Jo A. Hiestand - Tea In a Tin Cup: Culinary Reminiscences of a Writer

Mysteries steeped in tea and tartan!

The McLaren Mysteries

Cold Revenge

Last Seen

Shadow in the Smoke

Brushed With Injustice

An Unfolding Trap

No Known Address

An Unwilling Suspect

Arrested Flight

Photo Shoot

The Peak District Mysteries

A Staged Murder

A Recipe For Murder

In A Wintry Wood

A Touch of Murder

The Stone Hex

Searching Shadows

Cider, Swords & Straw: Celebrating British Customs (cookbook with customs information and Peak District Mystery book synopses)

Carols for Groundhogs Day

Writing as Jessie McAlan

The Linn House Mysteries

The House on Devils Bar

A Hasty Grave

A Whisper of Water

Thank you goes to my mother, my relatives, and my friends who supplied the memories. Some people gave me their recipes, for which Im grateful, as they have become part of my life. Some people taught me to cook a particular dish. Im thankful for this, too, because I cherish that cooking event.

However it came about, warm wishes to everyone who contributed recipes or the occasion for the food. Its been a lot of fun.

Jo A. Hiestand

St. Louis

February 2019

When I was a child, still in grade school, I wanted to cook. Most times Id watch my mother in the kitchen as she concocted soups and stews and cakes. They smelled so good! To be able to put together such heavenly aromas that were linked to wonderfully tasting food was really magic. Some days Id try to help her. I told her to give me your spoon.

I write in the introduction to my book Cider, Swords and Straw about traditions and how important I think they are. They tie us together, providing a link to previous generations, giving us an anchor, a sense of belonging to them, to history and to time.

I think food and cooking do the same thing.

In this book I relate some events in my life that are connected to food and cooking. Some events are funny, some are endearing, and some are strange. All stories, I hope, will be worth your reading time, but above all they serve as an illustration of how food has brought me closer to people. I hope your own cooking brings you joy, and you create your own warm memories with your family and friends. Whether they cook beside you, or are the recipients of your creation, youve indeed lent them your spoon.

Delving into Creating

I dont recall what started my interest in cooking. Perhaps it was just mimicking my mothers actions in the kitchen, oras is widespread in many childrena desire to be grown up. Obviously, Ill never remember the reason for this attraction, but I do recall my first cookbook.

It was spiral-bound, easy for little fingers to manipulate. And it opened flat and stayed flat on the countertop, which was very helpful. I do remember that. The recipes were simple, as befit a childrens book, but how it intrigued me and fired my lifelong desire to cook and unearth the stories behind recipeswho thought of them, what induced the inspiration, were those men wearing the white chef hats and buttoned-up white tunics, the only people who thought up recipes... After all, recipes had to come from somewhere. I doubted if they sprung, as Athena did from Zeus head, onto a dinner table. Though, I could be wrong. I dont know any professional chefs who might tell me.

The title of this first cookbook has long escaped me, but I do remember some of the recipes. Boston Cooler ties for the first dish I ever made. I dont know if it was that or the Candle Salad. It doesnt matter. I was proud serving something Id made for supper.

Its highly questionable if Boston Cooler originated in or is eaten in Boston (whether the recipe refers to the city in the United States or in England is still a mystery to me). But it was good. A scoop of vanilla ice cream atop a large slice of ripe cantaloupe. That was it. Mom mustve cut the slices of the fruit, for I wouldnt have had the skill to wield a knife in grade school. But I set the canoe-shaped cantaloupe wedge on the plate and crowned each with the ice cream, and brought the great achievement to the table. I think I smiled.

The Candle Salad appealed to my imagination. There was a bit more to this concoction than the afore-named cantaloupe delight, so the salad mightve been the second recipe I made (more ingredients equals more thinking). It consisted of a ring of pineapple on a leaf of lettuce. Into the pineapple ring, half of a peeled banana was inserted, standing upright. Plop a tablespoon of mayonnaise on the tip of the banana and balance a maraschino cherry on the tip. Voila! The thing actually looked like a lit candle sitting in a candleholder.

Talk about pride! Id actually put together something that required several ingredients and steps. And it was fun!

Around this time, Im told, I was helping my mom in the kitchen. I dont remember it at all, other than we were living in Falls Church, Virginia, while my dad was serving in the U.S. Army, stationed in the Pentagon during the Korean War. From the photograph of that long ago session, mom and I mustve been baking. Id guess it was cut out cookies. Maybe for Christmas. Anyway, the spirit mustve been with me, for I uttered the memorable words that I would cook, and that Mommy go sew. To this day I prefer cooking to sewing, though I do enjoy both activities.

I wonder if these early creations in the kitchen led decades later to my desire to create my own recipes. If this is normal with cooksmaking something up thats really yours and not cooked by thousands of othersI dont know. But the need nagged me until I finally did something about it.

In my twenties, the first recipe I concocted was a cheesecake that went by the original name Surprise Cheesecake. Actually, its a good cheesecake, even if the name is goofy (I can always change it, but Ive never been able to think of anything.) It has a nut-laden shortbread crust. The filling is about your average cheesecake thing, but the idea is that as you scrape the filling onto the crust you bank it so that the filling sits around the outer edge. You then pour a cup of reserved filling thats mixed with chocolate chips, orange zest and orange juice into the center (and remove the aluminum foil wall). Sounds good. I think Ill resurrect it