Welcome to “My Mother’s Treasure”.
I started this blog on July 9th, 2011, almost 5 years after my mother was formally diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease and, unbeknownst to me, 4 years and 8 days before she would be taken from us, on July 17th, 2015.
I discovered, as I embarked on this "journey of discovery" as I dubbed it then, that beyond unearthing delicious family recipes and recording treasured memories, I was documenting a road travelled by so many others around the globe...people could relate to our family's experiences: the joys and sorrows, triumphs and setbacks.
As Mama's disease progressed, and we descended further into the abyss of Alzheimer's, our readers started walking alongside us, sometimes sharing their own stories with me. And so this blog evolved, taking on a life of its own. It became a record of the Alzheimer journey, documenting the loss of one matriarch and the emergence of her reluctant successor.
I still share recipes, and stories - with my mother's passing there is a renewed sense of urgency to get it all on paper for the next generation - but I also try to share those things I lost when Alzheimer's ravaged my mother - the feelings, the thoughts. Because now, more than ever, I wish I could ask her how she felt as she faced life's challenges...I long for her words of wisdom...words I took for granted would always be available to me, but are not.
What follows is my original welcome message, written when I started this blog in 2011.
Though she is still with us in body, Alzheimer's has stolen my mother away from us far too soon, before she could organize her memories and stories for her grandchildren and the generations to come. I intend to build that legacy in her place, using her personal, handwritten recipes and those of her mother, grandmothers, aunts and family friends.
That is why I’ve started this blog - as a tribute to my beloved mother, who instilled her love of homemaking, cooking and baking in me and my daughters. So...I guess that makes me a daughter embarking on a journey to rediscover my mother, through her treasured cookbook – that belonged to her mother before her – which is filled with recipes dating back 2 and 3 generations.
Here is where you come in...I am trying to build a following for this blog. Please peruse "My Mother's Treasure" and, if you find it interesting, please consider joining me on this journey by publicly following this blog, and please recommend it to people you know who you think might be interested in it as well.
B’Tayavon and Buon Appetito!
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I just read the article in Wednesday's Star; a good one and I thought I'd say hello!
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in TO; I didn't learn from my mom like others; we were not close and she had precious few recipes. In fact I always missed it and envied my friend Haviva's relationship with her mom who was an excellent cook (also Roumanian) who also just passed away from the same dreaded disease, Alzheimers.
My mom is not a great cook; it wasn't a priority of hers. As a kid she kept me out of the kitchen; any cooking I did was when she went out. So I learned to cook a bit on the fly!
I was a vegetarian for a long time so I never really learned to cook meat but now I would like to learn the hamishe way of cooking it. All around me are friends who are great cooks but they have their idiosyncratic way of cooking. For example my friend Ro learned both from her mother and her ex-mother-in-law; a little bit of this a little bit of that and I believe that her one of her measuring spoons was a 1 1/2 tblsp size handmade in Morocco so everything had to be "eyeballed" so to speak and nothing was exact.
I'm going to keep following your blog and others linked to it.
And most important I'm going to keep trying.
Enjoy!
I'm blown away by your blog. When you get to be my age you have lots of family recipe favourites...not that everyone in your family likes it, but it is available and brings many vivid and delicious memories. My sister and I talk about it all the time. They bring back many funny stories about food and relationships too long to share on a blog. Please contact me at eross@alzheimer-york.com when you get a moment. I am looking forward to meeting you personally.
ReplyDeleteMy dear Naomi,
ReplyDeleteI translated this short welcome monologue and will post it on my Facebook profile with your permission, of course:
ברוכים הבאים ל"אוצר של אמא",
למרות שהיא עדיין איתנו בגופה, מחלת האלצהיימר לקחה את אמי מאיתנו מוקדם מדי, הרבה לפני שיכלה לארגן את מחשבותיה, זיכרונותיה וסיפוריה עבור הנכדים והדורות הבאים אחריהם.
ברצוני לעשות זאת עבורה: תוך שימוש במתכונים הרשומים בכתב ידה ואלה של אמה, סבתה, דודותיה וחברי משפחה – אני מתכוונת להתחיל לבנות את מורשתה הקולינארית של אמי ובתוכה גם סיפורים וזכרונות מהעבר.
זו הסיבה שהתחלתי לכתוב את הבלוג הזה – כמחווה לאמי האהובה, אשר השרישה בי ובשתי בנותיי את האהבה לבישול, אפיה וניהול משק הבית בכלל.
אז, אני מניחה שזה הופך אותי לבת אשר מתחילה במסע להכרות מחדש של אמה, דרך ספרי הבישול שלה אשר מלאים במתכונים מלפני שני ואפילו שלושה דורות.
ברצוני לשתף כמה שיותר אנשים במסע הזה שלי ובזיכרונות מאמא. אנא כנסו לבלוג שלי My Mother's treasure ואם אתם מוצאים בו עניין – שתפו חברים ומכרים שעשויים גם הם להתעניין בדברים שאני משתפת.
הבלוג אמנם באנגלית כי אני יהודיה אשר נולדה וחיה בקנדה – אבל אשמח מאד אם תעשו מאמץ ותקראו בכל פעם כמה שורות.
תודה לכם,
נעמי רייטר ברוני