A Day for Women

Upon watching season one of Mad Men on DVD, one must pause to wonder: how did women (or anyone BUT white men) survive the early 60s? It would be funny if so much of it wasn't true: the sexism in the workplace, the stilted conversations between husband and wife, the husband chatting with the wife's psychiatrist after her appointment. No wonder the women chain smoked and had mai tais and mint juleps in their hands all day long (even while pregnant)...yikes!

My mother spent her career as a nurse, and she remembers how the (male) doctors were gods; they patted the nurses on the heads (and likely on their asses, too!) It's easy from our modern perspective to think that we would not have stood for such patronising behaviour. But if we'd been raised in a culture where sexism was just a given, we may have thought it was just the way things were.

Imagine most men's shock then, when the women's movement gathered force! They must have thought the world was falling down around them. What? You want MORE than to just hang up my hat and be a sexual plaything? Handing me a drink at the end of the day and putting up with my affairs isn't ENOUGH for you? What goals could YOU possibly have? (I am exaggerating: I know not ALL men treated their wives and secretaries/nurses like servants/playthings)...

Today we modern (Western) women can giggle at the bra burning and the slogans decrying marriage and motherhood, and complain about the fact that in some ways the women's movement backfired in that we still do a majority of the housework/childrearing while also, in many cases, being the main breadwinner of the family. We have all the rights of men, and all the same responsibilities and pressures that women have always had.

But today, we can talk about it. We don't have to always pretend that raising our children is the deepest joy of our lives when in reality they're driving us to the liquor cabinet. We don't have to eschew knitting and the "domestic arts" for fear that our "sisters" will deride us for being against "the cause". We can write about the complexities, wonders, and frustrations of our lives with honesty, and hear the support and common experiences of women across the globe.

Today, I thank those brave women who didn't just accept that a woman's ONLY place was in the kitchen or bedroom. I commend their vision and hope, the sacrifices they made to make our modern lives better. I also salute the women of today who are reclaiming the right to stay home and raise their kids, be loving spouses (in equal partnership), to knit and can and sew and create a welcoming home. I salute the women who haven't had children, who work in traditional women's careers and who work in "men's" jobs. All of our experiences have value, no matter what choices we make about how we live our lives.

Today is the 100th International Women's Day, and for most of the women in the world, the women's lib movement is just a distant whisper. Today, let's give thanks to the courageous women who came before us and fought for our freedom, and send a loving prayer to the women who are still fighting, or are too frightened for their (or their children's)safety to fight.

In our busy lives, it's hard to think about what we can do to help women around the world. For today, start small.

Hug your daughters, tell them you love them, and give thanks. Hug your sons, too (because in so many ways, the women's lib movement freed men as well). Call the women that have inspired you and supported you. Send a note to women who have mentored you and encouraged you. Gather with women and make a toast (with mai tais!) to those who marched before you.

And, as always, count your many blessings.

Celebrating Pearl

On this day, in 1918, a baby girl was born in Toronto, Ontario. She was the firstborn in her family, and was named Pearl Isabella. When World War One ended weeks later, "Victory" was tagged on to her name.

Today that little girl turned 92. We gathered in my mother's kitchen to celebrate this woman, my father's mother, my grandmother, known to our children as "GG". Jude laboured over a card, proud of having printed those two letters, and the drawings he made: of GG opening a gift, her bellybutton proudly on display (every person and creature in his drawings has a bellybutton). Above this cartoonish figure was a bubble filled with heart stamps. I asked Jude what this bubble was. "GG's wonderings" was his response.

We ate soup and sandwiches. Grandma's favourite sandwich is cucumber and onion, and in honour of her birthday I had one, too, on white bread with lots of mayonnaise, salt, and pepper. Delicious! When I was a little girl, I would occasionally walk to Grandma's house from school, just for the lunch hour. We always ate sandwiches: peanut butter and banana, or cucumber. Often, there was soup, and always a quick game of cards before I hurried back to school.

As her 16 grandchildren adored her (and still do!), our children adore her. She revels in their attention and hugs. This woman always wears earrings, a necklace, and lipstick to match her sweater. She always carries her purse and places it beside her, wherever she sits. She's becoming a bit forgetful, but loves to visit and eat and play cribbage (but not when she loses and owes my parents her spare change). She takes afternoon naps, forgets what she ate for breakfast, and gets fresh-baked coconut cream tarts from my sister almost weekly. She used to be able to recite the United States alphabetically when we were kids, and always felt that doing crosswords kept her mind sharp.

From her, I learned the value of writing thank-you notes. I learned to dip green onions in salt, and play Go Fish. I loved her pink bathroom. I wasn't allowed to chew gum in her livingroom. She used to make ice-cream sundaes for us when we'd come for dinner. She always laughed when my Grandpa teased her. She's been a widow for 22 years now, and Grandpa was the only man she ever loved. She raised four children, lost one, and is known locally as the life of the party. When I was single and in my 20s, I used to joke that she had a busier social life than I; when I'd try to book an afternoon visit with her, she'd always rebuff my offer in favour of lawn-bowling, a card party, or a trip somewhere.

When I feel miffed about those little lines that are appearing on my face, and those silver strands, I will remember this photo, and the woman who gave my dad curly hair, who passed it to me, who then passed it to Margot. What a blessing, to live long enough to have your life's experiences sketched on your face, and to see your youth over and over with the generations that descend from you.

Happy Birthday, Pearl Isabella Victory Conway Keon! May you live to see 100!

This Cookbook

When I was 14, my mom gave me a cookbook compiled by "the wives of Rotarians", called "Among Friends: An International Collection of 500 Delicious Recipes". What I treasure most about this book is the inscription mom wrote inside the cover:

To Stephanie Rose! May you have a lot of fun trying these recipes, and may all your young dreams come true! Happy Birthday, age 14, Feb/1988, Love Mommy.  You may even be using this book for your husband and kids~ hope he likes the food!

Through the years, I've kept notes as I've cooked, and as I browsed through this cookbook this evening, I was delighted to read the little reminders of when and for whom I lovingly prepared food:

Tonight I made an old standby, "Hearty January Hamburger Soup". It's a favourite for cold, rainy evenings, and reminds me of the soup my Grandma used to make. She used stewing beef rather than ground beef, but the taste is the same. Even the most discerning (read: picky) palate in our house eats this with gusto!

A bit more of Margot's Cheese....

Here it is:

Hearty January Hamburger Soup

1 tsp. butter
1 lb. ground beef
3 medium onions, chopped
14 oz. can tomatoes (use crushed or diced, doesn't matter!)
salt, pepper, and sweet basil to taste
1 bay leaf
6 cups beef stock
3 medium carrots, sliced
3 medium potatoes, sliced
3 celery stalks, sliced
1/4 cup small pasta (seashells, elbows...or just break up spaghetti like I did tonight!)
Worcestershire and Tabasco, to taste

Heat butter and brown ground beef. Add onions, tomatoes, seasonings, bay leaf, and stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer, covered, for 1 hour.  Add remaining vegetables and cook 1 hour longer. Add pasta during the last 12-15 minutes of cooking. Correct seasonings, remove bay leaf, and serve hot!

*in order to post this, I had to go OUT of Blogger, then back in for every single photograph. After posting one, the browse button would not respond...help! Anyone? At this rate, I'll manage one post a week!

Guest Post: In Memory of Marjorie

Today I welcome my sister, Julie, as a guest blogger!

Since my blog, The Letter Writing Revolution, was not a suitable forum for the post I wanted to write, Stephanie graciously offered The Knitty Gritty Homestead as a space for the following post.


When I first met my husband, I was 12 years old and he was 13. We met in a hockey rink in rural Quebec and it was love at first sight. I recall seeing his mom at the rink and as the story goes, she saw me, too, and told Tim that she thought I was "cute as a button."

Fast forward 12 years..........
I met up with the man who would be my husband once again while home visiting from Whistler, BC. We dated for a few weeks and then I returned to BC. Soon after, I received a call that he was quitting his jobs, selling his belongings and moving to BC as well. We married three years later and celebrated our 11th anniversary this past June. And, as they say, the rest is history.

Very sadly, when I saw my husband's mom at the hockey rink back in 1984 what I didn't know was that she was fighting breast cancer. She passed away a year and two months later in March of 1985 when she was only 39 years old (the age I am now). When my husband and I started dating and were living in BC, we started an annual tradition of participating in the CIBC Run for the Cure.......a run/walk with all proceeds going to breast cancer research. Each year we would do the run and eventually after getting our hands on some of his mother's recipes, we started the annual tradition of making her cinnamon buns from scratch in memory and celebration of her life.

October is breast cancer awareness month and so in memory of my mother-in-law, Marjorie Graham, whom I never had a chance to meet or know, I want to share a step-by-step recipe of making her amazing (and easy!) cinnamon buns. Enjoy!

Marjorie Graham's Cinnamon Buns

You will need:
The Dough:
3 cups of white all-purpose flour (and then another 3cups or so)
2 Tbsp. quick rising yeast (if you buy the three packets that are attached, use all three)
3 cups warm water
8 Tbsp. white sugar
6 Tbsp. Crisco oil (I used light tasting olive oil)
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
The Topping
1 lb. butter
1 kg. bag brown sugar
1/3 cup cinnamon

Creating the Buns:
1. Put water, sugar and oil in a large bowl.

2. Mix the flour and yeast together in a separate bowl and then add to the oil/water/sugar mixture, combining with a fork or spoon.

3. Add beaten egg and salt.

4. You will need to take your rings off as it's going to get messy!

4. Add at least 3 cups more of flour until you have consistency and dough doesn't stick to your hands.

5. Oil another large bowl and place dough in it. Cover with a tea towel and place in oven. No heat but turn the oven light on for 20 minutes.

6. After 20 minutes, remove from oven and knead the dough. Place back in oven, covered with tea towel, (no heat) for 20-25 minutes. Oven light remains on.

7. When you remove it after the 25 minutes, it should look like this:

8. Prepare a large surface (counter works well) with flour and dump the dough onto the surface. You will now roll out your dough into a rectangle  about 1/4 -1/2 inch thick.

My husband's grandmother's rolling pin which was probably her mother's rolling pin.

9. Now, her recipe states: "Butter well. Add lots of brown sugar and lots of cinnamon." From ten years of experimenting, my husband and I think we have found the magic balance of these three key ingredients. I use a pound of soft butter (I didn't say these were healthy!!) spread evenly over the dough rectangle. Then, sprinkle with 1 kg of golden brown sugar and I probably used about a 1/3 cup of cinnamon sprinkled over the entire piece of dough. Now, you might need an extra set of hands for this part as you are now going to roll the dough like a jelly roll.

10. Slice your roll into pieces that are about an inch and a half thick and place into greased glass pans. Pie plates work, too.Let rise in oven uncovered and no heat (oven light on, though) for 45 minutes. They should come out looking like this:

11. Remove and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Return to oven for 25-30 minutes. They are best eaten on the day they're baked and it's perfectly fine to add more butter when you eat them. I also recommend a hot pot of tea and friends and family to enjoy them with.

The finished product!

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to post them here and I will happily guide you. These are by far the best cinnamon buns I have ever eaten. Enjoy!

The Knitty Gritty "Orchard"

The birds enjoyed every single one of last year's grapes, just before they were ready to be picked.

Rural Ontario presents many opportunities to eat seasonally and locally, at least in our relatively short growing season. Thanks to The Ottawa Valley Food Co-op, we now order our meat locally, and pick it up nearby. Their website offers many local products, and we have enjoyed pork, beef, tomatoes, baby food, and body-care products all created in the Ottawa Valley. We are increasingly less dependent on the grocery store, which makes us happy!

I think most Valleyites would agree, though, that eating seasonally can be more challenging in the wintertime. Most of us do some canning, and are working towards preserving a majority of our summer produce to keep us going through the winter. The old crabapple trees that dot our property tell tales of former farmers, who would have stuffed them in jars, covered them with syrup, and enjoyed them through the winter as a sweet treat, as well as a good source of Vitamin C.

While I do make lots of jelly from our crabapples, and thank the person who planted them decades ago, I can see my children choosing scurvey over crabapples for dessert for 6 months of the year.

We do have a small "orchard" (I'm using that grand term very generously), and we hope to cultivate and expand it as the years go by. For now, we get a few items for fresh eating (it's hard to keep those apples on the trees when they're the perfect height for 3-5 year olds' hands...):

These guys look about ready to be harvested.

This year we got 1 warped, homely lovely pear, no blueberries (hens or wild birds beat us to them), and the grapes are ripening. We may need to put some netting over the grapes to discourage the birds this year. The apples get picked when the kids feel peckish during an outside play. Our favourite Ontario fruit is the blessed peach, ordered by the bushel from the Niagara region, and quickly turned into peach conserve and peach pie...watch tomorrow's post for my favourite peach recipes.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

My cookbook is starting to look like my mom's; recipes entitled "Lorna's Sugar Cookies", "Luscious Lenore's Lovely Ginger Cookies", and "Adam's Mom's Butterscotch Square" abound. My favourite from my mom's tattered old book was "Carole Dowdall's Pink Dessert". I can't say I have made it, or want to, but to me it is such a reflection of a time when adding Jell-o, Miracle Whip, maraschino cherries, and pistachio pudding to all salads and desserts was the norm.

Today I peeked through my cookbook for a quick recipe; the people who sold us our house were passing through the area and wanted to pop in. I always like to have something just-baked when guests arrive...in addition to the lovely, welcoming aroma that fills the kitchen, I think it's rather homey to serve something lovely with tea.

I came across this recipe for my grandma's Pineapple Upside-Down Cake; the first time I baked it was when I was in early labour with the baby-who-would-be-Jude...I remember calling my grandma for the recipe between those early, sporadic contractions!

Stephanie's Grandma's Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 can pineapple rings, or one pineapple, peeled, cored, and sliced into rings.

Start by melting the butter in an 8 inch round pan; sprinkle with brown sugar, and line with pineapple rings. You may put maraschino cherries into the centres for a nice decorative touch; I try to avoid foods that have so many preservatives, archaeologists will study them in 4000 years...but it's up to you!

Sift together:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder

In a separate bowl, beat together:
2 egg yolks
2 Tbsp. pineapple juice (if using a fresh one, squeeze the extra bits through a sieve or just use orange juice!)

In yet another bowl, beat
2 egg whites (until stiff peaks form)

Then add 1/2 cup sugar to the whites.

GENTLY fold yolk mixture and flour mixture alternately into the whites mixture. Pour over pineapple in cake pan. Bake at 350 degree F for 35-40 minutes.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then turn onto cake platter ~ serve with whipped cream!

The topping is a delicious gooey mess of butter, brown sugar, and pineapple!

I had a bit of a tear in my eye as I baked, as when my Grandma gave me the recipe 5 years ago, she was still living in her own home, with her own cookbook. She told me this story:

When she got married, my grandma didn't know a thing about cooking. My grandpa was in love with her, and very patient and indulgent, so he didn't mind testing out her first attempts. In their early marriage, grandma would make two desserts when company was coming, just in case one didn't turn out!

One evening, when Grandpa was bringing a friend home (a man I would later meet; they were lifelong friends), she made this cake, and wrapped it in waxed paper to set in the snowbank to cool (as they had no fridge). When she went to fetch it, she found that a dog had made off with it!

Upon hearing this, Grandpa turned to his friend without missing a beat, and quipped, "That explains the big dog we saw lying dead in the ditch a ways back!"

Recipes that are handed down carry so much more than food ingredients with them. I always think that this recipe also carries the ingredients of a good marriage: honesty, patience, perseverance, optimism, and especially a good sense of humour.

My Grandma is now almost 92; she's lived without Grandpa for the past 21 years, and moved into a retirement home 2 years ago. All of her meals are now cooked for her, after about 70 years of feeding her husband, four children, and many grandchildren (all her practice paid off, and we enjoyed many wonderful meals together).

The other night, when Grandma was having dinner at my parents' house, she asked for the recipe for the meal my mom had made. When mom and dad reminded her that she doesn't have to cook anymore, it took a moment before she said, "Oh, that's right...I forgot".

Well, Grandma, I won't forget this story. It is now part of our family history. I have her story written with the recipe in my cookbook, along with "*May 14, 2005: got this recipe from Grandma - early labour activity as we waited for the arrival of our first babe!"

I encourage you to collect the recipes that accompany your family history, and write down the stories that go with them. You just might find the ingredients for a happy life.

P.S. Don't forget to enter my awesome giveaway!