Your roots. No, don’t look at your hair. Who you come from and where you come from are important.
Use these taste memories to create new dishes to make grandma’s dish into today’s hit for friends and family. At age 8 I wrote a paper about Chicago and its meat markets and quoted Carl Sandburg. I think Mrs. Tibbetts gave me an A+ on that one because I glued on photos of Chicago and made a big presentation and only wish I had it now.
Though she’s gone now, my mother, by encouraging me to go the distance, even if it was to make up for my flaws, I remember certain things from my childhood that enhanced my education.
Yes, she got me the easy bake oven which was a bust. Imagine cooking brownies under a light bulb. But imagination was there. And we had access to a great outdoors with berries and snakes and everything a girl needs.
Freedom is a word kids don’t know these days, as they don’t get to go down 150 feet to the creek and catch crayfish as I did. Our parents weren’t afraid that we would cross the street because it was so far away it didn’t matter.
My days up on the hill are probably the best times of my life, picking strawberries and blueberries and sitting with Mom and my sister eating cherries from our friend’s farm stand.
Mom taught me manners, elegance, wit, and a desire to plumb the depths of cooking. I’ve taken her Chicken Saltimbocca two steps up but know who taught it to me in the first place. I miss her. Dee
Cooking with Dee 
I had an easy bake oven, too. What a strange device. It did not inspire me to bake! I think it was aqua.
Chicken Saltimbocca, a la Dee: recipe?
Served Chicken Saltimbocca many times when catering. Still a favorite and we have the original recipe in Al’s handwriting.
I now use prosciutto and Italian fontina, and coat them in panko. And fresh sage, of course, inside and a bit in the breading. That recipe is a keeper. If I do write a book with the information I have and may have in storage, I’ll be asking you for items to scan in, like hand-written recipes. Thanks for that memory.
Remember when Lisa was being born and you found chicken backs in the freezer when Mom had given instructions on where everything was? We never knew except that dinner was delicious. Always was and will be. Thanks! Dee
To PDX,
Probably the first recipe I ever wrote on this blog is called Chicken Saltimbocca, and was written June 5, 2008. Check it out! Dee
Was that the birth of “Joanie’s Chicken”?
It might have been, Joanie! Mom never in her life made fried chicken (I tried it once and it was great, but messy) and I marveled that with potato chips, was that it, that you could get perfectly crispy roasted chicken. I still make it today, but with panko. Thanks! Love you guys, Dee