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| There I was, creating a memoir in four enormous chapters - 60 eventful years of cooking - when my mind got fortuitously snowed in with La Muse at a gentleman’s farm in Ohio during the harsh winter of 1951-52, and stayed for a blossoming spring. My Muse and I built an imaginary fire, settling in for a long look at my bedrock of kitchen craft: the Farm's big, warm country kitchen, a scene of continzual culinary activity, a pantry full of surprises, a cup of romance, a scant teaspoon of the dark, and a woman made lonely but inspired to nurture by war. The Farm kitchen recipe binders are true cooking histories, written by hand, with pages stained with the chocolate fingerprints of real people, who - with a whiffle! - came shimmering to life in my kitchen, sticking spoons into sauces, whispering "less flour" or "more stock." With these folks came their identities, and not just a few of their ideas. Woven into the fabric of this memoir are nuggets from the forgotten letters of two lovers separated by an ocean of longing. Nurturing people with beautiful delicious food - honoring the kitchen as a temple and the home as a studio of nourishment - all this that fills my heart - came first from the Farm. Simmer it down to Love. In Books 2, 3, and 4 there will be time enough for growing up; cooking for big famous people; antics of infamy; bakeries and cafes. We’ll just start at the beginning. Book One - The Farm. All characters are fictitious. All recipes and historical nuggets are as true as possible. ~ Ginna BB Gordon | ||
