Heirloom, what does that mean exactly? According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary it means, “something of special value handed down from one generation to another.” In my family learning how to use the kitchen successfully and tastefully has been an heirloom trait. Through the generations, my family has made dishes from around the world and close to home. I have been taught how to butcher a chicken, make homemade bread and noodles, and bake all sorts of delicious delicacies.
You may be wondering though. Who am I and why do I want to
blog about my heirloom kitchen? Why did I name it Marie’s Heirloom Kitchen if
my name isn’t Marie? Well, let me answer a few of those questions. My name is
Grace Marie. Marie is an heirloom name on the maternal side of my family. My mother,
grandmother, and great-grandmother all have that middle name. Someday when I have
a daughter of my own, her middle name will also be Marie. These wonderful women
have taught me so much both in and out of the kitchen. Because of this, I shall
call them my Marie teachers. I love experimenting in the kitchen and playing
with food. Learning new tricks in how to deal with a picky eater has been my
most recent challenge. Although I have been blessed with beautiful teachers in
the kitchen, not everyone has. This is why I want to share some of my knowledge
in the kitchen with you, my readers.
Knowledge is a beautiful thing, and I gain more of it every
time I enter my kitchen. Learning to cook is about more than just following a
recipe. Sometimes it means adapting that recipe to work with cheaper ingredients
you may already have in your kitchen. Sometimes it may mean looking at five
recipes and combining them to make one because you like some of the features of
them all but not any specific one. Or when you try a new recipe that sounds
like it should work but just isn’t quite right. So, you try it again but with
some small tweaks and keep playing with it till you’re satisfied. Learning how to
do these things is a skill I have learned from my Marie teachers over the
years. I have been in the kitchen helping them since before I could see over
the countertops. When I’m stressed, to the kitchen I go. The irony of it though
is that sometimes the kitchen makes me stressed.
When things don’t go as planned or you get burnt by popping
grease splatters. This is when some tend to give up, I however, take it as a
challenge. There was one time in high school that I was making BLT’s and brownies
by myself at the same time. In my family we save the grease left by bacon in a
glass container in the fridge. I’ll share in a later post about what you can do
with that grease. I was melting the butter I had just taken from the fridge in
the microwave when it decided to explode all over it. This was stressful enough
by itself, but it gets better… I was pouring the bacon grease into what I thought
was its storage container when my little sister walked in. She asked me what I was
doing and I responded with putting the bacon grease away. She’s like I didn’t
realize it goes in the brownies. I looked down and realized that alas it was
not the glass grease container but the partially finished brownie batter that
was waiting for the butter which had earlier exploded in the microwave. At this
point, I was not about to waste all my hard work. So, what did I do? Well, I put
in what remained of the butter and baked the brownies, bacon grease and all. My
sister-in-law and brother couldn’t tell the difference when I asked how they
were later that day. All this to say that sometimes when things go haywire in
the kitchen it doesn't mean things cannot be mended. Some of the best
inventions in the food industry are the products of mistakes. Beer, yogurt,
and even the chocolate chip cookie.
My hope for this blog is to not only share my experiences
but also those of my Marie teachers. I truly believe that anyone can cook and
bake if they set their mind to it and have a great teacher. Hopefully, I can
help some of you on your journey to learn the arts of the kitchen. Some topics
that I plan on covering in the future include bread baking tips and tricks,
quick and easy meals, learning to cook for a picky eater, and the challenge of
a 1,600-calorie diet. I look forward to sharing this journey with you. Thanks for
reading, Grace Marie.
