Mom showed love through food. On any day there were three of us in the kitchen; my sister, my mother, and me. We watched Mom cook while we played games at the table or did our homework. She made tasty meals, feeding well us on very little money.
Then, in special moments, she would decide to bake something with us. Aside from Christmas, I don’t recall there being any rhyme or reason for those sessions. She taught us how to make cookies, brownies, cakes, bread, and even donuts.
My sister and I took our baking to the road via a brownie and lemonade stand to get some money to spend. We’d stand out there, in the middle of that lonely country road and do dances trying to get just one car to drive by. This was in around 1962 and even though there was very little traffic on the road quite a few of the passing cars stopped and bought our brownies and lemonade. Each time we handed over our goodies our feet did happy dances when they drove off.
Fast forward five decades and now I get to bake in a fancy commercial kitchen and my sister is here baking along with me. We still do a happy dance when people come and buy our food. I send goodies to my Mom and my son to send love their way.
Beverley Walton, on our staff, remembers her mother also showing love through food:
If you mention food and love in the same breath, I will always think of my mom. My sweet “mum” passed away in October of 2013 but I will always remember how often she showed her love through food. She was good at telling you she loved you, but she really loved to cook for the people she loved. When grandkids came to visit, they would get a bag of her famous Anzac Cookies to take home with them. And going to work in the greenhouse with the garden club, she would, of course, take her Anzac Cookies. And thinking back (way back!) to dinner parties they had when I was growing up, what a spread she would provide with many courses for either sit down dinners or buffets for a crowd.
Today, for me, cooking is wonderful therapy – it soothes my soul. And just after she passed away and we had family in town, I found myself wanting to get in the kitchen and cook for all of them – so I guess I am my mother’s daughter.
We share some of our recipes for cooking with lavender so you can start to experiment, or get more ideas if you are already a lavender cook. The most important thing to remember when cooking with lavender is to be stingy with it. A little lavender goes a long way – usually. If you put too much in, it will taste like soap and you’ll be inclined to avoid lavender. So be judicious with your lavender, because it can add some special flavors to your food.
– Sarah Richards