Notes from Grandma

Right before Thanksgiving I was rooting through my recipe box in preparation for the festivities, and I ran across a few notes from my Grandma Cink.  My Grandma is the one who made the recipe box for me; she made one for all us "girls"  (her granddaughters) and gave it to us one Christmas, filled with great recipes.  Recently I've been trying to capture some of our 'family' recipes, like the infamous Cink potato salad and the legendary Cink stuffing.  I'm trying to write them down so they can be passed down, because right now they exist only in my grandma's, my mom's and my aunt's heads.

My Grandma is an amazing woman. She is a shining example to our family and the most selfless, most caring and kind person I have ever met.  And she has a wonderful sense of humor about everything in life.  One of my favorite holiday memories is our extended family gathered at my grandparent's home.  Over the years, one thing was always guaranteed: At the end of the day, my grandma, my mom, my aunts - the women of our family - would all gather at her table and inevitably end up laughing. I always thought of the Cink women's laugh as a sort of cackling laugh, and it was contagious.  Sometimes you would just laugh at them laughing.

While I was going through the recipe box, I ran across several recipe cards that I didn't fully appreciate until... well, maybe now I guess. I'm going to start posting them here, given all the change that is going on in my life and the fact that it's the holiday season.  Here are the first two:

A Recipe for Poise
From the Ktchen of Grandma Cink

Never run when you can walk
Never walk when you can stand
Never stand when you can sit
Never sit when you can lie.
There is magic in these words for a busy homemaker.
It isn't the work that wearies so much but the tense way it is approached.
It is the fretting, worrying, and hurrying.
So be kind to yourself, dear gal.
Relax.

How fitting for me.  Always has been, but definitely now moreso than ever!

To Preserve a Husband

Be careful of your selection
Do not choose too young and take only such varieties as have been raised in a good moral atmosphere.
When once decided upon and selected, let that part remain forever settled and give your time and thought to preparation for domestic use.
Some insist on keeping them in a pickle, while others are constantly keeping them in hot water.
But even poor varieties may be made sweet, tender and good by garnishing with patience well sweetened with smiles and flavored with kisses to taste. 
Wrap them well in a mantle of chairty.
Keep warm with a steady flow of devotion and serve well with peaches and cream.
When thus prepared they keep for years.
Grandma Cink

What a great reminder of how to treat your partner and the vows we took to honor and cherish.  And she honestly lives these words every day.  My grandparents have been married for over 60 years (mom, can you post the actual number in the comments section?) and my grandpa loves to tell the story of how they met. And I love listening to it.  My favorite memory from our wedding is the Generations dance, where they bring all married couples out on the dance floor and start dismissing you based on length of marriage. At the end of it all, there were my grandparents, dancing until the very end. I will never forget the smile on my grandpa's face when they proclaimed them the winners!

Thank you, Grandma, for the recipes and reminders. I love you!