There were lots of traits and hobbies and favorite things that made up who my Mom was, but three of the things that never changed were her laugh, her love of cooking, and her love of coffee. She was the best cook in the world. I know everyone says this about their Mom's cooking, but with our Mom, it's actually true.
Though I occasionally asked my Mom questions about how to cook certain things, I never asked her or even really wanted her to show me how to cook, or how she cooked, because I was not that interested in cooking. I'm still not, but I have been cooking more since I changed how I'm eating. Out of necessity. Though it has only been a few weeks, I don't know that I could or would want to go back to what I did before, which was cook only occasionally but mostly just throw things together. For the curious, the reason I don't enjoy cooking as much as many people do is because I also do not enjoy cleaning up. It is sometimes a lot of work for only a little reward. I guess that is becoming less true now that I am cooking for myself more frequently.
When I was about five or six years old, my Aunt Jean (who was really my mother's Aunt Jean, which made her my Aunt Aunt Jean. That's how she signed her cards to me) took me to the Gallery Mall in Philadelphia, which at the time was only Strawbridge's department store and three floors of about ten stores each, plus a couple of restaurants. We bought a dress for me for Christmas, and some toys (of course), and we bought some Christmas presents.
It was important to Aunt Jean that I pick something out for my mother that was from me, so she wasn't telling me what to buy. She took me to a Hallmark store, which actually may not have been Hallmark back then, but just a card store that sold Hallmark stuff. It was there that I found the perfect present for my Mom: a Miss Piggy Recipe Holder.
I know, I know, right? No, it wasn't that my Mom necessarily liked the Muppets (that would be me), but she had literally just said a few days before that that she wished she had something to put all her recipes in and organize them better. So, I was super-excited to present my Aunt Jean with my wished-for purchase to give to my Mom.
"Are you sure, doll?" Aunt Jean asked me, not enthusiastically and definitely with doubt.
"Yes! It's perfect! Mommy says she needs something for her recipes!"
Aunt Jean looked at glamourous, smiling Miss Piggy on the cover of the recipe holder and shrugged. "Okay, then let's get it for your Mommy."
I was never that excited for my Mom to open one of my presents. She loved the recipe holder. She thought I was the most brilliant six-year-old in the world (or five-year-old). She thought the Miss Piggy was cute, and was so excited at being able to organize her recipes and what a great gift, honey, thank you!
It is possible she didn't realize she made the comment about wanting a recipe holder in front of me, but I enjoyed being thought of as brilliant.
The Miss Piggy Recipe holder is now in my closet with other things belonging to my mother, including some belongings of Aunt Jean that my mother had in her own closet. When I am feeling like I can deal with it, I will look through it again and see what is in there. I don't think it was just recipes anymore because my Mom had other sources of recipe organization, including her Land-O-Lakes recipe card box.
I remembered the file was in the closet earlier today. When I was wishing I had something to put recipes in, now that I'm cooking.
Another thing she loved in addition to cooking and coffee was getting brand-labeled things such as mugs or, well, recipe file boxes from brands. Meet as part of my own mug collection, most of which were my Mom's, my Lindt mugs, my Land-O-Lakes mug, my Starbucks London mug, my Reese's peanut butter spreading knife, and my spatula from the 1970s (which actually was Aunt Jean's but it's still cool).
I guess I'm more like my Mom than I realized.
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