So I started a food blog

[Tesha]

... I know there are a gazillion out there but this isn't for fame or fortune, it's for my daughters. :loveya:

They're in their mid 30's and I still get the desperate call just around dinner time... "Mom, how do you...?" or "Do you remember that thing you used to make...?"

I just started it last week, so it's still... um... unformed? but I'm wondering how many of us should be doing this for posterity.

Real people, real experiences, well tested menus, real failures, no lost cookbooks with notes in the margins.

So I advised on making Walnut Crescents - and I made (started a page) on these lovelies

http://aperfectloaf.com/?page_id=35

and I realized I should take a class on food photography;-) :shrug:

Does anyone else have a food blog?

[japple]

1. I love it, Tesha! The posting about Stollen was beautiful

and heartwarming. I had to laugh at the bit about your husband buying the meat with yellow stickers. When my husband was alive, he always searched the reduced meat and "recently discounted" sections of the grocery. We started calling it the "distressed" meat and "dented" can departments.

[Tesha]

6. our favorite departments!!!

(and he always looks like he "hooked the big one" when he comes home with them)

:fistbump:

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. You have really glommed onto something

Families could easily maintain a family food blog to archive treasured recipes. Public blogging is great, but blogs can also remain private with access restricted to whomever is allowed by the admin(you). People who do dinner party groups could also easily post their recipes, etc.

Brilliant-I hope your blog has great success!

[Tesha]

7. I set up a private section...

where I'll keep my food diary - ahem... when the holidays are over....:blush:

thank you for the good wishes:hi:

[hippywife]

3. Too bad my mom

doesn't know how to use a computer. My sisters are always calling her asking how to make things. She refers to it as dial-a-recipe. LOL

I'm sure your daughters will really appreciate having this at their fingertips. :hug:

[Warpy]

4. My poor mother hated cooking and it showed

although I have some of her notebooks from the late 40s that showed she tried to like it.

I never had anybody to call. I had to start reading cookbooks so I could learn how to cook in self defense.

Thank you, Fannie, Julia, James, and all the others who turned me into a reasonably good cook by the time I was in my 20s.

[kestrel91316]

24. My mom was a 50's and 60's convenience food queen. She never met

a piece of beef she couldn't ruin, either. For a butcher's granddaughter, that's pretty sad.

My sister and I basically taught ourselves to cook. And we are both seriously into FRESH and HOMEMADE, lol. You'd have to have grown up on canned spinach and jello salads to really get the depth of rebellion here.

[Warpy]

27. I did and I do

but canned asparagus was worse. I always thought I hated the stuff until I had it fresh.

Jello salad was a little overambitious for my mother. Her salad was a wedge of iceberg lettuce and dressing made of mayo, mustard and ketchup--which is really a hell of a lot better than it sounds.

People who had experienced the 50s as children often grew up to be foodies in the 70s through the present. First, our childhood diet was horrible for our health and we knew it. Second, tasting fresh food for the first time was such a revelation that we quickly got hooked on producing it on our own tables. Third, with declining wages, food was about the only real luxury most of us could afford, a gourmet adventure a month, just to see what the upper crust were talking about.

To her credit, my mother discovered frozen foods as soon as they became widely available and the cans were tossed.

There's an old thread here about the worst stuff our mothers made in the 50s. It's worth looking for, it's one of the funniest things that's ever been posted in C&B.

[kestrel91316]

28. To be honest, I don't remember the 50's, being born in '57.

And my mom also tortured us with canned asparagus. I never had it fresh until I was in college and my grandparents picked it wild along the irrigation ditch by their home.

Canned mushrooms, canned black olives - I had no idea they "came" in any other forms..........

[Warpy]

29. Canned mushrooms and olives weren't the worst

Spinach, asparagus and <shudder> broccoli were Satanic.

Peas, string beans and corn were at least edible after the canning process.

[hippywife]

30. I have never seen canned broccoli.

Is that hopefully a thing of the past? I've never eaten asparagus any way but fresh because we never had it when I was a kid. To me, corn is the worst. It gets that cloyingly sweet/starchy taste after it's been in the can for awhile that makes me want to spit it right back out. :puke:

[Warpy]

31. I didn't say they were good, I said they were edible

which wasn't the case for the Satanic canned veggies.

Canned broccoli was out there. The florets turned to mush and the stems weren't much better. It disappeared as fresh stuff from California started to arrive by truck nationwide. Broccoli and cauliflower were the first "exotic" veggies to arrive in the supermarkets.

[kestrel91316]

32. CANNED BROCCOLI??? I have no words.

[Warpy]

33. I did, I learned them from my father

who was a world champion cusser.

[EFerrari]

39. My mom was working and single and I was "cooking" for the family

by the time I was 12. My poor brother.

Mom didn't even have time to think about learning how to cook until she was in her 50s. It's a pleasure for her now but she still prefers her prof life wheeling and dealing and is a mighty fine eater. :)

[Tesha]

5. maybe you and your sisters could ....

start one for her?

thanks for the good wishes :pals:

[katkat]

19. hippy, teach your Mom to use the computer

My Mom learned in her eighties.

[hippywife]

20. She's many states away

and we've tried to teach my MIL, which has resulted in much frustration on all fronts because she asks you to show her how to do something, even write it down for future reference, she doesn't practice and then totally unlearns everything you've taught her.

I will never put myself in that situation again. I work in a retirement center and flat out refuse to lend computer assistance to our residents. It makes me nuts! :crazy:

[katkat]

22. I taught my Mom long distance via the phone n/t

[hippywife]

23. My mom is also

ill and totally uninterested in the computer.

[kestrel91316]

25. I'm glad I'm learning computer skills now, so by the time I'm in a "facility"

I can be the one everybody else comes to for help. Or at least won't need it myself!

[hippywife]

26. Tell me how that works out

when you get there. It's draining enough on a daily basis without adding computer tutorials.

[Lars39]

8. I printed mine out, stuck 'em in plastic covers and into a 3 ring binder

I still get the desperate phone calls. :D

[japple]

9. I put all of mine into a 3-ring binder, too. Unfortunately, it was

sitting on the stovetop when my sister turned on the wrong burner to heat up the kettle. Notebook was quite charred, smoke alarms were activated, but the recipes were saved!!!

[Lars39]

10. Ouch!

Suprised I haven't done that yet. :D Mine are Word documents, so I have backups, but computers crash, too.

[eleny]

11. It looks terrific

The picture of the crescent cookies is perfect. I haven't made those in a couple of years. They're so much fun and disappear fast!

[pengillian101]

12. What a great idea!

You have given me much food for thought, so to speak ;-)

We have some joint family recipes on disk, but I never thought about starting a blog we could all share and access. Come to think of it scanning and posting old recipes would be nice. I remember reading a blog years and years ago where the cook scanned all her old family's recipes in their own handwriting. That was fun to read.

Is Wordpress pretty easy to set up an account with?

Thanks for the great idea :hi:

[Tesha]

17. wordpress is incredibly easy..

I have hosting on GoDaddy so I can control everything, and I have blogs on there for other people too.
But I think Wordpress is a snap!
Let me know if I can help, OK?

[pengillian101]

34. Thanks for the offer to help.

Mail acoming...:-)

[ginnyinWI]

13. Our family shares recipes via Google Docs.

It doesn't really allow for conversations back and forth, but works well for "I'll post the recipe on Google Docs" when someone at a picnic or family gathering wants a recipe.

[Callalily]

14. What a great idea!

I'll be sure to visit your blog from time to time.

[hippywife]

15. Oh, and I meant to say

that the pic of your cookies is beautiful. Maybe a little blurry but we'll just call it artsy. LOL

:hi:

[Tesha]

16. I think I was shaking...

from sugar overload!:crazy:

[katkat]

18. make sure it lasts

Back it up somehow, digital stuff does not last forever. The hosting company goes away, the website gets hacked, no backup and its gone.

[Tesha]

21. Absolutely correct -- thanks for the reminder! (NT)

[katkat]

35. recipe?

Is there a recipe for the ravioli? I clicked around a bit but couldn't find it.

[Tesha]

36. It's coming...

I'm still so new at this, I get the thinkin' ahead of the doin'

[yellerpup]

37. Love your blog, Tesha!

Especially the description of the way making stollen moves you... You moved me as well. Happy holidays and thanks for the link. :loveya:

[Tesha]

38. thank you...

hugs...:hug: