My grandmother is an incredible cook, specializing in real down-home favorites that she learned at her own mother’s knee. She raised her kids in the kitchen, teaching them how to bake bread, prepare fried chicken, cook short ribs, and bake a cake and cookies from scratch. Everything she makes is luscious, but there is nothing to compare to her homemade pickles, jam, and jelly. The only problem with all of this is that she’s never written down any of her recipes. Everything is in her head — if I call her to ask how to make something the instructions usually start with “get a bowl, not too big” and then go on to include “a little of this, a handful of that, take some butter, and a smidge of something else.” So even if you sort of know how to make Grandma’s food, you don’t really, because her handful isn’t just like your handful, and her smidge isn’t just like your smidge. Grandma turned 90 this year and it made me so sad to think that we’d lose all of her recipes one day when she passes, so I decided to surprise her, and my entire family, by self publishing a book of her recipes, including photos of the food. I had no idea how to publish a book, but after a quick search of book publishers I found one that would handle everything or me. They could even spiral bind my book like a real cookbook! And so I began my stealth project. I would go to her house and visit, and I would watch while she cooked, asking her to toss her “handfuls,” “little bits” and “smidges” into measuring cups and spoons. Then I would photograph the food before we ate it. Eventually I had compiled an excellent selection of favorites, including soups, muffins, breads, roasts, pie, cookies, and those pickles! I sent my manuscript off to the book publishers and in no time I had multiple copies of gorgeous cookbooks “written” by my grandma. It’s killing me, but I’m keeping it a secret and handing them out to my entire family as Christmas gifts!

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