On the street, you do not recognize old maids and spinsters anymore. You cannot pick them out. But you will be conscious of an increasing number of women who are alert, handsomely dressed, of spirited carriage. This is the picture of today's unmarried woman. You may be very sure she has a fur coat. -- Professional Woman, Harper's, 1929
The woman on the cover of the book is my mother. She spent 10 years developing the recipes in the book. She died in November 1987, one year after she enjoyed seeing it published.
Aren't you taking a narrow point of view about the book? You're assuming that a person who owns the book must necessarily be alone. You are totally missing the point.
Mom developed the book because she saw that we were becoming a large society of smaller households (one or two people) mainly because the babyboomers' children were leaving the nest. Most recipes are written for four or six. Have you ever tried to take a recipe for six, and divide by three to make a meal for two? It doesn't come out right. However, if you start with a recipe for one from Mom's book and double it, you can easily make a delicious meal for two ... and fast in the microwave.
"Microwave Cooking for One" was published 20 years ago. Most cookbooks for the microwave written that long ago are out of print. I am so proud of my mother for her accomplishment, and have dedicated a website to her work (http://www.microwavecookingforone.com). I invite you to go to the Content section and try doubling a few of the recipes, and the come back and tell me how sad my mother's book is. The stuffed shrimp recipe is absolutely delicious!
My mother never lived alone. She went from living with her parents, to being happily married to my father for 33 years before she died. She learned early in life not to become the family garbage can, Ian, and that's why she stayed so thin her entire life. By this I mean a lot of woman, would finish off whatever food was left from a meal rather than throw it in the garbage. My mother never did that. She loved to cook, and she loved food. But she always ate in reasonable portions.
Instead of looking at my mother's book as something sad, try thinking of it as a way to help smaller households eat healthier. All the recipes use fresh or frozen ingredients.
If you have a hankering for a cup of pudding, you don't have to make a box for four. You can make one serving for yourself ... or double it for two. I remember one night I surprised my parents by making Mom a cup of lemon pudding and my father a cup of chocolate pudding from the recipes in the book ... nothing sad about that! They enjoyed the unexpected treat ... together, not alone.
I wish you could see all the emails I've received from people who are thankful for the book. Many have told me that now they don't have to eat take-out or frozen dinners all the time, and enjoy making home-cooked meals.
This is my very first post to a blog. I saw your link to the cover of the book in my site traffic reports and couldn't believe anybody could have such a narrow point of view about my mother's achievement. So, I had to say something.
At first I was going to apologize, but I do think the title of the book is sad. I didn't say that the author was sad (in fact I didn't say anything about her at all) -- just that she'd written a sad cookbook.
It's a nice cookbook with a picture of a seemingly nice woman on the cover. I think I would be sad if I had to buy the book, but I am going to try the stuffed shrimp for dinner next week.
Yeah, I mean I'm sure mother was fantastic, but the book's title really is quite funny. And, you know, as I said earlier, those pancakes look terrific.
I think that posting the cover of an obscure 20 year old cookbook only to have the daughter of author of said cookbook show up out of nowhere to defend her mother's honor is the saddest thing of all.
So basically, what's going on here ... the book is being judged by its cover. Hmmmm ....
Okay, yes I'll give you the fact that at first glance the title seems sad ... like the Three Dog Night song ... "One ... is the loneliest number ..."
I wasn't looking for an apology because I wasn't offended. All I was trying to say is that there is more to the story than the title of the book.
Lawbot ... the pancakes don't only look good, they are delicious. I was there the day that the picture for the cover was taken. Except for the desserts, which Mom prepared the day before, all of the food on the cover was cooked the morning of the photo shoot. The photographer and his assistants ate very well that day!
I have a feeling that you are all in your twenties and thirties. Imagine being a 70-year-old man caring for a wife who has Alzheimer's, as one person who wrote to me thankful to have the book is ... Imagine being a retired husband and wife, with all your children grown and out of the house, and trying to cut the dinners you used to cook for an entire family down to two people ... These are the people my mother was thinking about when she first decided to write the book.
It's more than a cookbook ... it's a workbook that teaches people how to cook for themselves who never had to cook at all or in small amounts before, providing an alternative to frozen dinners and take-out food.
Hippie Killer ... no, I don't have a google alert set up. As I mentioned in my first post, I just happend to see the link to this blog in my website statistics, which oddly enough, I rarely look at. The book is not obscure, it is thriving. It comes up first in the search for "Microwave Cooking" at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
I didn't come to defend my mother's honor. It doesn't need defending. I just wanted to point out that just maybe some people were judging a book by it's cover.
This is magical, like a disney movie gone horribly wrong. Man, I am truly, completely envious. Nothing like this ever happens over in my pathetic corner of the web.
13 comments:
Sure it's sad, but I'd love to know how she managed perfect looking pancakes.
Lots of love -- self-love.
How does she stay so thin, cooking all that food for herself?
The woman on the cover of the book is my mother. She spent 10 years developing the recipes in the book. She died in November 1987, one year after she enjoyed seeing it published.
Aren't you taking a narrow point of view about the book? You're assuming that a person who owns the book must necessarily be alone. You are totally missing the point.
Mom developed the book because she saw that we were becoming a large society of smaller households (one or two people) mainly because the babyboomers' children were leaving the nest. Most recipes are written for four or six. Have you ever tried to take a recipe for six, and divide by three to make a meal for two? It doesn't come out right. However, if you start with a recipe for one from Mom's book and double it, you can easily make a delicious meal for two ... and fast in the microwave.
"Microwave Cooking for One" was published 20 years ago. Most cookbooks for the microwave written that long ago are out of print. I am so proud of my mother for her accomplishment, and have dedicated a website to her work (http://www.microwavecookingforone.com). I invite you to go to the Content section and try doubling a few of the recipes, and the come back and tell me how sad my mother's book is. The stuffed shrimp recipe is absolutely delicious!
My mother never lived alone. She went from living with her parents, to being happily married to my father for 33 years before she died. She learned early in life not to become the family garbage can, Ian, and that's why she stayed so thin her entire life. By this I mean a lot of woman, would finish off whatever food was left from a meal rather than throw it in the garbage. My mother never did that. She loved to cook, and she loved food. But she always ate in reasonable portions.
Instead of looking at my mother's book as something sad, try thinking of it as a way to help smaller households eat healthier. All the recipes use fresh or frozen ingredients.
If you have a hankering for a cup of pudding, you don't have to make a box for four. You can make one serving for yourself ... or double it for two. I remember one night I surprised my parents by making Mom a cup of lemon pudding and my father a cup of chocolate pudding from the recipes in the book ... nothing sad about that! They enjoyed the unexpected treat ... together, not alone.
I wish you could see all the emails I've received from people who are thankful for the book. Many have told me that now they don't have to eat take-out or frozen dinners all the time, and enjoy making home-cooked meals.
This is my very first post to a blog. I saw your link to the cover of the book in my site traffic reports and couldn't believe anybody could have such a narrow point of view about my mother's achievement. So, I had to say something.
At first I was going to apologize, but I do think the title of the book is sad. I didn't say that the author was sad (in fact I didn't say anything about her at all) -- just that she'd written a sad cookbook.
It's a nice cookbook with a picture of a seemingly nice woman on the cover. I think I would be sad if I had to buy the book, but I am going to try the stuffed shrimp for dinner next week.
Yeah, I mean I'm sure mother was fantastic, but the book's title really is quite funny. And, you know, as I said earlier, those pancakes look terrific.
I think that posting the cover of an obscure 20 year old cookbook only to have the daughter of author of said cookbook show up out of nowhere to defend her mother's honor is the saddest thing of all.
Does she have a google alert set up or something?
Bwah-ha-ha-ha... You have to be fucking kidding me.
So basically, what's going on here ... the book is being judged by its cover. Hmmmm ....
Okay, yes I'll give you the fact that at first glance the title seems sad ... like the Three Dog Night song ... "One ... is the loneliest number ..."
I wasn't looking for an apology because I wasn't offended. All I was trying to say is that there is more to the story than the title of the book.
Lawbot ... the pancakes don't only look good, they are delicious. I was there the day that the picture for the cover was taken. Except for the desserts, which Mom prepared the day before, all of the food on the cover was cooked the morning of the photo shoot. The photographer and his assistants ate very well that day!
I have a feeling that you are all in your twenties and thirties. Imagine being a 70-year-old man caring for a wife who has Alzheimer's, as one person who wrote to me thankful to have the book is ... Imagine being a retired husband and wife, with all your children grown and out of the house, and trying to cut the dinners you used to cook for an entire family down to two people ... These are the people my mother was thinking about when she first decided to write the book.
It's more than a cookbook ... it's a workbook that teaches people how to cook for themselves who never had to cook at all or in small amounts before, providing an alternative to frozen dinners and take-out food.
Hippie Killer ... no, I don't have a google alert set up. As I mentioned in my first post, I just happend to see the link to this blog in my website statistics, which oddly enough, I rarely look at. The book is not obscure, it is thriving. It comes up first in the search for "Microwave Cooking" at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
I didn't come to defend my mother's honor. It doesn't need defending. I just wanted to point out that just maybe some people were judging a book by it's cover.
Oh, that's totally what I was doing. I won't deny that.
This is magical, like a disney movie gone horribly wrong.
Man, I am truly, completely envious. Nothing like this ever happens over in my pathetic corner of the web.
The pancakes were delish.
Microwaves of sympathy
To those who feel that motherly
Gravitas is sore offended
By insult that was not intended.
I oft prepared dinner for four;
The doc forbids me anymore,
Unless I pass his "social test."
I must invite three other guests.
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