ABOUT
I was raised by military parents from both sides of the Mason Dixon line and grew up in the kitchen, eating everything from classic cheesesteaks to buttermilk biscuits. I loved traveling the world but I split most of my time between my mom’s home state of Pennsylvania and my dad’s home state of Mississippi. Two places that were very different, yet both always felt like home.
In 2020, everything changed. The pandemic hit hard and I lost my job as a substitute teacher. I finally completed my teacher certification, a dream 4 years in the making, but the job pool was limited. Within a few months, my parents moved 1,000 miles away back to my dad’s hometown in Mississippi while I began working remotely and moved to Philadelphia. In the midst of the chaos, I found comfort in the kitchen. I tried new recipes, expanded my cultural cuisine, and forced everybody I knew to try it all. It was then that I rediscovered my mamaw’s cookbook. For those of you who don’t know, mamaw is the southern term for grandmother, and this cookbook was my mamaw’s life’s work. It was more than just tried and true southern classics, it was family, love, adventure, soul and the true joy of cooking.
On my first trip back to Mississippi after the big move my family and I visited the cemetery where my mamaw and papaw are buried. It was my first time there since my papaw had died in 2019 and I knew it would be emotional. However, after spending some time talking with them about my plans for the blog, I looked down and found a perfect 4 – leaf clover right on top of her grave. I took that as a sign that she was on board and was excited for her to be a part of it all (although I did tell her to give me another one if she had any concerns).
Throughout my life, I heard all kinds of stories about my mamaw. Her name was Doris Jeannette and she was a spitfire but sadly she passed before I ever got to know her. She was one of 12 children, born and raised in Mississippi during the Great Depression. There are stories of her sneaking off to the river with friends, taking on a swimming snake, and even meeting Elvis at local bars before he was famous. She was always strong, competitive, and full of life.
She married my papaw Bud when she was 40 years old (and 11 years older than him) and was married to him for 35 adventurous years. Throughout her life, mamaw had loved to cook and collected recipes she had gathered from her own friends and family. When my own parents got married, my mamaw gave my mother and handwritten cookbook of the “only food my dad would eat.” Food was her love language and she wanted to share her love with the world. In 1980 she worked with her husband to hand type a cookbook of her own special recipes. The more I began to explore her cookbook the more I was inspired by both her food and her purpose. From Bourbon Balls to Spam Salads, it was both brilliant and strange. The recipes were traditional, calling for oleo, miracle whip, and canned soups of all varieties, but they were personal, unique, and quintessentially southern.
This blog is an exploration of all of it. The good, the interesting, but most importantly, the authentic. Mamaw spent a lot of time building this cookbook and as the dedication says, she hopes “you will enjoy them as much as I have.” So I invite you to this blog. Recipes will be tested and posted, reviews are welcome, and modifications will be made or suggested. But don’t expect anything ordinary.
Let’s eat!
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