Let me tell you a story…

My mom loves to cook. Now, you might have heard, “My mom likes to bake stuff on occasion for friends and family.” But that is not what I said. I said my mom loves to cook. And bake. And create. She is truly an artist in the kitchen. Unfortunately, she took Picasso’s view a little too seriously and breaks all the rules. In fact, it can be a bit difficult to find an actual recipe for something she has made. Or rather, it was. But after much lamenting and pestering from her friends and me, here we are.

My mom likes the phrase “cooking by the seat of my pants.” She does most things this way, for better or worse. She likes to create, experiment, taste, and share with others. She loves putting on a full spread, another phrase I’ve heard many times. But most of all, I think she simply likes to make stuff. She inherited this love from my grandfather. He loved to cook. My grandmother didn’t cook….or shouldn’t have. My mom would often tell me stories of her and her siblings smelling spaghetti cooking on the stove when they came home. They loved spaghetti because that meant spaghetti and eggs the next day. But before they got too excited, they checked the top of the sauce. They could tell instantly who had made the dish before them and whether or not it would be enjoyable (or edible). Thus, it was my grandfather who taught my mother to cook, although she picked up a few things herself along the way. I suppose my mom and I are the same in this way.
My mother is also a cake decorator. I don’t mean she made pretty cakes for the kids, family, and friends. I mean she was a professional, an artist.

She was so good that she and my dad opened a sweet shop called Sweet Expressions in Wyandotte, MI. Even after they closed, my mom kept on creating. Unfortunately, that love did not pass on to me. Well, not at first. Until I was married, I didn’t really like to cook OR bake. I wouldn’t even touch raw meat with my bare hands. There are a lot of reasons for that dislike, but over the years, I have come to enjoy cooking and baking for my family. And like my mom, I love to create. I paint, I write, I sculpt, and now I bake and cook. But cooking is not like the other arts. Cooking is the art of creating something that won’t last because it nourishes others. Baking is the art of creating something unique and delightful that brings joy and comfort. Both involve a basic knowledge of rules and a hint of experimentation. Many of those experiments are what led to this book.

My mother is the main artist here, but I wanted a little something of her art and mine to last longer than our memories. There is a lot about our past that we don’t know or remember. But a little something that has spanned four generations is cooking, and that is something I want to pass on to you and my children. I have mixed emotions when it comes to cooking, but in the end, I have come to love it. Most of all, it is a way I connect to my mom and her life.

And so, I give you this book to use, to read, and to enjoy for years to come. There is a little bit of me and my mom between these pages. So take our recipes and our stories and enjoy them as you make some of your own. Bake with your family; share a dish with a friend! Make memories together. I cannot wait for you to be able to read, enjoy, and share.