Gayle Wigglesworth - Gayles Legacy: Recipes, Hints and Stories Culled from a Lifelong Relationship with Food

Nick is there but sitting in a high chair out of the cameras view. Of course, Teresa wasnt even a twinkle in my parents eyes at that time.- The new Wigglesworth family on August 1, 1981 with Miles, Dave, Mitch, Janet and Marc in the back row, Gayle and Danielle in front.- Sunday dinner at our House in 1994. Grandchildren Gage (Marcs son), Nicole and Amy (Miles children) with our son Marc.- Vanya and Jerry Hilbert, friends since the 50s If you see her coming with a batch of starter dont answer the door.- Janet Cunningham Wigglesworth, Daves mother, the kids grandmother and my good friend.- Margaret Kilmartin and Jo Coates visiting us sometime in the 80s. Margaret and mom were dear friends and the Kilmartins were part of our family and shared all of the Coates holidays.- A Thanksgiving at our house with grandchildren Nicole and Amy, Kurt and his mother, my friend Sherrill.- Miles wife, Diane, who has graciously taken over the Thanksgiving Holiday dinner. She does it by the book.- A family dinner with Danielle, Janet, Miles and Diane.- Gib and Linda, both family and friends, are known for the meals they put together.- Carving the turkey. Dave and Miles at work.- Dave Limp, Danielles husband, at work in his kitchen.- Gayle, Rick and Joni Wall resting at a Paris Caf on the trip to France where we discovered the Pear and Blue Cheese Salad.

We owe Rick and Joni for introducing us, it was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.- A Sunday family dinner with Danielle dishing up the ice cream for Miles, Diane, Nicole, Amy and Shan, Marc and Rocelles oldest son.- Thanksgiving at Miles and Dianes with Dave, Danielle, Dave Limp, Miles and Dianes niece, Elaine.- Rocelle, Sydney and Taylor, Marcs wife and daughters, at our Wine and Cheese Party.- My sister, Connie and her husband, Bob. Their 25 grandchildren make their family gatherings incredible.- One of our famous picnics on Easter, probably in 1953. Standing is Pete, Lees brother, Uncle Lee holding Nicky, Dad with Cliff in front of him, Aunt Nell, Aunt Ruth (Dads oldest sister), her husband, Roy, Mom with Gib hanging over her shoulder, Barbie, our favorite cousin and her brother Stan. Kneeling is Petes wife Hazel and their two kids, Margaret Kilmartin, Gayle, Margaret Ann Kilmartin and Connie.- And yet another Thanksgiving, apparently one of the few days we remember to take pictures. Here is Gage, Marc and Rocelles son, Nicole, Amy, Janet, Danielle and Sherrill.- Mom and Dad, in the 1950s. They taught me to cook and how fun it was to be a gracious hostess.- Janet and her husband, Brett Hancock.

He does most of the cooking at their house.- Dave cooks with ease.- Mitchs bird, its a hereditary thing.- A family birthday dinner with Mitch, his wife, Nikki, and Miles.- At a Coates family gathering in Michigan. Here is our cousin, Gayle (little Gayle), Gayle (me), Connie and Teresa.- Aunt Nell, Emmas oldest child and my favorite Aunt.- Liz and Quent, some of Daves English cousins.- Josephine Mohney Coates aka Mom, Granny and Jo.- Grandma Janet, Dave and Gayle at our first Christmas dinner.- Teresa and her husband, Ken.- Emmas family amidst their grapes. Left to right are Jake (Pop), Emma, Phiney (Josephine), Bud (Dillis), Flo (Florence), and Nellie (Nell) Mohney. Probably taken around 1920.- One of the farms in Lawton, Michigan where Emma and Jake lived while raising their kids.- Visit in 1994 to Grace Mohneys farm. Jakes brothers farm is still in the Mohney family. Standing is Gracie Mohney and her sister, seated are Gib, his son, Matt, Teresa, Gayle, Connies daughter, Leslie, and Connie.- Emma and Jake Mohney with Nellie and Flo, probably taken in 1910 or 1911.

More and more people want to be able to cook but have less time for practice and less exposure to techniques - unless you count watching the cooking shows on Saturday television. I come from the generation that learned to cook and can cook with minimal effort, having honed my skills through the years. But my children, my colleagues at work and many of my friends do not have these skills and are always lamenting the fact. Repeated requests for directions to make something or another and lavish praise for simple dishes finally pushed me into action. Thus this book started to grow. Anyone who likes good food can cook and this book is going to teach you how.

I have gathered the recipes I used, the ones my mother, my family and my friends passed on to me. I wrote down the recipes for those favorite dishes which resided only in my head. And I have included recipes from the people who brought dishes to contribute to the rituals, gatherings and special occasions at my house. These recipes are part of the memories of my life. I wrote detailed instructions on how to prepare each dish as the shortcuts and modifications are what beginners struggle with and accomplished cooks do without thinking. I am constantly amazed at how easy it is to cook when its all written down in front of you.

And the last section of the book is made up of Emmas recipes. Emma Lewis Mohney was my maternal grandmother, who died before I or any of my brothers and sisters were born. She kept a little brown notebook filled with recipes. My mother cherished that book and used it until her own death. By then it was brittle with age and spills, the ink was faded and the writing hard to decipher. All of us wanted the book so in a moment of craziness I took it and promised to copy the recipes for everyone.

The months following that rash promise turned into years, and my guilt tugged at me. So while the ideas were jelling about this cook book, I thought I would add Emmas. Emmas section does not include detailed instructions on how to assemble her recipes because there were none. In that day, it was assumed everyone knew the basic rules for canning, candy making and baking. Additionally, the measurements are vague, a tablespoon was not the measuring kind, it was the eating kind, so there were differing sizes, thus instructions like a scant cup or a heaping teaspoon. They also used comparisons such as lard the size of an egg.

What sized were their eggs? And flour to make a stiff batter? But what this really tells you is that you dont have to be an exacting scientist to be a good cook. After all thousands of people cooked for years with a pinch of this or a handful of that and were able to turn out successful meals. Of course when the diners have been working all day in the fields and there was no other place to eat they were probably a little forgiving if the cake was heavy or the cookies soggy. I believe every cook should own two standard cookbooks. I recommend The Joy of Cooking and Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. These books, or ones similar, not only carry a wide variety of recipes but they contain tables for conversion of ounces to cups, emergency substitutions of ingredients and basic information everyone needs but no one can remember.