Category Archives: memoir
Lemon Chess Cake: My Mother’s Special Request
In between the time that people traded recipes over the back fence and the internet, newspapers often published recipe exchange columns for readers. For my mother, the Richmond Times-Dispatch ran “Trading Secrets,” which let readers answer requests for everything from Greek Green Beans … Continue reading
Carrot-Raisin Salad for National Raisin Week
Name a food, there’s probably a holiday to celebrate it. That’s what I discovered at foodimentary.com, a site that tracks almost daily tributes, from the sublime-sounding National Coconut Cream Pie Day (May 8) to the somewhat ridiculous National Nutty Fudge Day (May 12). When … Continue reading
Beef Stew: Traditional Boston Marathon Finish Line Dish
After I managed to trudge through all 26.2 miles of the Boston Marathon at the pace of a tortoise having a rough day, I gratefully received a bottle of water almost as soon as I crossed the finish line. Wrapped … Continue reading
Matzo in the Mountains in Charleston, West Virginia
My great-grandfather, A.P. Silverstein, an immigrant from Lithuania, traveled through the central United States as a peddler in the 1890s. As family legend goes, his horse dropped dead and he couldn’t afford another, so he stayed in West Virginia. He … Continue reading
Mix-in-the-Pan Brownies From My ‘I Hate to Cook’ Mom
As a young mother in the 1960s, my mother never watched Julia Child – or any TV shows, for that matter. She preferred the humor and slap-dash directions in Peg Bracken’s I Hate to Cook Cookbook. This book, inspired by … Continue reading
Hot Chocolate, Cold Meat, Gingerbread: What Washington Really Ate
For George Washington’s birthday, my mother used to buy a supermarket cake overloaded with pink frosting that stuck to the knife. Never mind that the cherries tasted more of chemicals than fruit. Every bite felt patriotic. At my elementary school … Continue reading
Take This Cornmeal and Bake It
My father, pictured here in the 1930s with his parents, ate almost anything, including leftovers “as long as they were good the first time.” One family favorite, spoon bread, drew on his mother’s Southern roots. This baked combination of cornmeal, … Continue reading
‘Bullet’ Joe and Big Boy
Back in the days of leather football helmets (not mandatory) and canvas-and-leather shoulder pads, my grandfather captained his football team at Washington & Lee University to a Southern Championship in 1919. Nicknamed “Bullet Joe” because of his running speed, he … Continue reading
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