the story of our family teatime cookbook

As our children have grown, we've attempted to make a ritual of our afternoon moments. Special times along the way have been spent sharing in baking memories by way of familiar family recipes, or during kitchen "young chef" training sessions for yet another child.

One year in particular, we found ourselves under severe financial losses and extreme pressures when a businessman we were involved with gave us a real darned good shaft.

Mayhem increased with life threatening health issues surfacing shortly after, all eventually leaving its mark to the point of an unexpected and very harrowing recovery for a few years during which time life was just not very easy at all.


When Christmas was nearing during this initial timing, I so desired to create something for personalized gift giving as I usually had, something that would include homemade memories for our children to carry with them for the rest of their lives.

I love to create things of lasting value, maybe not necessarily monetary value, but a heritage type of family memory value, one that could bring a smile to their faces when the gift was unwrapped, subsequently offering stories to share and keep repeating over time as new generations enter the family fold.

I find there is value in using our family photos when thinking outside of the box for family gifting purposes, so this one particular year I went to work to create a family "teatime recipe book" for all eight of our children, using all their favorite tea time recipes we'd baked in our kitchen together.

We were learning the art of taking tea in the afternoons by this point in time once the little ones woke up from their afternoon naps, and I had already adopted the parental philosophy of wanting to train our future chefs at home whenever possible.

Tea time sweet or savory inclusions were always appreciated, and we had become seriously hooked on fresh cream scones with jam and cream toppings. It seemed fitting to have this as a great starting point for the recipe book project.



So, back to the gifting thought...

At the time, broke as we were, I knew I did in fact have a supply of ink in my printer and an additional cartridge laying about. I also knew with a little preparation, I could scan photos of special moments in the kitchen with our children preparing food, baking, or cooking.

As each photo was scanned and saved into my hard drive, I began typing up the recipes allocated for this special tea time cookbook into my word processor.

I created two different front covers, one for the girls and another for the boys.

I chose recipes worthy of memories evoked when just simply viewing their titles.

I chose photos of our children during various stages of youth working in the kitchen or while savoring the moments while eating those recipe items.

All combined while also using some online clip art, the project was well underway.

Please keep in mind this was all way before online book making possibilities and using a printer with colored ink and spiral binding was still in vogue.


I will always admit to really enjoying this recipe book heart swelling and memory evoking endeavor, creating and completing all eight of them, mainly because it served several purposes for me.

• I had no extra monies for gift buying.

• I wanted to gift our children with something handmade as I always tried to.

• I was able to fulfill this goal by using what I already owned, and had on hand.

• I wanted to gift our children with something tangible that left it without a dollar value because it was personal and special, worthy of saving for their own someday. And besides, sometimes money is nothing, and memories become everything.

• I wanted it to last for a while, so I was able to laminate them all for safekeeping (remember this was long ago now).

• And finally, I wanted to relay a few messages important to me worthy of passing along, in that learning to work in the kitchen is a mandatory life skill for their futures, comfort can be found in one of their mother's old recipes, and little family traditions will be visual before them to spark and tug on heart strings over time.

If anything, I know I found much pleasure in browsing the book over and over again shortly after production myself, and my mother snickered every time she saw the photo of our two dressed up and ready to perform their family restaurant dining production on "Little Nino's Pizzeria" from our "Five in a Row" days. Yes, if anything, we both sure loved it. smile...


A few years after the grand production and gift blessing, I knew the recipe book was a hit when our future daughter in law took our son's copy back home with her to San Diego after a visit with our family, unbeknown to him at the time. One evening on the phone, she told him; "Mrs. Snesar's cookie recipe is really good!", making me snicker because she actually tried every recipe in that book before returning it to him. And at least it was unpacked when he lived on his own for her to find in the first place.


So, all this blog post to say, if you ever feel so inclined to create your own family tea time cookbook, all it takes is a lot of time, a little patience and a big smile on your face. Add to that ink in your printer and a package of card stock paper, spiral binding and laminated covers to complete, and voila, you'll have your very own family heirloom of sorts.

Oh, it will never fetch a pretty penny on eBay. Of course not! And maybe some of your children won't appreciate your efforts in the least. Some just don't, not ever when it comes to this type of thing, but maybe someday they might pick it up and begin to warmly recall their mother's loving efforts during tougher times to just go ahead and attempt to create an item of lasting and memorable value for them to behold for their own lifetimes. Well, (smile) I'd like to think that anyway.

And besides, future generations may take a browse through it some day and giggle over the photos. They might even feel led to try out one of the recipes and think it not so bad after all.

I never did know or think to ask if my girls and grandchildren used a

recipe in the book for their Christmas baking times (?)

Oh, and if this type of project isn't for you, or you much prefer creating one in a more professional looking way, click on over to professional sites such as "Blurb" or "Lulu" to end up with something like these instead;

Happy baking!

Happy cooking!

Happy tea time together!

Happy memory making in your kitchen!

(P.S. Barbara, see - you just have to make your own family book from your GREAT blog - wink)

one week ago

... the general landscape of the area still looked like these photos below.

Warmer weather came to visit throughout this past week and here today much of the snow shown below is almost completely melted.

Let's call these "before" photos and soon I'll show you the "after" photos.

Not half as pretty since the snow decided to begin the big melt, and even though clumps of white icy snowbanks remain speckled here and there, I still very much prefer this scenery to what's outside today.

Welcome Spring!

A Prayer in Spring

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest;
keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

....Robert Frost

Meet the new pony at the barn

If you recall, our young daughter has declared herself to be the pony trainer at the barn up the road from our home.

This weekend wraps up spring break for all the area`s school districts and ours usually have the week off at the same time. This year was different though, for I had no plans for taking time off school. No, not this week because there will be time off for Holy Week instead.

The horse barn where our girls hang out and perform slave labor in between riding lessons (smile), suggested our gals come to the barn as often as they would like because there would be a horse camp in session and she would love any helping hands to assist her.

I hadn't planned on enrolling our younger daughter, the fee for the week was too high and she was only allowed one during the summer instead. However, the request for helpers became my weakness (how could I refuse the opportunity anyway) and last Monday morning, both our girls walked up for 9:30 only to return at dinner time.


Surprises filled the air at the barn when the owner had secretly increased her horse count by three and all were hiding in the barn when the girls showed up.

Just as those moments when our girls are in the midst of a newborn baby, our horse loving gals, and all others hanging out at the barn, get all giddy when another new horse comes along. This day, three were present; a large horse and two ponies, one a paint pony.

What made this day special was finding two ponies awaiting our daughter`s training skills. At least she is very serious about her growing skills as a rider and trainer. Actually the patch pony was exciting for all but it was one in particular that has already proved to be beyond special. She is unique in a very unexpected and precious way.

She was a pony alright but had been bred with a mule! So, our pony trainer daughter has now befriended a mule pony whom she proved could not only saddle and tack up, but she had no problems riding around the ring.

Did you happen to notice her ears in the photo at the top of this blog, or how about in the one below...


She pressed onward to find the mule successfully trotted, and even managed to jump to the sound of fits of giggles from all watching the initial performance. Even the owner who had no idea how great this purchase would become for her stock was most pleased. As for the paint pony, it became all too much this week when it wouldn't settle down, was antsy from dawn to dusk and made all the other horses in his paddock nervous.

Our older daughter has much to add to this for she is entertained with the new mare. Introducing the mare to the idea of dressage has been an interesting discipline technique all week. She performed very well, that is until she bucked real hard and decided she had had enough while our daughter hung on for dear life over her head.

Lessons learned at the barn are still varied and many. How fortunate we are to have this at our fingertips.


The week now over, there were so many hours spent up there, and so many stories told around the family dinner table.

The weather was perfect, the sun was shining and almost three feet of accumulated snow around the barn has now melted for the most part.

Our pony trainer slept well every night this week, snoring before her head hit the pillow in fact but her lunch was always made and her fresh barn clothing lay at the bottom of her bed before she conked out for the night. So cute.

Our older daughter went to the barn here and there and for two full days around her work schedule. She too finds the mule enchanting and so very overweight so all agreed to work him harder and whip him into shape.

A mule.

Yes, a mule pony!

When F-A-M-I-L-Y unites...

aka; When impromptu visits with visiting relatives can be within our grasp....let's make every effort to unite! And as always, there is always something to celebrate in life, so indeed we did just that.


My cousin Bernard is currently stationed at Base Borden in Ontario and in the midst of his specialized training, in the Canadian Air Force division, after having already completed his basic training at St. Jean, Quebec before Christmas.

Bernard is my baby cousin, the one I used to get annoyed at for cheating when I, the older cousin used to play card games of "go fish" with him. Always a jolly little guy, he grew to maintain a lovely disposition and patience for life around him.

Older than most recruits, he awaited until age 39 to enter the Canadian Air Force, always a dream but never a reality, that is until now.


Much sacrifice and a whole lot of lifestyle change has transpired for both he and his family, as he continues to walk the path toward a lifelong goal no matter how late in life it has all occurred for him.


His father would be so proud of him! His father, my uncle was a very senior RCMP pilot who had the honor of flying every royal and important dignitary throughout Canadian skies. He was the man called upon for years to tackle this important task. He died five years ago.

On the day my cousin began his next training step at Base Borden, he was more than ready, eager and performing well with 100% on his exams.

The same day he stepped on the base, it was both the anniversary of his father's death and the anniversary of his own father's entry into the RCMP upon his graduation. It's been difficult for my cousin not to think of his father these days.

The path, the journey if you will has been laden with incredible and notable small miracle happenings. I've loved being kept in the loop and viewing his every entry and photo from him.


I am so proud of my cousin and thrilled not only to reconnect this past few years, but also to meet his family AND have the opportunity to take a drive to the base he's currently living on, for the express purpose of visiting in person and bringing him over to our home for dinner last weekend. It was his first time in eleven weeks he was off the base for such a time.


We had such a great visit together, he and my husband and I, along with our family. It's also not every day we can explore and have reason to drive onto a large Canadian armed/air force base such as this one. A learning experience awaited us this day.

Before picking him up, we had warned our children he would be in uniform but soon found out Air Force personnel are not allowed to wear their uniform when off duty or they are subjected to a large fine.

The base was also bustling with activity, that is people walking about, though they were dressed in civies. The funny part that made them all stand out was the fact they were all marching, arms swinging up and down in stiff action, all the while in their civies, some with ipods in their ears.

Bernard filled us in again; no one is allowed to walk the base without marching at all times. And we also learned so much more about the Canadian Air Force in general, first hand yet, and details of his work portfolio soon to come when he returns back in Chilliwack, B.C.

After the initial constant chatter for a while, my husband was honored to play chef while we all continued to visit together while hanging out around our pool table (no more fish for us! LOL).

Reminiscing and enjoying hearty laughs together over times passed was wonderfully heart swelling to be sure, even when my husband remembered he also cheated while playing the all important rounds of BINGO at my Grandparent's hosted Christmas gatherings, yes, we soon realized we had so many common family stories to tell, to share, to recall together and to secure in our memories.

This is what family is all about, it's our family ancestral heritage to be sure and the reason why all F-A-M-I-L-Y truly does matters!


Congratulations a little in advance on your upcoming graduation Bernard.

We've been witness to your entire walk up to this point. It's been so great to see you well on your way to your lifelong dream and the best part for you is knowing Paulette and Sophia are waiting for you to return with arms wide open. So happy we were able to spend time together cousin.