Are you super sentimental? I am. I really really love tradition, family history, little treasures that bring back fond memories, handwriting, food…
FOOD?
Yes, food!
I find food to be one of the absolutely MOST sentimental things. I love recalling a time and remembering the meal. It’s funny how our memories work. I don’t know if I can tell you a complete story about a holiday from start to finish but 9 times out of 10 I can tell you what we ate or at least ONE major dish.
Like when we plan birthdays one of the first questions is what do you want to eat? On vacations we plan where and what we are eating. I’m not going to get into Thanksgiving on this post but let’s just say everyone likes to count how many things I make – like it’s a game. Wanna guess the number? I’ll wait…
Food is fun, y’all! And honestly it might just be one of my top love languages – I’ll happily make you something yummy – maybe even yummy AND healthy – you just never know!
Candy was always something that my Grandparents made around the holidays and I find myself kicking the younger Lindsay for not paying more attention to how they did it.
By candy I mean the really good stuff – some of my favorites were divinity, toffee, patience, peanut patties and FUDGE. I happily ate every single thing they made but didn’t realize then that those days were a gift.
I no longer have any Grandparents that I can call up on the phone. I think of them and “talk” to them all the time – but that whole you don’t know what you have until it’s gone –
yeah
LOTS of truth in that statement!
Trust that my memory isn’t just of eating the candy – no, no – I remember the taste PERFECTLY {that comes in handy later}.
I also have a FANTASTIC recollection of them making it. I can picture – and hear – my Nani {my dad’s mom} in her kitchen getting SO excited when it would turn out JUST RIGHT “Weeeeeeee! Isn’t this fun?!?!” {I didn’t realize how truly exciting it can be until now – I’ll get to that}.
I also can picture – and hear – my Dandy {my mom’s dad} whistling his little whistle in his kitchen while he happily made his different treats. {I did not inherit that whistle – maybe that helps with candy making?? Oops}
Those are burned in my memory and I am forever grateful!
This holiday it was time! I told the kids we were going to attempt to make all the candies! The older kids remembered having their Great Grandparents make the treats so they were excited to help me which made it even better!
BUT
Candy is funny, y’all. I told my Mother in Law that I was attempting it and she was worried for me because it was raining. IS THAT A THING?!?!?! I had no idea. Weather affects candy making – ok got it – weird – but noted.
Should I worry about the moon, too? I mean…
We got to work on our three selections – divinity, patience and fudge.
Now is when I should tell you about my recipes.
When I was 3 my mom put together a cookbook for me with family recipes. Most are in her handwriting and then my Grandmother wrote in some of hers. Remember how much I love handwriting? Yeah, fun stuff! {Note to everyone – handwritten notes – especially in a digital age – WILL mean something to certain people down the road – like me – there are lots of us out there}
I would love to tell you that every recipe turned out perfect, but remember how I can’t whistle? And it was wet outside? I bet the moon was full too.
The divinity was spot on – kinda – I think – I mean it was super yummy and we ate it!
The patience TASTED the same as I remember it did but was a little grainy – again we ate it!
The fudge though HIT just right.
We did it!
Kinda.
Sorta.
Maybe it was too wet outside for the patience. I’ll try again on a dry day and make sure the moon is not full. AND I WILL LEARN TO WHISTLE! You can never be too careful with this candy making business!
Oh and that whole “beat well” part of the recipe – how long exactly? How cool does it need to be before I do that? That isn’t exactly spelled out… It’s a great mystery but I am going to get to the bottom of it and hopefully my kids and future grandkids will do a better job and pay a bit more attention than I did.
Or they won’t…
And they will just remember me, in my kitchen, getting really excited when it comes out JUST RIGHT, because it’s dry outside and no one is howling at the moon.
And hopefully – HOPEFULLY – they will remember exactly how it tasted and how I made it for them because I just LOVE THEM SO!
Wishing you dry days, waxing and waning moons and LOTS OF LUCK! 😉
So sweet and sentimental! We are soul sisters! I recently purchased a family keepsake cookbook for my girl and started adding some of her favorites that I make to it. And have asked other relatives to share some of their recipes to add to it as well.