About My Kitchen Memories

I grew up in the kitchen….many kitchens, actually.  I grew up in the kitchens of the fifties and sixties, when most mothers and grandmothers were busy cooking and baking daily.  A great deal of their time was spent swapping recipes and entertaining in the home.  When I finally had a kitchen of my own in the early seventies, I could not wait to try all these recipes that had been handed down to me.  I began collecting recipes from my own generation of new wives and mothers.  We tried new ingredients and used different cooking methods that were popular for our time.  We also swapped recipes and I collected more recipes from families that entered my life.

Over the many decades that I call my life, I have collected hundreds of recipes and the stories behind them.  Each recipe is a memoir of the person who created it and carried it down from generation to generation.  The main ingredient is the woman, not the food.  As I follow the food stained, time erased directions, I can see, hear and smell the woman who shared it with me.  I remember the pan that the dish was made in.  I feel the comfort of each warm kitchen as I remember all the knick knacks that stood on the shelves, and the lace curtains that hung on the windows.  We not only shared recipes, we shared our lives.  We shared love of food, love of family, love of friendship.

It is the intention of this blog to share all these recipes as well as some of the history behind them. They are classic recipes in the sense that they are characteristic of their time.  In a sense they represent the women’s movement for as the woman’s role changed, so did the cooking.   I am hoping to take you on a journey through time gastronomically, historically and emotionally.

20 thoughts on “About My Kitchen Memories”

  2. Hi Silvia,
    Angela gave me your blog address. I love it! What a great idea. You are very kind to share such great dishes with us. Maybe the RSC chef would put some of these on the menu.
    Sharon

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  6. Love the recipes. Especially the vegetable ones. My Grandmother used every vegetable , stuffed baby eggplant, zucchini, peppers ;breaded swiss chard, roasted potatoes, onions, and carrots. Just made your vegetable stew and it is delicious. Thanks Sil,

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  7. After enjoying a fabulous dinner on Saturday night at Silvia’s can’t wait to try out the recipes of the delicious food we ate that night!!

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  8. Silvia, I was so excited to hear you have a blog, I thought your family recipes would be locked up in a vault. So far I’ve made the fettuccine bolognese and the chicken francaise. It was exactly what I was looking for; elegant, delicious, and most importantly, authentic. I wonder which one I’ll try next. Thanks so much.

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  9. I have tried some of your recipes and I think they are DEL-lish! the stories are also quite endearing. Keep the recipes coming!

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  11. Hi Sylvia, I am very excited for you to share your recipes! Coming for an Italian family, I can relate to the stories behind each recipe….always some drama!

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