And The Winner Is....

Aunt Ruth loved long dining room tables, the color orange, and sharing her recipes.  Thank you for visiting the blog, for leaving a comment to enter this giveaway, and most of all, thanks for Loving Aunt Ruth!

ACCORDing to Aunt Ruth...

In the years of photographing, learning from, and eating with Aunt Ruth, I also documented her ingredients for a life well lived. 

ACCORDing to Aunt Ruth:

You must love with your whole heart.  Cooking for family and friends is one way I show love.  We had a big dining room table, and we loved to entertain.  It is a different world now.  People don’t seem to have lifelong friends like we did or even serve big dinners, but one thing I think should never change is that you must respect each other.

With respect to Aunt Ruth, the love she gave to so many, and the delicious food she served, we are offering an ACCORDion book with a selection of Aunt Ruth’s favorite recipes.

The book can be yours if you leave a comment on this blog until midnight, April 21, when I will print comments and drop them into a hat to randomly select the lucky recipient. Please sign your comment with a first name. The name doesn’t even have to be yours to keep your anonymity, but I need a way to recognize you as The Recipe Recipient!

You can leave as many comments as you want.  

Each one is a chance to get the ACCORDION BOOK!

On Monday, April 22, I will post the selected name on this blog, and you can send me a direct email with your address.  The ACCORDion and Aunt Ruth’s love will be yours.  Remember, ACCORDing to Aunt Ruth, everything tastes better shared!

 Every Comment Counts!  Don't forget to share.

The Sweet Taste of Hope

(click on image to enlarge)

Aunt Ruth’s kitchen desk had 2 trays filled with recipes awaiting her test kitchen’s rating!   

I asked her about them, and she said:

I am still collecting recipes.  I like to create and eat food, but the best part of cooking is sharing.

This is true for most things in life.

Aunt Ruth served up optimism; everything she made was topped with love.   This blog continues to offer Aunt Ruth’s ingredients for a life well-lived, and today’s entry comes in the form of Apricot Noodle Pudding.

May this recipe be a “very good” addition to your recipe collection.

(please let me know when you make it!)

Everything Tastes Better Shared

Passover is about optimism, rebirth, and faith.

Here is what I learned from the many Seders shared with Aunt Ruth and her friends:

1.  Dress beautifully-this is the Greatest Generation of men and women who do not leave the house without looking their best, so forget that this night is about slouching and being casual!

2.  Listen when others are speaking-remember that while it is tempting to interrupt, you learn more when you pay attention.

3.  Encourage storytelling-if you are lucky enough to have so much wisdom on either side of you, ask questions.  

 4.   Take pictures.  You will want to remember this wonderful night, and it is nice to send the photos to the guests as memories.

Aunt Ruth believed that everything tastes better when it is shared.  May your Passover surround you in love.

Always Make Sure You Have Love in Your Life

Please click on image to enlarge.

Daddy Cake

Let's offer your followers a Valentine's Day recipe. 

That's easy!   My Dad said, "Nothing tastes better

than Daddy Cake," and my mother made it for him

every Friday.

I love this photo of Aunt Ruth admiring a cake from one of our many shared holidays.  She is still recovering from her autumn challenges, but she hasn't lost a step when it comes to loving her friends and family.  Aunt Ruth and I relish reminiscing about her children, my grandparents, cousins, and my sisters. These talks always include what my grandmother, my mother, or she cooked.  Photos and recipes blanket her recovery room, and you can almost smell the love.  You know the book, Love, Loss, and What I Wore?  My family should change the last part to What I Ate!

When Loving Aunt Ruth finds its publisher (yes, we remain hopeful!), there will be many recipes from which to choose.  After all, this is a story about love, and in my family love is spelled, f-o-o-d!

Until the book release, Aunt Ruth wants you to have her mother's recipe for Daddy Cake.  After all, it's Friday, so she hopes you'll make it for someone you love!

I Think I'll Have a Party, and You Can Meet My Friends

My mother wrote in a journal, "My brother, sister, and I lived in a lovely world when we were growing up.  We never knew of Freud, sibling rivalry, drugs or depression (except the financial kind)."  Mom has been gone for over a decade, but this idea of "lovely world" was driven home to me in the years I photographed Aunt Ruth, videotaped her, and most recently, sat in her bedroom as she recovers from her autumn fall.

When I asked Aunt Ruth if I could photograph her, she responded by saying that she would have a tea party, so I could meet all of her friends.  I had no idea that friendship, food, socializing, compassion, and even dressing up is as much a part of my legacy as my camera.

The world that Mom and Aunt Ruth grew up in and aged into is quite lovely, because they make it so.  Aunt Ruth's phone never stops ringing with friends of all ages checking her progress or making dates to bring her food, flowers, and laughter.  Yes, you read correctly...her PHONE rings.  There is something real, something beautiful, and...well....lovely about listening to the conversations Aunt Ruth has with family and friends.  It is grounding and reminds me of my deep gratitude for  my camera. Photography made it possible for me to meet Aunt Ruth's friends, brought Aunt Ruth and me closer than we would have been, and it brought us to YOU.

So, have a party and invite all of your friends.  Pick up the phone right now and call someone you love.  Remember what Aunt Ruth always says, "Make sure you have love in your life."

I am so glad I have hers...and the photos...and you in mine.