Baking, cooking and being in the kitchen is an important part of my life. I believe in being healthy and watching what we eat. Like most families, the kitchen is the main hub of a house. Whether it’s a busy morning getting the kids together, having lunch, or a traditional Sunday night dinner, food brings us together, and forms a bridge from generation to generation, making it easier to communicate.
I fell in love with the kitchen at two. As my Dad says, it’s been downhill ever since. Well, I do love the scenic route. About two years ago, I made it a mission to write down my family’s recipes and the recipes I’ve made over the years. It resulted in more than a dozen notebooks and the beginning of two cookbook projects. Baking with the Beatles How The Fab Four Helped Me Get My Groove Back in Life and The Kitchen and Cooking with My Nanas. Discovering family, traditions, and love in the kitchen.
The genesis for Baking with the Beatles started on 10 Iles Place when I was a little girl fascinated by the magic of baking and the sound of the Beatles. There was always something transcendent about their music. It had the effect of lifting me up so I’d always feel better. I’ve been a super fan forever. I was diagnosed with MS in 1996. I live with the ups and downs of the disease and the maddening symptoms. Every person with MS has a different experience, however, things like numbness, tingling, creeping crawly sensations, double vision, and more are some of the issues we have in common. I’m on medication and I practice modified forms of yoga for people with MS. In 2016, I noticed these issues increased in frequency. I knew my body was talking and pointing to a relapse. The exacerbation was one of the worst I’d ever had. Previously, my exacerbations resolved within a couple of months with treatment, but by the end of 2016, it became clear that wasn’t the case. I was on a hamster wheel with doctor visits, a plethora of medications, and medical tests. I had no energy. It felt like my life was slowly dripping out of me.
I began to feel better in early 2018. I shifted focus to concentrate on feeding my mind, body, and soul, physically and emotionally. My journey to wellness started with gathering and writing recipes down. The key to feeling better was on every page, and it was love. I channeled it as a way to feel better physically and emotionally. Once I got back in the kitchen, I found myself testing and adapting recipes. The music of the Beatles was there to keep me fueled. For me, baking and The Beatles helped me heal my body and spirit. I went on a mission to be sure to adapt for any dietary need and it still tastes good.
Baking with The Beatles How The Fab Four Helped Get Me Groove Back in The Kitchen
The cookbook is set to be released in 2021, if all goes well and stays on track. I hope it will put a song in your heart and something sweet in your life.
Food imprints on memory. It’s why certain aromas transport us back to the time, place, and person who made it. That’s the way it is in my family. We have a pantheon of amazing cooks and bakers. I was lucky enough to have grown up with my maternal grandmother and my paternal great-grandmother. Both women were completely incredible. There wasn’t anything Nana couldn’t make. Every memory I have of her is in the kitchen and everyone found a way to stay in the kitchen with her. Grandma was from the south, she made cakes and so many different things to eat, I can’t name them all. Whether from the south or the islands, you were charmed if you had a seat at the table. It’s the foods they made that not only connects memory, it bridges the generation gap. You can learn so much about your family’s lives through food. The fact they lived through trying times of war, Great Depression, the Jim Crow south, and pandemics like the Spanish flu, all without the modern amenities we take for granted today.
I know why I would always find Nana, Grandma, and my Aunt Mary in the kitchen. There is a calming tactile feel to baking and cooking. It means that when life is going nuts and nothing seems like it will get better, order is restored in the kitchen. That zen translates to the plates and faces around the table. It truly is the gift that keeps on giving. I’m happy to share some of the recipes they made special.
Coming Soon, a new Facebook Food Group Page for Serious Foodies