Hunting for a Recipe

Today, I am hunting for a recipe. Not one that I am going to make today. Tomorrow is the women's group  or circle to which I belong at the church and it is having its bi-monthly meeting. The request is to bring your mother's favourite recipe.

Now the question is, is it the one she loved to make or one she liked to eat. I really can't recall one off the top of my head.

So where can I look to get an idea of one that she would have said was her favourite? Do I look in her cookbooks that I have? Did she write notes in them to suggest adjustments to what is printed? Do I look for pages that look well worn? Do I look at the recipes that she clipped? Did she ever make them?

Perhaps her favourite may be one that she submitted for the church cook books? In a small booklet entitled Cookies put together by Hilltop Messengers Unit, she submitted "Secrets". I see that I submitted "Butterscotch Mallow Squares" (likely one of my mother's recipes that I knew how to make). In another one, her contribution was "Peach Pudding" served with a brown sugar sauce. Yum Yum!

The last place I will look is a three ring binder. The entries have been done by three different people. The first was my Aunt Bessie (my mother's sister - Agnes Elizabeth Barlow nee Love). The second was my mom. The third was my sister. 

In my aunt's handwriting  is a favourite recipe for carrot cake and the brown sugar sauce. There are recipes for pies, cakes and cookies made from scratch.

My mom included recipes that she obtained from friends so I am sure she made them. 

Some of her favourites may not be written down as I can't find them.

What did she make that I love? -- Leftovers -- fried up potatoes and turnips; stew both cooked in the oven and on the stove top and her macaroni and cheese

Here is a recipe for stew called 
Gourmet Stew (recipe of Marg Passmore)
 1 1/2 lb stewing beef
2 potatoes cut in cubes
3 or 4 carrots
2 onions
4-6 pieces of celery cut up
frozen peas  -- doesn't say how much
1/2 can water
1 can tomato soup
1 bay leaf (remove after cooking)

Sprinkle the above with salt and pepper. Cover tightly and cook at 275 degrees for 4 1/2 hours.

DON'T PEAK

Which one will I take with me? I haven't decided yet.


© 2017 Janet Iles

Wordless Wednesday -- Mom and her Angorra Rabbits

© 2013 Janet Iles

Happy 100th birthday to Harrison Park

I have been going to Harrison Park since I was a baby. It is in the heart of Owen Sound. It is a very large park. The last couple of days, our community has celebrated its 100th birthday. I went through my photo albums and those of my parents to see if I could find photos. I was surprised that I didn't have many as I thought I would have. There were photos from different church events held there - winter fun day in the park and several worship services.

1986 June services

I also found a picture from 1941 of my mother before she was married. It was labelled taken at Harrison Park.



© 2012 Janet Iles

Carnival of Canadian Genealogy - Fashion

Whether Canadian fashion differs from American fashion or that of other areas I do not know. I am sure before the days of television and popular fashion magazines, Canadian fashion likely lagged behind some other countries.  I suspect that those living in rural communities didn't keep up with the current fashions as they needed more practical clothing, but I have no evidence to support this.

In most of Canada, we have four distinct seasons where the changes in weather gives rise to at least warm and cold weather appropriate clothing.

I have never been one to have any of the extremes in clothing. I wore short skirts but never the extreme mini skirts. When I look at photographs of my early days working in the children's section of the library, I was of course, much younger; my skirts were short. This made it challenging to retrieve books off the top or bottom shelves. I was happy when the hemlines went below the knees.

When I was little my mother made many of my dresses.  My mother did smocking. Did your mother?  My sister and I had some very pretty dresses. I once tried a modified form of smocking.

 My mom (Marion), me (Janet) and my sister (Nancy) in 1951.

I am fortunate to have photos of my mother as a young woman. She was a smart dresser. Her are some examples.

Photos were taken between 1941 and 1945. Note the contrast in shoes -- granny shoes and spectator pumps. I am not sure the name of the boat she is travelling on. Is she headed to Manitoulin or returning to Tobermory? The second photo was taken in front of Artistic Ladies Wear in Owen Sound.


© 2010 Janet Iles

Wordless Wednesday - My mom at Linderhof Castle

 My mom - at Linderhof Castle gardens in 1994.


© 2010 Janet Iles

Carnival of Postcards - Water

I have quite a few postcards in my collection so I found quite a few with water on them. Some were more recent ones so I couldn't post them.

The above was sent by mother to my father the year before they were married. My dad was overseas serving with the Perth Regiment. My mother is on holidays up on Manitoulin visiting family. The family property went right down to Lake Mindemoya.

The postcard was written July 25 1945

Dear Bob
I can't seem to get around to a letter but will later.

The weather has been grand and I'll be telling you what we have been doing.
As always
Marion

to 911559
Sgt Iles HB
Perth Regiment
Canadian Army Overseas

The other entries in the Festival of Postcards - Water are now available at this link
© 2009 Janet Iles

Bound for Mom Milepost #4 The World is Not Flat

My mom began the first years of her life living on the largest freshwater island in the world, Manitoulin Island. I do not know how often she had the chance to leave The Island (often referred to in this manner) before she left to come to Owen Sound to take her C-special at the high school here.

As a family, we travelled to different places in Canada and the United States on family vacations. While we were still in high school, she and my dad had the opportunity to take some very special trips with others who owned IGA supermarkets. Now, let me see if I can remember some of the places they travelled to -- Hawaii, Las Vegas, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Aruba . . . These trips were well deserved as they both worked long hours.

After their retirement, I also got to tag along on some of their trips -- Cuba, St. Lucia, Dominican Republic, England . . .

My mother and I took several very special trips together after my dad's passing. We travelled to Newfoundland, visited a couple of Caribbean Islands, took a Rhine Cruise and went to Oberammergau for the Passion Play, took a cruise on the Danube with stops in some interesting countries and, of course, we went back to Manitoulin.

My mother enjoyed the trips she took. She enjoyed the anticipation and the planning for the trip, the trip itself and remembering the trips through the pictures in the photo albums. My mother kept a travel diary. Her detailed descriptions of each day, including the food that was eaten, bring to life her trips. My mother knew the world wasn't flat and she was thankful that she had the opportunity to expand her horizons through travel.

Bound for Mom Milepost #3 - Driving Lessons

Driving Lessons: along every mile with Mom there was usually a lesson or something to be learned – whether it was obvious to you then or now. Collect her “Momisms,” her favorite sayings, her tips and tricks – all the neat stuff she gave you so you’d make your own journey safely.

It is hard to pinpoint the things that I learned from my mom.

Mother is always right. I learned that on a trip when she was telling me how to remember which towels were hers on the rod. "Mother is always right."

She taught me that I had to be careful using a knife when I cut food. I have a challenge it seems in using knives and I was known to cut a finger once in awhile while helping in the kitchen, never really seriously, just enough to get out of the job. I remember cutting my thumb when preparing cabbages at the store before putting them on the counter. I had a scar from that for a long time.

When I forget to close a kitchen cupboard door, I can hear her reminder.

I think I learned from my mom, not just from her words, but her actions.

When at the grocery store, sort your food into produce, meat, canned goods as you put them on the checkout. In the old days before scanners that was important for the cashier (I speak from experience.) Now it is important as I remind the cashier and my packer that I don't always unload all my groceries when I get home so I want to be able to identify the cold food so they go in the refrigerator and the freezer.

It is important to be at church on Sunday morning even if you had a late night. (The doesn't happen very often these days.) Just because you babysat on Saturday night and got home late, it wasn't a reason not to be up for church.

She taught me the importance of being kind and trying to see different people's points of view.

I wonder how my siblings would answer this question?

Bound for Mom Milepost #2 - Roadside Cafe

My mom was a good cook. I don't think I would call her a gourmet cook but food was always tasty and of course, prepared with love. I can't recall any disasters in the cooking department.

My mom had a number of recipe books. -- Special is the one with the handwritten notes by her sister. She had church cookbooks, sold as fundraisers. Several she received as hostess gifts when we had billets stay during conferences. When our church put together cookbooks from favourite recipes submitted by the women of the church, my mom would have hers included. I can't find the one that was well used.

I did find one with just recipes for soups 'n stews. She submitted "Pumpkin Soup" and one called "Supper Soup" that featured Italian sweet sausage. In a tiny booklet with just cookie recipes, hers was called "Secrets"

Secrets
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup butter
4 Tbsp coconut
pinch of salt
34 arrowroot cookies
24 coloured miniature marshmallows
1 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup red & green cherries

Mix together sugar, eggs, butter, coconut and salt. Cook until thick, then cool. Crush arrowroot cookies. Mix with marshmallows, nuts, cherries and add to cooled mixture. Put in greased 8 x 8 pan and refrigerate.

When you look at cookbooks from your own church and/or community, the names bring back memories of the person who provided their favourites.

In the collection are several from the local Salvation Army, some from Manitoulin Island, Shallow Lake, Waterloo, etc.

She also cut out recipes from magazines and gathered them together in binders.

Roast beef or pork were served on alternating Saturdays when I grew up. In the latter years, mom had a number of delicious ways to serve chicken and fish.

Mom regularly served the hot meal at noon. When I was working, even if she had been down at the church in the morning, she'd be home in time to get a meal ready. As I got out of the car, I would often hear the beep, beep of the microwave as something was given the last minute warm up.

My nephews and niece enjoyed my mom's cooking too. As they left the table, you would always hear, "Thanks Grandma."

Do I ever miss my mom and her cooking!

Bound for Mom: Milepost #1 - A Journey of Firsts

This is a start of a series on my mom for the mini-carnival series Bound for Mom hosted by geneabloggers.

The first posting is about firsts -- date, first love, first home, first child, and more. Take all of these beginnings and bundle them up into a story of how your Mom got started.

First date -- ?

First love -- ? I don't know if she ever dated someone other than my dad who she met in 1939.

She never got to filling in the section of a book Sweet Memories : a Woman's journal that might have given me the answers to these questions.

First home -- a cement 2 storey on the Manitoulin. As a married person - They lived for a short time, as I recall from what she told me, in an apartment in a house on 8th Street East in Owen Sound. They then moved to the apartment above their corner grocery store also on 8th Street East. We didn't move into a "real house" until 1958.

First job - After high school, while waiting to get a job as a legal stenographer, she went to Toronto to do housekeeping. She wasn't there long when W. P. Telford, Sr. tracked her down to work in his law office in Owen Sound.

Well, my sister, Nancy was the first child in the family, born one year and two months after mom and dad married.

More on my mom next week for this series.

Mom, how did you get so smart?

Mom, how did you get so smart?

The theme for the 48th carnival is Mom, how'd you get so smart? We'll examine our mothers' education. What schools did your mom attend? Did she graduate high school or attend the school of hard knocks? Did she attend a one room school house or was she home-schooled? Was she the first in the family to attend college? Maybe your mom took self-study courses or was an avid reader. Tell us all about how a mother figure (mother, grandmother, mother in law, godmother, etc.) in your life became so brilliant!

While growing up, I am sure my mom learned a lot about life situations from not only her mother but her grandmother and aunt who lived across the lane from her. She was raised on a farm so she learned the many lessons a farm provides.
My mom attended the Continuation School in Mindemoya, Ontario. It had both the elementary and secondary school. As they lived outside the village, they took the first "school bus". Now it didn't look like the yellow school buses of today. Back in 1928, the school van was a large box-wagon drawn by a team of sturdy horses. The first motorized bus came in 1932. However, they continued to use horses during the winter until 1942 because the roads were not plowed.

First school bus - here shown being pulled by Dr. Davis's "snowmobile", a converted Model T. Ford. [1]

I have a copy of her high school entrance certificate issued by the Ontario Department of Education in July 1933. Her high school graduation diploma outlines the courses that she had studied during her secondary school years. It is dated 1938 at Mindemoya, Ontario.

High School Graduation Diploma - subjects

Lower School British History and Physiography

Middle School Canadian History

Middle School English Literature and English Composition

and the following additional subjects

Lower School – Art, Geography, Agriculture I & II, Grammar,

Middle School - Algebra, Geometry, Agriculture I & II, Ancient History, French Authors and Composition, Latin Authors and Composition -- Dated at Mindemoya 1938 -- Minister of Education; Principal - J. Alex Mawdsley; Chairman of School Board - William Taylor

Mom left Manitoulin Island to continue her education in Owen Sound at the Owen Sound Collegiate and Vocational Institute and she took her special Commercial (C special) where she studied office procedures, typing and shorthand. This gave her the training she needed to work in a law office.

Mom also liked to read. When she moved to Owen Sound to take her C Special course, she joined the public library. She was an avid reader and the restrictions on the number of items that could be borrowed at a time made her a frequent visitor. If finances had permitted it, my mom said she would like to have been a librarian.

After my father's death, my mother and I took a few special trips together. We shared a room. How could I remember which set of towels was mine in the bathroom? My mother's answer was "Mine are on the right because mothers are always right." And she was right!

[1] photograph - "First School Bus" 22 February 1978 The Recorder p. 10. photos in newspaper article courtesy Percy Taylor.