Aunt Ruth's Love Has No Boundaries!

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How do you stay determined in the face of so much loss?

I accept that life isn’t easy.  I have my faith…but I have a will to live, and that will comes from loving people.  

If you have followed this blog, you know that Aunt Ruth’s answer to my question changed how I viewed my life.  Loving people was Aunt Ruth’s anchor and her fuel.  Love energized her, gave her purpose, and got her into the kitchen to test recipes she’d share with family and friends.  Love was behind the wheel for her perpetual visits to the cemetery to manicure our family’s graves.  Love got her out of bed to answer the phone to offer support and unconditional love.

Love was behind every single thing Aunt Ruth thought about doing or did.  She inspired YOU too!

The ♥'s on the map are from EVERY place this blog has had a “hit” since it has been launched.  Love has NO BOUNDARIES.  Thank you for loving Aunt Ruth!  More exciting news:

As the book gets closer to becoming available, we are thrilled to announce that we will be donating from our sales to The Intergenerational School, a free, high-performing public charter school with locations in Cleveland, Ohio, that has been nationally recognized for their innovative, intergenerational approach to learning. Their mission is to connect, create, and guide multigenerational communities of lifelong learners and spirited citizens.  Aunt Ruth’s commitment to education and loving all people has found a wonderful partnership in www.TISonline.org 

Here’s to Love and Aunt Ruth’s ingredients for a life well-lived!

Miss, Ms. or Mrs.?

I don’t think there’s one thing more important you can do for your kids than have family dinner.”

Ruth Reichl, former Editor-in-Chief of Gourmet

If you follow this blog, you know that Aunt Ruth never stopped collecting and testing recipes. Preparing delicious food was only half of the reason Aunt Ruth was in her kitchen; the other half was imagining the smiles from sharing whatever came from her oven(s).  Initially, I thought this post would include a lesson from Aunt Ruth or even a new recipe, but I surprised myself.

In photographing Aunt Ruth’s cookbook collection, I was startled by the authors’ names listed as Mrs. David So-and-So or Mrs. Robert Such-and-Such.  Whoa, I was right back in the late 60’s when Gloria introduced women to the option of Ms., and we stopped using Mr.’s name as identification!  One of Aunt Ruth’s favorite cookbooks featuring many of her tested recipes lists the cook’s names as Mrs. Irving, Mrs. Noah, and Mrs. Milton…

Pictured in this blog is The way to a man’s heart, The Settlement Cook Book, a compilation of recipes by (drum roll, please) Mrs. Simon Kander. The book has a chapter devoted to kuchen, another for breakfast cereals, and one for campfire building with instructions on broiling rabbit.  Cool, right?  I only wish that Mrs. Kander's first name appeared in the book.

I don’t want to belabor feminism or even criticize the incredible cookbook authors who predated Julia Child, Ruth Riechl, or one of my current favorites, Tamar Adler, but I think it is worth remembering how nice it is that we can now choose what name we would like to use in any context.

Which brings me back to Mrs. Robert D. Moss, the name stamped into so many of my aunt’s cookbooks.  Aunt Ruth told me that if she could go back in time, she would have finished college and become a teacher.  Her annotated cookbooks have taught many of her friends and our family about which recipes were the best, saving us from endless flop potential and keeping her close in our hearts.

Why not spend time with your mother’s recipe collection?  Or her cookbooks?  Share a day of baking and take what you make to someone who needs cheering.  Be a little Aunt Ruth!  There is so much to be learned from being in the kitchen.

Aunt Ruth, thanks for being such a great teacher!