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Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Experiences

Happy October! Thank God Its Monday, again; thus, happy Monday to all, as well. I personally look forward to Mondays since they’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you!

#TheRecipeDetective

#NationalBookMonth

#NationalCookbookMonth

#NationalNewspaperWeek

Happy National Book Month and National Cookbook Month. These are just a couple of reasons why I love October so much. October is also the threshold for the holiday season, throughout the next three months, and the holidays go hand-in-hand with food – which leads us back to it being National Book Month and National Cookbook Month.

It also happens to be National Newspaper Week. I mention this because Mom’s Secret Recipes business and her Recipe Detective persona may never have come to fruition if it had not been for her first being a food columnist at a local newspaper. That’s where her copycat cookery concept originated.

Mom’s success as the Recipe Detective basically stemmed from a series of experiences – meant-to-be’s, she would call them. Experiences steered her talents and love for writing in the direction of newspaper columns (and cartoons), newsletters, books and cookbooks – all geared toward the semi-traditional, semi-Women’s-Lib homemakers, like herself.

This week, I have a lot of Mom’s own memories to share with you, regarding her experiences in developing her small, family business. She often wrote about the events that she (and Dad) went through, to get where they were, doing what they were meant to be and doing. She also wrote regularly about her faith in her Higher Power leading the way.

FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 8)

[A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition).]

THE SECRET RECIPE REPORT

ALTHOUGH I’VE BEEN WRITING longer than I’ve been cooking, the notion to investigate the secrets of the food industry didn’t become a full-time labor-of-love until I was working for a small-town newspaper [about 1971.]

As the only ‘married lady’ on the staff, I was always assigned the food page and recipe column, and I was willing to try the dishes at home and present a column or article about their results to the paper.

When you work for a small-town paper, you wear many hats. You set type, sell advertising, proof read, design headlines, create art work, campaign for subscribers; and, before you know it, you acquire skills you didn’t even know you possessed.

The food department became such a welcomed relief from the local politics that I poured my heart and soul into it, learning some of the essentials of good cooking purely by default! Everything went well until I initiated an idea to create advertising interest among local restaurants.

It started when I answered a reader’s request in my column for a recipe like McDonald’s ‘Special Sauce’. I knew it was a kissin’ cousin of a good Thousand Island dressing, so the development of the recipe wasn’t difficult.

The response from our readers was so appreciative that I contacted local restaurants for their advertising in exchange for my printing one of their recipes and menu in my column and a complimentary review of their place.

No one was willing to part with any of their ‘secrets’! So, I decide to see if I could ‘guess’ how they prepared their specialties of the house. I came across a hotel in town that advertised ‘homemade’ cheesecake, and I felt they should be telling their customers ‘home-baked’.

The difference to the public is very slight, but they wanted the public to ‘think’ it was homemade, from scratch, when it was, in fact, simply taken from a carton and popped into the oven like brown-and-serve rolls.

That was before our ‘truth in menu’ laws, but no one at the paper wanted to make an issue out of it. The restaurant insisted it was an old family recipe. I said the cheesecake smacked of commercial automation, stainless steel computerized kitchens and the family they referred to was probably that of Sara Lee!

At any rate, that was when I parted company with the paper and set out on my own to create the ‘Secret Recipe Report’, which I dearly miss now.

#WomensSmallBusinessMonth

#WorkAndFamilyMonth

#SelfPromotionMonth

October is also special because it’s National Women’s Small Business Month, National Work and Family Month, and National Self-Promotion Month. By the way, family values – honesty, integrity, empathy, kindness, responsibility, commitment, etc. – are among the many pros of doing business with small, family owned and operated companies.

From day one, Mom’s copycat recipe collection continually grew. There were always new challenges for her, as the requests from her fans grew, too. The growing success of her copycat cookery concept led to massive opportunities for her, promoting her new discoveries on radio and TV talk shows, all over North America.

In her first series of cookbooks, Mom shared over 1,400 imitations she developed, covering 59 restaurants (from Arby’s to Yummyland), 83 brands of grocery products (from A&P to Wonder), 22 famous hotel chains and inns, 15 favorite candies and carnival eats, 12 department stores and cafeterias, as well as treats from 7 various tourist hot spots!

Mom released a new book every year except in 1981, as the project she was working on at that time had to be put on hold while the family business was inundated by over a MILLION requests for what she was already offering, following her FIRST appearance on the Phil Donahue Show in July of that year!

AGAIN, MORE FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

Various excerpts on “Experience”, by Gloria Pitzer; as seen in …

My Cup Runneth Over and I Can’t Find My Mop (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; Dec. 1989)

THE EXPERIENCES

THE EXPERIENCES WE’VE ENCOUNTERED in building this family enterprise of ours, this cottage industry…has occurred while distributing recipe secrets through radio broadcasting and newspaper exposure and our own publishing efforts. If someone can benefit from our experiences, all the better. Mostly, though, this is just a story of our family, our five children…and how we made a dent in the hard shell of the publishing industry. (p. 2)

DOING SOMETHING THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE

ALL OF THIS SHOULD have started somewhere at a particular place in my life because most important things do have memorable beginnings. But I’m hard put to come up with that one event, that singular moment, when I knew that our Secret RecipesTM would touch other people, not just across the country but [also] across the world. And, in doing so, would make a difference. That’s what really counts – doing something that will make a difference for the good of others. (p. 7)

SUCCESS

AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK…I am asked how I got into this business, how it all started and how somebody else can write their own book [or newsletter] and get it published. If there were a formula for our kind of success…I would be happy to share the information… (p. 14)

SUCCESS AND LONGEVITY

THE EXPERIENCES THAT COMPRISE the success and longevity of our Secret RecipesTM include some very wonderful people who have gone out of their way to make it easy for us to present our work to the public…[those were some to whom I shared ‘thank you’ notes in some of my past blog posts.]

Over the years, it has been, not a job, but a joy to continue investigating the secrets of the food industry, combining this information and recipes with the logic of the heart, the food for thought as well as food for the table. It continues to arouse interest and delight in, both, our readers and radio listeners all over the country, as well as the world! (p. 15)

EXPERIENCES & PREPARATION

THE EXACT CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, in which each of my writing experiences have occurred, are not clear in my memory now. However, each step [and] each experience was, on second thought, [neither] a delay nor a setback, as I used to believe. It was, instead, only preparation and the gathering of experience…

[Other than myself,] there has been no ‘real’ publisher, no public relations agent or the expensive efforts of professional promoters. [Their] ideas of how to publicize what I have to offer would only conflict with what I felt should be done.

My cup runneth over because I have been blessed with an enthusiasm for promoting my own work and have been twice-blessed with the support and partnership of, probably, the most honest man in the world; who knows, from his own valuable working experiences, exactly how to manage and protect this enterprise.

All of the blessings I derived from having stumbled my way through the [not so] meaningless jobs of the many newspapers for which I once worked, eventually paid tremendous dividends, as I was able to put those learned skills into practice with this family enterprise of ours. Each bit of experience contributed to what I would, later, be able to do without the help of professionals. (p. 20)

EXPERIENCES & RADIO

WHILE THE CRITICS SNICKERED that my fast food imitations would run its unhealthy course in a short while [and] that my ability to turn out copy would, soon, be exhausted; I continued to look to a Divine Source for [my] daily supply of, both, energy and ideas. I have never yet been disappointed or without something good to share with our family of readers and our radio listeners. My cup does, indeed, run over! (p. 21)

COPYCAT

IF SOMEONE WERE TO COPY our so-called “success”, I could give them no blueprint for that condition. Each one of the little steps that we had to take to develop the kitchen table activity into a professional business operation, are like the grains of sand that the oyster requires to form a pearl. (p. 25)

LAST THOUGHTS…

‘I felt as if the hand of Providence had poured me out a blessing and it was pressed down, shaken together and running over.’ – Gloria Pitzer, My Cup Runneth Over and I Can’t Find My Mop (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; Dec. 1989, p. 15)

https://www.balboapress.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001062253

IN CLOSING…

In honor of October, also being German-American Heritage Month, here’s Mom’s copycat recipe for Frankenmuth Hot German Potato Salad, Like Zender’s; as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 40). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition)].

#GermanAmericanHeritageMonth

#NationalBookMonth

#NationalCookbookMonth

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

https://www.balboapress.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001062253

P.S. Food-for-thought until we meet again, next Monday…

#LearnSomethingNewEveryDay

The week of October 1st is… Active Aging Week. Plus, the first week of October is also… National Chili Week, National Spinning & Weaving Week, and International Post Card Week!

Today is… National Fried Scallops Day! Plus, as the first Monday in October (for 2023), it’s also… National Consignment Day and National Child Health Day! Additionally, the first full Mon.–Fri. work week [2nd-6th for 2023] is… Customer Service Week! Moreover, the first Mon-Sun week [2nd-8th for 2023] is… Financial Planning Week!

Tomorrow, as the first Tuesday in October (for 2023), is… National Eat Fruit At Work Day! 

October 4th is… National Cinnamon Bun Day, National Taco Day, and National Vodka Day! Plus, as the first Wednesday in October (for 2023), it’s also… National Walk to School Day and National Pumpkin Seed Day!

Thursday, October 5th is… National Rhode Island Day, National Do Something Nice Day, and National Apple Betty Day!

October 6th is… National Orange Wine Day, National German-American Day, and National Noodle Day! Plus, as the first Friday in October (for 2023), it’s… World Smile Day, too!

October 7th is… National Chocolate Covered Pretzel Day, National Frappe Day, and National Inner Beauty Day! Plus, as the first Saturday of October (for 2023), it’s also… National Play Outside Day!

Sunday, October 8th is… National Fluffernutter Day and National Pierogi Day!

#TGIM

https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-thank-god-its-monday-day-first-monday-in-january/

…40 down and 12 to go!

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Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Family And Work

Thank God Its Monday and, as such, #HappyMonday to everyone! I personally look forward to all Mondays because they’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you!

#TheRecipeDetective

#NationalFamilyDay

#NationalBookMonth

#NationalCookbookMonth

As the fourth Monday in September (for 2023), today is… National Family Day! Additionally, Sunday kicks off the month of October, which celebrates a lot of month-long observances, in relation to my mom, being the ORIGINAL Secret Recipes Detective.

Among them are… National Book Month, National Cookbook Month, National Women’s Small Business Month, National Work and Family Month, and Self-Promotion Month!

In the early 1970s, when Mom left her job, as a columnist, at a local newspaper; she went home to start her own business, incorporating our whole family into her dining room table operation. Mom carved out a unique niche in the food. She called her concept “copycat cookery”.

Mom’s development created a way for “eating out at home” and “taking the junk out of junk food”. She discovered how to imitate America’s favorite dishes from famous fast food eateries & fine-dining restaurants at home, with what she had in her own pantry.

‘Learn how to cook. Try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless and, above all, have fun.’ – Julia Child (1912-2004)

Mom also created imitations for many frozen, dairy, and shelf-stable supermarket items, as well as things like homemade soap, finger paints, pet foods, and so on. Everything she made, to save on our family’s budget, she shared in her many publications, to help others save, too.

If it saved her household money, she had to share it with others, to help them save money, too. Mom always believed that great recipes were meant to be shared and, if the food companies weren’t going to share their great recipes, she’d find ways to duplicate them at home, herself, and share her own secrets.

Mom was an innovator in the early 1970s – not only developing her own copycat recipes but also marketing her talents, herself, through the media – which then consisted only of newspapers, magazines, television and radio talk shows, as there wasn’t any home internet, back then.

In the early years of her small, family business, Mom sold her recipes on individual 4”x6” index cards, which she printed on her hand-cranked mimeograph that she kept in our laundry room. She began with a small catalog that quickly grew into over 200 recipes.

#WomensSmallBusinessMonth

#WorkAndFamilyMonth

#SelfPromotionMonth

Mom decided to discontinue some lower-selling cards, as she continually developed new imitations, to keep the catalog at a manageable level. Then she resolved to put together her own cookbook and start a monthly newsletter for her growing collection, self-publishing them and blazing a trail of uniqueness through all the “Betty Crockers” and “Julia Childs”.

Radio was Mom’s media of choice, for promoting what she was doing. It didn’t take long for her recipe collection to grow exponentially, through requests from her fast growing fan-base. She began self-publishing more cookbooks – at least one a year for over 30 years.

Television talk shows also played a significant role, in launching world-wide recognition of Mom’s talents as the Secret Recipe DetectiveTM; the nickname that was given to her by her local radio audience fans in the early 1970s. Mom loved it – it was catchy and new and very marketable.

FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

Excerpts by Gloria Pitzer, as seen in…

My Cup Runneth Over and I Can’t Find My Mop (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; Dec. 1989)

EXPERIENCES & RADIO

I AM BLESSED many times over but, when I count my blessings, I count my radio friends twice. [Even] as I share our story, with you, in these pages; you will not be able to fully appreciate the generous support that we received from radio personalities and their listeners.

While the critics snickered that my fast food imitations would run its unhealthy course in a short while [and] that my ability to turn out copy would, soon, be exhausted; I continued to look to a Divine Source for [my] daily supply of, both, energy and ideas.

I have never yet been disappointed or without something good to share with our family of readers and our radio listeners. My cup does, indeed, run over! (p. 21)

MARKETING INSPIRATION

TO MAKE THE MIMEOGRAPH pay for itself, I even printed up my own business cards on it, using dime-store construction paper and then cutting the cards apart with scissors until I had neat little stacks of about 50 [each] and a total of 200 or 300 cards.

These I distributed at the mall whenever and wherever we might be in one. Paul didn’t know I was doing this, at first, either, or he would’ve disapproved. It was unprofessional and risky, but I thought anything was worth a try and what I could do ‘quietly’ until I could prove it was either a mistake or benefit, would have to be my little secret.

Well, actually, the kids were a part of that secret too. I had heard an interview on TV or radio with ‘the world’s most successful salesman’, who was a Chevrolet salesman in Detroit and who believed heartily in business cards, placing them everywhere and anywhere that it was allowed.

From his story, I found it was easy to drop my card into the pocket of a bathrobe in the ladies’ wear [areas] in the department stores and in the purses and tote bags, on public phone booth stands, [in] restaurant restrooms, even in cookbooks in the bookstores.

From these, you’d be surprised, we DID hear from people who wanted to know about my recipes, which was the first experience I had with public response. What I had at that time was a little book entitled ‘The Better Cookers Cookbook’ [1973], as opposed to our current popular book, ‘Better Cookery’ [1982]*. (p. 43)

[*NOTE: That’s the book (3rd edition, version) that I helped Mom rewrite for a new digital audience. It was published by Balboa Press in January 2018 – just before Mom passed away.]

Mom could write a story about anything and relate it to food in some way, thus, she always blended her stories with her recipes in all of her cookbooks and newsletter issues so that they were as apt to be found on the living room coffee table as they were on the kitchen counter.

Fall was usually the time of year when Mom would start her baking process for the holidays. She invented her own copycat version of the Herman sourdough starter for bread-baking and then developed another, quicker, beer-batter version because she was not a patient cook.

MORE FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

Gloria Pitzer’s Mixed Blessings – Recipes & Remedies (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; March 1984, p. 95-96)

THE HISTORY OF HERMAN

IF YOU AREN’T ACQUAINTED with Herman, permit me to introduce you to him. He’s a charming and interesting assistant in our kitchen, whose family came from the mining camps of California during the Gold Rush Days, where he was born in a humble pottery crock on a trail cook’s hearth.

He bubbles with enthusiasm and lends a delicious aroma to the kitchen as he contributes greatly to the recipes for biscuits, flapjacks, breads, rolls and coffeecakes. He makes everyone happy when shared with friends. Even becomes the topic of conversations at parties, in the office, over the telephone.

If kept pleasantly warm and properly out of drafts, Herman will continue to grow for years and years. He doesn’t require any special attention, other than to stir him up once a day and talk cheerfully to him to let him know you care.

He is a good listener, never talks back, doesn’t take up much room, has no personal prejudices to speak of – at least, none that I am aware of – so makes an ideal kitchen companion.

According to the many stories about Herman’s family background, the name, some said, when I visited with Fred Krell of ‘Meet the Mrs.’ over Saginaw (MI) radio WSGW, was derived from a combination of ‘her’ and ‘man’ – meaning the cook’s man’s favorite. But my further investigations revealed something entirely different.

Sarah Sherman ran the best boarding house on the Barbary Coast, during the 1880s; and according to Grandma’s own recipe journal, when Grandpa had to travel west to San Francisco to handle arrangements for his father’s funeral and selling his property there, he stayed at Sarah Sherman’s boardinghouse.

Sarah was well known for her secret sourdough baking, the original starter acquired from the mining camp cook, who when he couldn’t pay his board in cash, gave her a crock of his priceless ‘starter’.

Grandpa stayed on to work as a handyman for a week after his father’s business was taken care of, just to earn his board and a portion of that famous starter, which he knew was the best gift he could take back to Grandma.

She employed the starter in her own ‘Back Door Bakery’, kept it going and passed it on to friends, customers, relatives and neighbors for years and years.

They, in turn, had also passed it on, to the point that in the time and distance that the starter traveled, the name ‘Sherman’ was somehow lost in translation and became ‘Herman’…

LAST THOUGHTS…

For the next few weeks, since it’s National Book Month, National Cookbook Month, National Women’s Small Business Month, National Work and Family Month, and Self-Promotion Month, I’ll be sharing a lot more memories about Mom…

After all, she created her own recipe business, from scratch – authoring cookbooks and newsletters and promoting them, herself, while also involving our whole family, to help.

https://www.balboapress.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001062253

IN CLOSING…

In honor of TODAY, being National Cooking Day, here is Mom’s copycat recipe for Sweeten House Bread Pudding; as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 277). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition)].

#NationalCookingDay

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

https://www.balboapress.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001062253

P.S. Food-for-thought until we meet again, next Monday…

#LearnSomethingNewEveryDay

The month of September observes, among other things… Better Breakfast Month, National Blueberry Popsicle Month, National Chicken Month, National Courtesy Month, National Honey Month, National Italian Cheese Month, National Library Card Sign Up Month, National Mushroom Month, National Potato Month, National Rice Month, National Sewing Month, National Self-Improvement Month, and National Whole Grains Month!

Plus, as the last week in September, this is… National Keep Kids Creative Week!

Today is also… National Quesadilla Day, National Daughter’s Day, and National Lobster Day!

#NationalDaughtersDay

Tomorrow is… National Dumpling Day, National Johnny Appleseed Day, and National Pancake Day! Plus, as the fourth Tuesday in September (for 2023), it’s also… National Voter Registration Day!

September 27th is… National Chocolate Milk Day and National Corned Beef Hash Day! Plus, as the last Wednesday in September (for 2023), it’s also… National Women’s Health & Fitness Day!

Thursday, September 28th is… National Drink Beer Day, National Good Neighbor Day (which used to be on the 4th Sunday), National Strawberry Cream Pie Day, and National North Carolina Day!

Friday, September 29th is… National Coffee Day and National VFW Day!

September 30th is… National Love People Day, National Chewing Gum Day, National Mud Pack Day, and National Hot Mulled Cider Day! Plus, as the last Saturday in September (for 2023), it’s also… Save Your Photos Day (AND it’s Save Your Photos Month), National Family Health and Fitness Day USA, National Ghost Hunting Day, and National Public Lands Day!

Sunday kicks off the month of October…

October 1st is also the start of… Active Aging Week, National Chili Week, National Spinning & Weaving Week, International Post Card Week, and National Newspaper Week! Plus, it’s… the start of the Christmas Seal Campaign (which always runs Oct. 1st to Dec. 31st). Additionally, Sunday is… National Homemade Cookies Day!

[October is also the anniversary month of Mom’s FIRST appearance on the Kelly & Company show, in Detroit (1990).]

#TGIM

https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-thank-god-its-monday-day-first-monday-in-january/

…39 down and 13 to go!

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Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Autumn In Michigan

#ThankGodItsMonday, once again. I personally look forward to all Mondays because they’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you!

#TheRecipeDetective

#AutumnalEquinox

#NationalFallFoliageWeek

The northern hemisphere’s Autumnal Equinox, for 2023, is coming this Saturday. Its official observance changes slightly, from year to year; but it’s usually around the 22nd, give or take a day. Folklore claims you can only balance an egg on its end during the equinox.

The equinox is when the daylight hours are almost equal to the dark hours. Spring has an equinoctial point also. Saturday is also known as the OFFICIAL start of fall. Correspondingly, Sunday is the beginning of National Fall Foliage Week. The trees are already transitioning for their winter hibernation and their leaves are getting more colorful each day.

This has always been my favorite time of year, especially the first half of fall. Once the color show really takes off in Michigan, it doesn’t last very long. It goes in a wave, starting in the upper peninsula in September and spreading through the lower peninsula in October.

Maybe it’s because of how far north of the equator, the state of Michigan sits. The Upper Peninsula is already experiencing its peak fall colors this week, having started around Labor Day. Meanwhile, the “tip-of-the-mitt” is getting closer to its peak color time, which may be in the next few weeks.

Following that, week after week, the colors peak through different parts of the state, moving in a southward wave toward the Indiana and Ohio state borders. As Mother Nature transitions from summer to winter, in the Northern Hemisphere, many trees and plants are beginning the ending process, of this year’s growth-cycle, before the winter months arrive.

Some trees and plants go out in a blaze of brilliant colors. Perfect photo opportunities are everywhere you look around Michigan, September through October.

Fall was also Mom’s favorite time of year. Not only because it’s back to school time but also because the cool, autumn days made it more inviting to turn on the stove and make some soup or do some baking. The fall season usually highlights flavors and scents of cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin and cloves in almost everything.

Butterflies, birds, and many other animals, start their annual migration southward; whereas others prepare for their northern, winter hibernations. In fact, there are many northern area people who also migrate south (hence, nicknamed “snow birds”), while others prepare to hunker down for the long, cold winter months.

Harvest time has begun in Michigan. Consequently, numerous people are starting their canning rituals to stock up for the winter and the approaching new year. My dad’s mom taught my mom how to grow her own fruits and vegetables, as well as canning things like tomatoes, sauces, pickles, and jams.

I never learned how to do it, myself – I usually have too many pans on the fire – but Mom shared a lot of her canning knowledge in her self-published cookbook, The Secrets of Homemade Groceries (Gloria Pitzer – Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; August 1980). That’s my “go-to”, “make-it-yourself” book – when I have time.

Autumn’s arrival is usually the time in which I start working on my fall cleaning list – before the holidays start rolling in, one after another. If I stick to my list, every weekend, my fall cleaning is usually finished before the majority of colorful leaves in my region disappear (which is by the end of October).

Do you have a “Fall Cleaning List”? If not, Household-Management-101.com offers a great, free printable that covers all the basics. It can also be easily modified to fit your personal needs.

FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

Gloria Pitzer’s Mixed Blessings – Recipes & Remedies (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; March 1984, p. 15)

[SIMPLE COMFORTS]

COOKING IS ONE OF THOSE personal accomplishments that afford us all the opportunity to express ‘talent’. We love being approved of. In fact, we eat it up! It’s the little pat on the back that gives us the incentive to continue trying. And where else, but in the kitchen, can you try to win approval with such satisfying results!

I’m very partial to my kitchen because it is the one place in our home where I feel the most comfortable! Whether I’m there alone, working on a recipe, or sitting at my desk, looking for inspiration on a new article I’m writing, or sharing a cup of coffee with a neighbor or a friend, who’s dropped by – it’s my favorite room!

I have a desk in the kitchen right next to the [glass] door-wall that overlooks the yard. Our daughter, Debbie, and our son-in-law, Jim, gave me a flowering crab [apple] tree last Mother’s Day, which they planted right in the middle of the yard.

I can enjoy it’s flowers each spring; also the very long bare, red branches during the autumn and it’s snow-covered limbs all winter. It’s my sundial, by which I observe the seasons and the changes involved with this natural wonder.

While the Scotch pines around this little tree never change, never go through the transition of bud to blossom to barren branches and then buds again, I can see the contrasts that are parallel to our own personal predicaments.

Some things, places – and yes, even people – never seem to change, while others go through budding and blossoming and withering away, only to come right back to life again in the sunshine of human kindness as does my tree in the sunshine of the seasons. I’ve spent my entire life being a writer.

It’s not what I do, but what I am. I love every minute of it, and by writing about what I have come to know best – cooking – it occurs to me that having a desk in my kitchen was awfully appropriate. Mind you, not all that crazy about cooking, by default rather than decision, I have learned more about it than any other skill I’ve attempted.

For many, like me, the countdown to the holidays begins with the official onset of fall. It’s only six more weeks until Halloween, which will be here and gone in the blink of an eye. After that, it’s only four weeks until Thanksgiving.

Hanukkah begins two weeks after Thanksgiving, running from the 7th to the 15th and Christmas is only 10 days after that. Then it’s only one more week, following that, when the new year will be upon us. But let’s try to hang on to autumn as long as possible.

There’s so much to do in Michigan in autumn, before Halloween even gets here. Football games are in full-swing, now. Bon fire parties are always popular in my area. Personally, I always loved going to the apple tree farms and cider mills when I was young, when my kids were young, and even now.

Octoberfest celebrations are also quite popular, as Michigan has so many micro-breweries. And, of course, the “color tours” around Michigan’s lakeshore (and throughout the farmlands) are exquisite.

MORE FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

Gloria Pitzer’s Mixed Blessings – Recipes & Remedies (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; March 1984, p. 22)

IF I WERE AN ARTIST…

… I WOULD COVER my walls with pictures that would recapture the beauty of all the lovely places I’ve been to and would miss once I had left them. I would recapture a restful sunset over the wooded hills of northern Michigan sloping toward the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes.

Or I would relive the blazing colors of autumn that shroud the clusters of trees along the uninhabited backgrounds of the countryside surrounding Grand Traverse Bay. But, alas, I cannot put such places into paintings…

I’ll have to paint them with words in order to revisit them in my memory whenever the thoughts of which John Ruskin must have written – those secret places of the happy mind, ‘nests of pleasant thoughts’… ‘houses built without hands, for our souls to live in’.

Perhaps the food for thought, of finding these restful places in our memories, is just the elixir we often need; one more sufficiently nourished with sustenance to keep us physically fit, while we let our famished affections go hungry!

AGAIN, MORE FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

Gloria Pitzer’s Mixed Blessings – Recipes & Remedies (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; March 1984, p. 180)

A FEW PLEASANT MEMORIES

EVEN THE GREAT DAYS of early fall are lovely to recall when the sky and the lake are the same color, the surrounding hills a drab blend of pale brown and gold, around Saginaw Bay. This is my quiet place – ‘which care cannot disturb, nor pain make gloomy…’

A great deal of what we see, no matter where we are, I would imagine, depends on what we are looking for. The critics look for something to criticize, while the rest of us look for those scenes that give us an easy feeling about ourselves.

For me, it’s a positive attitude and it’s worth holding on to – especially when all indications around me are insisting that one cannot afford to ‘get soft’, nor become sensitive to simple beauty. It’s again a reflection of the double standard lifestyle of the 1980s! And you can’t escape from the commentaries that tried to represent a solitary authority!

And so we are engulfed with cookbooks containing recipes for feeding the physical needs, while we let the famished affections go hungry! But if they can put video games in ice cream parlors, why not food for thought in a thoughts-on-food book?

LAST THOUGHTS…

The cooler, autumn days make it more inviting to turn on the oven and do some baking! Whether it’s homemade bread, cookies, pies, brownies, or something else; fresh baked goods are starting to fill our homes with pleasant aromas. The fall season adds scents of cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin spice and cloves to almost everything.

There is something about autumn that also makes many people yearn for their favorite, belly-warming, comfort foods – pot roast, baked potatoes, stew, meatloaf, lasagna, and so on. This was usually the time of year when Mom would make up her Herman starter for bread-baking. Next week I’ll share Mom’s story about Herman!

https://www.balboapress.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001062253

IN CLOSING…

In honor of tomorrow, being National Butterscotch Pudding Day, here’s Mom’s copycat recipe for Butterscotch Pudding; as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 261). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition)].

#NationalButterscotchPuddingDay

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

https://www.balboapress.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001062253

P.S. Food-for-thought until we meet again, next Monday…

#LearnSomethingNewEveryDay

The month of September observes, among other things… Better Breakfast Month, National Blueberry Popsicle Month, National Chicken Month, National Courtesy Month, National Honey Month, National Italian Cheese Month, National Library Card Sign Up Month, National Mushroom Month, National Potato Month, National Rice Month, National Sewing Month, National Self-Improvement Month, and National Whole Grains Month!

Plus, the third week in September is… National Farm Animals Awareness Week and National Indoor Plant Week!

Today is… National Air Force Birthday and National Cheeseburger Day!

Tomorrow is also… Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Wednesday, September 20th, is… National Fried Rice Day, National Pepperoni Pizza Day, National Punch Day, and National String Cheese Day!

Thursday, September 21st, is… National Chai Day, National Pecan Cookie Day, and National New York Day!

September 22nd is… National Dear Diary Day, National Girls’ Night, National Hobbit Day, National Ice Cream Cone Day, American Business Women’s Day, and National White Chocolate Day! Plus, as the fourth Friday in September (for 2023), it’s also… National BRAVE DAY!

September 23rd is… National Great American Pot Pie Day and National Snack Stick Day! Plus, as the fourth Saturday in September (for 2023), it’s also… National Hunting and Fishing Day!

September 24th is… National Cherries Jubilee Day and National Punctuation Day! Plus, as the last Sunday in September (for 2023), it’s also… National Gold Star Mother’s Day! Additionally, as the start of the last week in September, it’s also… National Keep Kids Creative Week!

#TGIM

https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-thank-god-its-monday-day-first-monday-in-january/

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Mondays & Memories of My Mom – To Blog Or Not To Blog

Thank God Its Monday and, as such, #HappyMonday to everyone! I personally look forward to all Mondays because they’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you!

#TheRecipeDetective

To blog or not to blog was something over which I pondered more than half a decade ago. Then the “meant-to-be” powers of fate took me and my inherited love for writing on this unexpected and incredible journey, “blogging” to honor my mom’s legacy, as the ORIGINAL Secret RecipesTM Detective.

Next Sunday will be the 5-year anniversary of my blog, Mondays & Memories Of My Mom. It launched on Sept. 17, 2018, with my first post, A Legacy Of Love. I’ve learned a lot about blogging since then and I continue to learn more, as I go along. For now, though, for me, blogging is a hobby since I don’t make any money from it.

Mom always knew she wanted to be a writer. Her passion for writing began when she was about 10 years old, after watching a 1946 Warner Brothers movie about the Bronte sisters, called “Devotion”. She was so inspired by one of the sisters, she started journaling daily, which amounted to over 71 years of chronicles – now that’s DEVOTION!

She also knew that she wanted to write for a living – as Mark Twain said, “Find a job you enjoy doing and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Mom dreamed of writing the great American novel someday. Instead, fate took her passion for writing in a different direction.

Her initial career, as a columnist, was very similar to blogging – but that was about four decades before home computers first became popular. Back then, her columns were printed in newspapers and magazines. She always claimed that she made a living with her writing but it was her writing that made living worthwhile.

Mom hungered for more than what the ordinary cookbooks were offering. It motivated her to design her own collection. Her cookbooks were not your run-of-the-mill, counter-top, recipe collections. She infused a lot of information, household tips, humor, food-for-thought articles, and food-for-the-soul acclamations between her food-for-the-table recipes.

She wanted her creations to be as much at home on the coffee table in the living room as they were on the kitchen counter. Mom’s books and newsletters were like no others on the market, putting her writings in a unique position to be noticed – and that they were!

Additionally, over the decades, Mom always offered a dozen or so free samples of her most requested recipes, starting with her “Original 200” collection. Over the years, times changed, as did the food industry’s offerings. She changed up her free samples, as newer requests became more popular from her national and international radio interviews.

FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

Excerpts by Gloria Pitzer, as seen in…

Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; January 2018, 1st Printing)

[A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition)].

A MEAL BY ANY OTHER NAME

FAST FOOD RECIPES were not published in the best-sellers – and these were the restaurants where families were apt to frequent if they wanted a meal that was affordable! [In the 1970s] Paul and I could take all 5 of the children to Capri’s, an Italian restaurant down the road from us, in Pearl Beach.

We could feed the whole family for less than $10, providing we ordered the large pizza with only pepperoni and cheese on it and one soft drink for each of us. It was not for substance that we ate out. It was for entertainment.

We could take the kids to McDonald’s, and it did the same thing for us that going to the movies did for our parents. It was an affordable pleasure. It was a diversion from meatloaf and pot roast and peas and carrots.

It was a treat. We looked forward to it. We felt good about the experience and even better after it was over. It carried us through a long week of paying the utilities, insurance, house payments and car payments and grocery expenses.

When we had to have our 10-year-old station wagon repaired, we had to skip eating out that week. If one of us had to see the dentist, it might be 2 or 3 weeks before we could afford to eat out again. We made do with what we had… (p. 295)

THE “ORIGINAL 200”

MY LIST OF ‘SECRET RECIPES’ had grown to 200 and we offered them, on 4×6-inch cards [that I printed on my mimeograph], at $.25 each or 5 for a dollar. It was quite a packaging process to fill the combinations of orders, so I put all those recipes into a book.

It was going to be our only book on the subject, since most of the recipes were fast foods – but, as it turned out, it was only the first in a series of five books. After ‘Book One’ took off and became a very good seller, I did a Bicentennial American Cookery book as a limited edition and was pleased when the Henry Ford Library at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan ordered copies for their Bicentennial collection… (p. 296)

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

https://www.balboapress.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001062253

WE WANTED OUR CAKE AND WE WANTED TO EAT IT, TOO!

WE WANTED TO EAT OUT at a price we could afford; and, when we couldn’t afford to eat out, we wanted to dine-in as if we were eating out! At the time, there were few recipes for this kind of cooking.

We wanted to spend less time preparing the foods and less money on the ingredients and still serve a dish to those who shared our table…that would be equal to – if not better than – anything we could buy in a restaurant or from a supermarket.

For all of these reasons, I have pursued the investigations of the food industry with the greatest joy and the utmost care, translating into recipes, those secrets that I have been able to decipher. (p. 297)

For years, I wondered if I could make a living from home, blogging; like mom did, writing and syndicating her columns from home. Writing always made me feel close to Mom, as she was my biggest fan and always encouraged me in my creative and artistic passions.

In as much as I love to write, I hadn’t done any creative writing for many years, while I was busy working full-time. Then, when I started helping Mom rewrite her favorite cookbook, after Dad passed away (so it could be republished by Balboa Press for a new digital generation), the flame was rekindled in me.

Now that this blogging venture has kind of fallen into my lap, I love what I’m doing but I’m not making a living at it… Not yet! I’ve learned a lot about blogging, but there’s still so much more to learn. Nowadays, knowledge is instantaneously at our finger tips. But you need to be motivated to open the “pages” and read. Soak it up like a sponge and then apply it!

In my blogging notes, I wrote that the average speed at which adults read, depending on age and education, is about 200-300 words per minute; and a good blog should be readable in about 7 minutes (source unknown), suggesting optimal length as 1,400-2,100 words. Ideal blog lengths vary, depending on topic, audience, and a number of other factors.

It’s generally considered best to have about 1,500 to 2,000 words for most articles or posts, according to a recently updated editorial at Databox.com. However, SearchEngineJournal.com recently said that a HubSpot study from 2021 claims that 2,100-2,400 words is the best length – at least for SEO ranking purposes.

Optimizely.com explains SEO, as the art and science of getting pages to rank higher in search engines like Google. Search engines are the most popular way that people find websites. High rankings generally result in high traffic.

Regardless of my SEO, I write these blog posts in memory of my mom, posting entries every Monday since mid-September 2018. I try to stay in the 1,400-2,100 optimal range, fine-tuning it along the way. In the process, I continually learn new things. Pictured below is some of my notes for anyone else interested in blogging as a Hobby or Profession.

LAST THOUGHTS…

Mom never looked at writing as a “hobby”. To her, it was always a part of who she was – a reflex she did every day (like brushing her hair) for more than 70 years. Writing brought her so many blessings and she told me before she passed away that she’d do it all over again if she could. I wish she was still here with me, on this wonderful blogging adventure.

#NationalHoneyMonth

P.S. Food-for-thought until we meet again, next Monday…

#LearnSomethingNewEveryDay

The month of September observes, among other things… Better Breakfast Month, National Blueberry Popsicle Month, National Chicken Month, National Courtesy Month, National Honey Month, National Italian Cheese Month, National Library Card Sign Up Month, National Mushroom Month, National Potato Month, National Rice Month, National Sewing Month, National Self-Improvement Month, and National Whole Grains Month!

Plus, as the second week in September, it’s… National Biscuit and Gravy Week and National Arts In Education Week!

Today is also… National Make Your Bed Day, National Hot Cross Bun Day, and Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance!

Tomorrow is… National Chocolate Milkshake Day and National Day of Encouragement! Plus, as the second Tuesday in September (for 2023), it’s also… National Ants on a Log Day!

Wednesday, September 13th is… National Kids Take Over The Kitchen Day and National Peanut Day!

#KidsTakeOverTheKitchenDay

September 14th is… National Cream Filled Donut Day, National Eat a Hoagie Day, National Live Creative Day , and National Virginia Day! Plus, as the third Thursday in September (for 2023), it’s also… National Pawpaw Day!

Friday, September 15th, is… National Cheese Toast Day, National Linguine Day, National Double Cheeseburger Day, National Creme de Menthe Day, National Online Learning Day, and Greenpeace Day! Plus, it’s the start of Hispanic Heritage Month (which is always September 15th to October 15th)!

September 16th is… National Play-Doh Day, National Cinnamon Raisin Bread Day, National Guacamole Day, National Step Family Day, and National Working Parents Day! Plus, as the third Saturday in September (for 2023), it’s… National Dance Day, National Gymnastics Day, Boys’ and Girls’ Club Day for Kids, Responsible Dog Ownership Day, and National Clean Up Day!

September 17th is… National Professional House Cleaners Day, National Apple Dumpling Day, Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, and National Monte Cristo Day! Plus, as the third Sunday in September (for 2023), it’s also… Wife Appreciation Day! Additionally, as the start of the third week of September, it’s also… National Farm Animals Awareness Week and National Indoor Plant Week!

#TGIM

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Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Americana Nostalgia

Happy Labor Day! Plus, #ThankGodItsMonday, again; so #HappyMonday, too! I personally look forward to all Mondays because they’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you!

#TheRecipeDetective

Besides being the UNOFFICIAL end of summer & start of the fall season, Labor Day is an Americana celebration, honoring the contributions and achievements that American workers provided to our country’s economic strength, prosperity, and well-being.

OFFICIALLY, Labor Day observes the improvements of working conditions and fair wages that were gained through the efforts of the American labor movement, which still continues evolving and acquiring additional improvements, to this day.

This is also a patriotic holiday that people like to celebrate with parades, community picnics, backyard barbeques, sports events, and the like. In Michigan, today, it’s the annual Mackinac Bridge Walk across the “Mighty Mac”, which has bridged the Straits of Mackinac since 1957.

The Mackinac Bridge connects the upper and lower peninsulas that make up the state of Michigan. At about five miles in length, it’s the third longest suspension bridge in North America.

#PureMichigan

The bridge walk has been an annual Americana event since 1958 (with the exception of 2020, of course); thus, the 2023 bridge walk will be the 65th occurrence of this grand event. As many as 30,000 people have partaken in the walk in recent years. The bridge is usually closed to motor traffic for the first half of the day, for the safety of the Labor Day walkers.

By the way, did you know that September is, among other things, National Americana Month? Americana is considered to be a nostalgic culture of a simple, small town, Norman Rockwell lifestyle – depicted as middle-class, humble, God-fearing people, enjoying a prosperous family life.

Rockwell’s art work appeared on over 300 covers of the weekly edition of The Saturday Evening Post. He often used Americana-style elements like community pride, patriotism, white-picket fences, denim, baseball, apple pie, Coca-Cola, farmers and blue-collar workers.

According to Wikipedia.org, “Americana encompasses not only material objects but also people, places, concepts and historical eras…” Michigan is rich in small-town Americana oddities, natural beauty, history, AND FLAVOR!

#GloriaPtzersCookbook

https://www.balboapress.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001062253

For over four decades, Mom loved reviewing different restaurants, especially throughout the state of Michigan, as the Secret RecipesTM Detective. She always figured out how to duplicate their famous dishes at home. Incidentally, her writings, drawings, and self-published books were also filled with a lot of Americana characteristics.

On the whole, Mom put her books and newsletters together like Americana quilts, with a little of this and a little of that, all pieced together with love.

[NOTE: For a little piece of Americana, hard copies of Mom’s last cookbook are available for sale, at $20.99 each, through the publisher, at BalboaPress.com; eBook versions are also available for $3.99 at the BalboaPress.com Bookstore.]

FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

Gloria Pitzer’s Secret Recipes© Newsletter (Secret Recipes©, St. Clair, MI; Sept-Oct 1991, p. 1)

DEAR FRIENDS…

EVEN ON A SLOW DAY, Paul and I have at least 100 letters to open, read and reply to. On our busiest [day], however, like following a TV appearance, we  can have 1,000 letters a day to handle. It’s been like this since 1973.

We’ve made great friends through these letters and acquired now some 6,000 subscribers to our newsletter and ever so many more who just want our 6 [available] cookbooks.

Our morning starts around 7:30 at Gallagher’s, in the mall, for breakfast. This is where, as every morning the round table of some local businessmen will be accessing world situations.

‘The world has never been more interesting than it is right now,’ Richard J. Cattani, Editor of a Boston newspaper assures us. ‘The world is not so much in decline, as it is changing,’ he writes. And this is pretty much what is discussed over breakfast.

Although, breakfast talk consists also of how the Chicago Bulls fared the playoffs and where the [Detroit] Tigers might build the new stadium. And how everyone who works at the new Walmart store smiles and speaks to you with kindness and concern – but most of all, when will Detroit give us a car we can afford, again.

It’s the same in every [small] town, I suppose – a favorite place, a special time, with friendly folks, who treat each other like family. I can’t help but think that half of President Bush’s problems could be solved like ‘that’ – with the snap of your fingers – if only he could sit in on these discussions.

Also during what I laughingly call a ‘normal’ day, the phone rings frequently and 3 or 4 of the calls will be from the radio stations with whom I visit periodically for up to an hour at a time. Our regular visits with some of these stations who call us, might only run 15 minutes.

Nonetheless, we will, in a month’s time, visit with 30 to 40 different stations, covering calls from their listeners wanting to know how to recreate famous foods at home. Some of the mail we receive as a result of these radio visits have reflected some very interesting facts about favorite foods…

When I think of the nostalgic icons that represent Americana to me, in terms of food-related, I think of Coney Islands and carhop drive-ins, as well as the classic carnival and state fair foods, traditional department store restaurants and old-style dime store cafeterias.

By the way, this time of year is known to harvest more than just crops. Americana nostalgia is reaped more in the fall, than in any other season of the year. Did you know that observing that kind of lifestyle, as depicted by Rockwell, is known to decrease stress levels, as well as increase creativity?

MORE FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

My Cup Runneth Over and I Can’t Find My Mop (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; Dec. 1989, p. 3)

HOW IT ALL BEGAN – REMEMBERING, WITH LOVE

IT IS OBVIOUS…if you are familiar with [any] of my books…that traditional presentation is not important to me. It has nothing to do with concept and everything to do with the time in which I put a book together.

Most of what I have written has been done like a patchwork quilt, pieced here and there; hardly in sequence and never in a thoroughly developed format that probably every writer worth their salt (or Mrs. Dash) would be apt to follow, in producing a book of their own.

Since the [very] first book, back in January 1973, I have not been able to stick to ‘the rules’ when writing, publishing or distributing a book. It was the first thing a publisher would mention to us when, a few years later, they wanted to take over our books and publish them for us.

The comments would range from ‘making your books more [sellable]’ to ‘changing the format somewhat’, which all meant redesigning what I had developed so that it no longer reflected ‘me’, but ‘them’. Making our books more [sellable] was the biggest puzzle, considering that, in the beginning, these same publishers quickly rejected my work…

After an appearance on the [Phil] Donahue Show in July 1981, over a million letters from Donahue viewers made our books probably THE MOST [sellable] in the country – if not the world – in the shortest period of time.

So many things happened along the way that contributed to our success as a family enterprise; and, while [in my writings] I will touch on some of the highlights of these experiences, it won’t necessarily be in the order in which they took place.

Recollections of how we developed our Secret RecipesTM and the unique circumstances under which this dining room table operation has endured, will surely never make the ‘Best Seller’ list and, perhaps, not even interest most critics, let alone the skeptics, who predicted that the public’s interest in my kind of recipes would not last long. Having been our only source of income since August 1976, I would say they made a mistake in judgement.

LAST THOUGHTS…

In my blog posts, like mom’s own patch-work quilt style writings, I try to bring “my readers” a hodge-podge of happy recollections of Mom, with current interests to “homemakers” and nostalgia from days gone by. Add in a few smiles and, maybe, a giggle or even a belly-laugh.

Like Mom, I enjoy sharing little bits of knowledge with a recipe or two from Mom’s extensive collection. I have so many wonderful memories, traditions and teachings that Mom instilled in me, as her mom taught her. I can only hope that, in sharing them with all of you, they may benefit someone else, in some way, as much as they have me and my family!

IN CLOSING…

In honor of TODAY, being National Macadamia Nut Day, here is Mom’s copycat recipe for Coconut-Macadamia Nut Cookies, Inspired by Mrs. Field’s; as seen in her self-published book… The Copycat Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; April 1988, p. 96).

#NationalMacadamiaNutDay

P.S. Food-for-thought until we meet again, next Monday…

#LearnSomethingNewEveryDay

The month of September observes, among other things… Better Breakfast Month, National Blueberry Popsicle Month, National Chicken Month, National Courtesy Month, National Italian Cheese Month, National Library Card Sign Up Month, National Mushroom Month, National Potato Month, National Rice Month, National Sewing Month, National Self-Improvement Month, and National Whole Grains Month!

Plus, as the first FULL week in September (for 2023) it’s also… National Waffle Week!

Today is… National Spice Blend Day, National Wildlife Day, and National Newspaper Carrier Day!

Tomorrow is… National Cheese Pizza Day and National Be Late For Something Day!

Wednesday, September 6th is… National Coffee Ice Cream Day and National Read A Book Day!

#NationalReadABookDay

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

https://www.balboapress.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001062253

September 7th is… National Beer Lover’s Day, National Neither Snow Nor Rain Day, National Grandma Moses Day, National Acorn Squash Day, National Salami Day, and National New Hampshire Day! Plus, as the second Thursday in September (for 2023), it’s also… National School Picture Day!

Friday, September 8th is… National Ampersand Day!

Saturday, September 9th is… National Wiener Schnitzel Day! 

September 10th is… National Swap Ideas Day and National TV Dinner Day! Plus, as the Sunday after Labor Day (for 2023), it’s also… National Grandparent’s Day!

#NationalGrandparentsDay

Among my children’s favorite memories of their grandparents, they all agreed on the fall seasons that Mom and Dad took them to the Ruby Tree Farm & Cider Mill (Ruby, MI), when they were young.

It was a tradition they truly looked forward to every year – the petting zoo, pony rides, hay rides, cider and donuts. Unfortunately this iconic, local, Americana business is no longer around.

#TGIM

https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-thank-god-its-monday-day-first-monday-in-january/

…36 down and 16 to go!

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Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Goodbye August, Hello September

Thank God Its Monday and, as such, #HappyMonday to everyone! I personally look forward to all Mondays because they’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you!

#TheRecipeDetective

This week we say goodbye to August and hello to September, which begins on Friday. Friday is also the start of Labor Day Weekend – the unofficial end of summer and beginning of fall. September is said to be one of the most temperate months of fall. However, technically, fall is only during the last week or so of the month. So not a fair assessment.

September is also known as the harvest month. Thus, farmer’s markets and harvest festivals are in abundance throughout the month. By the way, did you know that September’s Harvest Moon is the fullest moon of the year?

The kids go back to school the day after Labor Day if they haven’t already. Regular season football begins next week. The days are getting noticeably shorter, as we inch closer to the fall equinox. The nights are getting cooler. Many of us will soon be packing away our swimsuits, shorts, and tank tops as we pull out our blue jeans, corduroys, flannels, and sweats.

Little bits of color changes have already started to pop here and there among the trees in Michigan. But more color is on its way, throughout the month. Oktoberfest celebrations will soon begin, too (Americanized to a September observance because the weather is nicer then). By the way, National Drink-Beer-Day is September 28th.

September also observes, among other things, Better Breakfast Month, National Blueberry Popsicle Month, National Chicken Month, National Courtesy Month, National Honey Month, National Italian Cheese Month, National Library Card Sign Up Month, National Mushroom Month, National Potato Month, National Rice Month, National Sewing Month, National Self-Improvement Month, and National Whole Grains Month!

FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

Gloria Pitzer’s Mixed Blessings – Recipes & Remedies (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; March 1984, p. 23)

IN THE SUMMERTIME…

…THROUGHOUT UPSTATE MICHIGAN, the roads borough through tunnels of green trees for miles and miles. There’ll be light traffic on these curving two-lane highways with single cars spaced two blocks or so apart coming toward you.

There was the quaint and very unique Settling Inn at the Village of Northport, the most northern point of M-22. Farther south there was the Sugarfoot Saloon at Leelanau, near the Sugarfoot Mountain Resort. It was quiet country, secluded but refreshing, compared to sophisticated urban activity.

At County Road 669, a sign announced ‘Sleeping Bear Dunes’ straight ahead on M-22. The road curved like a long licorice ribbon up and down the hillsides of densely grown white birches, Scotch pines, maples, oaks and poplars. Suddenly we were conscious of how clean the air smelled.

The city wasn’t like this! What a lovely contrast! What a splendid memory! The first time we saw the Traverse Bay area, in upstate Michigan, we fell in love with it. It was Labor Day [weekend] and summer was still at the peak of its promise.

Six weeks later, we went back to the bay area to feast our eyes on the glorious, fiery colors of fall. There was a crisp, clean chill in the air. Those long, straight, two-lane roads through the peninsula still lay like licorice ribbons on the slopes and hills of the Old Mission region.

The side roads were cut like corridors through a series of canopies in brilliant orange, red, and yellow; where the trees were all standing like military sentries in full dress uniforms, crossing their branches above the roads like honor guards with their swords raised high.

It was a trip back into another time zone – peaceful valleys and wooded hillsides abundant with sturdy hedges of tall trees framing well-manicured cherry orchards, acres upon acres of them, as well as apple groves in great abundance everywhere!

Here and there a farmhouse and a weather-worn, well-kept barn reminded you that it was a populated and prosperous region, after all. The prosperity appeared to represent hard work, a practical living style and simplicity of needs, unlike the atmosphere of city dwelling.

There really aren’t any “traditional customs” for observing Labor Day. Yet, there are so many different ways to celebrate it, including family and community picnics, parades, outdoor concerts, festivals, fireworks and even shopping; as retailers always offer huge Labor Day weekend deals and discounts to move the rest of their summer stock.

Below is a picture of me, my siblings, and 2 neighbor-boys, standing in front of the Algonac Lions Club trolly that was in all of our local parades. I think this was from Labor Day weekend, 1970, and we got to ride on the trolley, with Dad, during the parade.

How do you celebrate the unofficial end of summer – one last vacation, a day at the beach, or a barbeque in the backyard? Mom liked to celebrate right at home…

Decades ago, when my siblings and I were kids, I think the only reason Mom celebrated Labor Day was because it meant that we were going back to school the next day and she could start her vacation! Pictured below is one of Mom’s syndicated editorial columns, from August 1971 – she called it School Begins and so Does Mother’s Vacation.

MORE FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

Gloria Pitzer’s Mixed Blessings – Recipes & Remedies (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; March 1984, pp. 178-179)

GETTING TO SLEEP, WITH A FEW PLEASANT MEMORIES

FOR A LONG TIME now, I’ve had trouble sleeping at night. For one thing, my love snores like a Yamaha, going uphill in second gear and coming down again. It’s not his fault, mind you, over which he has any personal control. He simply breathes loudly when he’s deep in sleep.

I could, I found, sleep through a thunderstorm and not hear a crack all night, providing I once slipped into a cozy, peaceful mind and then drift off dreamily into a lovely landscape of the lazy fifth dimension of rest that my memory can call upon, whenever I choose to summon the scenes I’ve once found serene…

I tried to rest on those thoughts and images that gave my mind tranquility. I would recall all of the pleasant places I had ever visited, to which I wished again to return. I would find again in my memory chambers, every corner of my world that made me feel relaxed and then relish in revisiting these mentally.

I would walk the beaches around Saginaw Bay. It would be late August, again, on the movie screen of my mind. The lake was lapping at the beach where I walked through the soft, summer warm sand.

In August, the lake never ‘rushed’ in to meet the shore. It would wash in, and just as easily slip back again like sheets of silk, blue and gray with sprays of white foam writing each tumbling wave.

There was an instrumental rhythm, like crushing pieces of tissue paper in the music of the water as it caressed the sand and returned to itself like slippery, shining satin and bolts of silk, pulled smoothly over a pillowed featherbed, on which the wooded bluffs rested.

These were those pathways of peaceful places where I had been before and wish to return without having to pay rent or make improvements on property I couldn’t afford! I could see the beaches line with the birch trees and long needle pines.

I listened and I heard in my memory’s echo chambers, the soothing swishing of the waves on the peaceful shoreline of the quiet Bay. The water was winking impudently in the sunlight while the wind bulldozed the small dunes and, off in the distance, a lighthouse wore a halo of seagulls.

I was there once again in my memory album of restful visits. This must be ‘the house built without hands’ that John Ruskin wrote about. Listen! I can hear the water on the beach again. I can see the gulls, gliding to make an occasional swoop at the lake for a fish they’ve spied.

The air smells of the water, clean, wet and cool. Look! Down the road from the beach! The poplars and the maples are golden green, like new corn when it’s just ready for picking. Their branches barely stir because the breezes are subtle and seldom.

The late afternoon sun begins to slip right into a lovely blue horizon, where only occasional puffs of soft, innocent clouds move lazily across the Michigan sky. The scene can change, as I will it to, according to what records my memory has made of such visits there.

I can choose to see the gulls glide into the foam-capped waves, or the clouds moving carelessly across the blue August sky and the sun in mid-afternoon, golden, brilliant and later slipping, a little now, a little then, into a Western hillside horizon as the day descends into evening time.

To be there again, as we were that pleasant summer day, gives me reason to rest, putting me softly into the mood that invites peaceful rest. I can nestle down into the pillows and draw the thick down comforter up around my shoulders and chin and close my eyes.

I hear the fog horns of the ships further out on the lake, and the picture fades while I slip dreamily off into a much-needed sleep. I rest well with these soft thoughts, recalling my most loved memories of a favorite place…

LAST THOUGHTS…

In addition, September is also known as National Americana Month. Americana is a nostalgic culture of an idealized, patriotic, small town, Norman Rockwell lifestyle. According to Wikipedia.org, “Americana encompasses not only material objects but also people, places, concepts and historical eras…”

Norman Rockwell depicted the simple, small-town, middle-class lifestyle of Americans as humble, God-fearing people who enjoyed a strong and prosperous family life – with Americana-styled elements like community pride and patriotism, Coca-Cola memorabilia, blue-collar workers, white-picket fences, denim, baseball, football, chocolate brownies and apple pie.

IN CLOSING…

In honor of August, still being National Brownies at Brunch Month, here’s Mom’s copycat recipe for Aunt Jenny’s Brownies; as seen in her self-published cookbook, The Original 200 Plus Secret Recipes© Book (Secret RecipesTM, Marysville, MI; June 1997, p. 4).

#BrowniesAtBrunchMonth

P.S. Food-for-thought until we meet again, next Monday…

#LearnSomethingNewEveryDay

The month of August observes, among other things… National Dog Month, Family Fun Month, Get Ready For Kindergarten Month, Happiness Happens Month, International Peace Month, National Back to School Month, National Catfish Month, National Goat Cheese Month, National Golf Month, National Panini Month, National Sandwich Month, and Romance Awareness Month!

Today is also… National Thoughtful Day, National Red Wine Day, and National Cherry Turnovers Day!

Tomorrow is… National Chop Suey Day and National Lemon Juice Day!

Wednesday, August 30th, is… National Toasted Marshmallow Day and National Beach Day!

Thursday, August 31st, is… National South Carolina Day and National Trail Mix Day!

Friday, September 1st, is… National Chicken Boy’s Day and National No Rhyme (Nor Reason) Day! Plus, as the first Friday in September (for 2023) it’s also… National Lazy Mom’s Day, National Food Bank Day, National College Colors Day, and National Chianti Day!

September 2nd is… National Blueberry Popsicle Day! Plus, as the first Saturday in September (for 2023), it’s also… National Tailgating Day! Additionally, the first Saturday of EVERY MONTH is also… National Play Outside Day! According to AwarenessDays.com, the first Saturday in September is unofficially International Bacon Day! [NOTE: National Bacon Day is December 30th.]

Sunday, September 3rd, is… National Welsh Rarebit Day and U.S. Bowling League Day! Plus, as the start of the first FULL week in September (for 2023) it’s also… National Waffle Week!

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

https://www.balboapress.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001062253

#TGIM

https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-thank-god-its-monday-day-first-monday-in-january/

…35 down and 17 to go!

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Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Happiness Happens With Family Fun

Thank God Its Monday again and, as such, Happy Monday to one and all! I really look forward to Mondays because they’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you!

#TheRecipeDetective

#HappinessHappensMonth

#FamilyFunMonth

Hand-in-hand with Happiness Happens Month, August is also Family Fun Month – because, obviously, happiness happens when you’re having family fun. August is the most popular month for so many enjoyable summer events. as well as going on one last vacation before the kids go back to school.

Some of my happiest childhood memories are of the fun, summer activities we did as a family like fishing, swimming and boating; plus, our family vacations to Cedar Point (Sandusky, OH), Sea World (Aurora, OH), Tahquamenon Falls and Soo Locks (U.P. of MI), Niagara Falls (Ontario, Canada), Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island (MI).

#MackinacIsland

Mackinac Island, Michigan is a very nostalgic place – the summer vacations that I spent there with my family, as I was growing up, are among my most memorable ones. Especially when we just happened to be staying at the Grand Hotel when the filming of “Somewhere in Time” was going on.

We had seen Christopher Reeves from a distance a couple of times, but we actually got to meet and talk to Christopher Plummer and Jane Seymour between scenes! I remember a couple of other family fun vacations, going to see some of our relatives who live in other states.

We had a family fun vacation visiting some of Dad’s side of the family in West Virginia, where there was a family fun reunion, as well. Another year, we went to see some relatives from Mom’s side of the family, in the Los Angeles area – and had additional family fun, visiting Universal Studios and Disneyland (Mom made a copycat version of their fudge, too).

I aspired to make happiness happen with family fun and wonderful summertime memories for my own children, when they were growing up. We often went camping, as well as to backyard barbeques, beaches, water parks, community carnivals, state fairs, art and car shows, outdoor movies and concerts, the zoo, and so on. Happiness happens with family fun!

One summer, we drove through Chicago on our way to Wisconsin, where we visited a friend of mine in Madison and another in Green Bay – seeing things we’d never seen before. Then we drove through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to go home. Along the way, we stopped to visit Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island.

I loved sharing my summer childhood memories with my own kids, first hand, while creating family fun memories for them, as well. We also went to big amusement parks like Cedar Point (OH), Boblo Island (Ontario), and Kings Island (OH). One time, we drove through Niagara Falls (Ontario) and stopped for a day of sightseeing, on our way to “upstate” New York.

FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

Gloria Pitzer’s National Home News (National Home News, St. Clair, MI; Vol. 5, No. 9; September 1978, p. 11)

AT HOME – A Back-To-School Barometer For Veteran Mom’s

SOME MOTHERS ARE GIFTED at retaining certain pieces of information that they can tell you in the second week of June the exact date, time and hour of the day in September when school opens again.

Others rely on newspaper headlines, the calendar, their neighbors, but the best of all barometer for deciding when it’s time for the kids to go back to school is a series of events in the lives of mothers who know that the family that plays together gets on each other’s nerves… After a while!

You know it’s time for the kids to go back to school when you’re 13-year-old passes up a phone call from a boy to voluntarily wash the dishes because she’s bored. You know it’s time for the kids to get back to school, when the sound of a child licking a postage stamp gives his mother in the next room a tension headache.

When the city declares your backyard a dangerous intersection because of excessive mini-bike traffic through your flowerbeds, you know it’s time for the kids to go back to school. When you’re 16-year-old prefers to take out the garbage to lifting weights because he doesn’t have anything else to do, the vacation has out-lived its original purpose.

You know it’s time for the kids to go back to school when your own mother calls to apologize for not having had the children at her house for a few days but mentions something about Christmas vacation being just around the corner.

You know it’s time when the words to a record album your teenager has been playing all summer begin to make sense to you. It’s time for the kids to go back to school when you read in the paper that the teachers in your area still haven’t settled their contract with the school board.

You know it’s time when even the neighborhood kids start to call you ‘Mother’ and you discover you like it. It’s time when you find six of them even walking AROUND your newly planted bushes rather than THROUGH them.

Most mothers can tell when it’s time for the kids to go back to school when they see Christmas merchandise being marked down on the counters of their favorite store and all the Halloween favors have already been sold, and it isn’t even Labor Day yet!

Mothers can tell when it’s time by the number of Kool-Aid stains on the living room rug that begin to take on the interesting arrangement of a free-form art exhibit.

You know it’s time for the schools to open when the 15-year-old, who wouldn’t wear shoes all summer, suddenly takes an advance on his allowance to get himself six peers of socks and a haircut without being told to.

It’s time when a mother has made so much lemonade and spread so much mustard on sandwiches, that she can’t see the color yellow without feeling sexually attracted to a school bus! It’s time for the kids to return to their little red schoolhouse and their little reading books when they start leaving the house WITHOUT slamming the screen door!

You know the time is right if you have a high school senior, who for three years enjoyed every chance he had to get OUT of school but develops a sudden nervous rash when he hears school might not open if the teachers strike. In fact, show me a mother right now who isn’t glad to see the kids go back to school and I’ll show you a TEACHER!

Even after Mom and Dad became “empty nesters”, they continued to make happiness happen with their own version of family fun getaways (as families can be only two people). Mom loved to write about these trips and share her stories with her family of readers. Joining the Good Sam [RV] Club was among their happiest experiences.

It was a great source of wonderful friendships and memories for both of them. Mom kept scrap books of photos and special keepsakes from their many fun trips with Good Sam’s Michigan and Ohio chapters. They especially looked forward to Good Sam’s big “Samboree” events!

Sometimes Mom would give lectures at these events, regarding her copycat and short-cut cookery concepts, such as those published in her Mostly 4-Ingredients cookbook. She often wrote about her and Dad’s fun trips in her newsletters – from the new restaurant dishes they tried to the beautiful sights they saw and to all the great people they met.

MORE FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

My Cup Runneth Over and I Can’t Find My Mop (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; Dec. 1989, p. 100)

MORE THAN FRIENDS

FRIENDS ARE A TREASURE and, when we count our blessings, we count our friends twice! It’s not possible to have a full and happy life without others to share with, to help when help is needed, to be helped when help is offered…

Since our camping experiences with the national RV organization, Good Sam, we have truly adopted their slogan… ‘In Good Sam there are no strangers – only friends you haven’t met yet!’ How very true.

What would we have done had we not been blessed with meeting Irv and Helen Henze [or] Helen and Chuck Mogg? How much we miss Chuck since he passed away. Friends are those people who know everything there is to know about you, but like you anyhow!

NEEDLESS TO SAY, I can’t wait until we can begin our ‘motor-home camping’ again with our Good Sam friends. It’s our weekend vacation pleasure, May through October. Becoming part of the Good Sam organization is the best thing that has ever happened to us, where we could both enjoy mutual friendships and activities. Wonderful, caring people, who constantly remind us that ‘there are no strangers in Good Sam – only friends we haven’t met, yet!’ – Gloria Pitzer [As seen in… “GOOD SAM – CARING AND CAMPING”, from Gloria Pitzer’s Secret RecipesTM Newsletter (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May-June 1987, 126th issue, p. 3)]

TO THE GOOD SAM RV CLUB (MI & OH Branches): ‘Thank you for giving me the opportunity to meet with and talk to people from all over the country, relative to their recipe interests and food needs… Since our camping experiences with… Good Sam, [Paul and I] have truly adopted their slogan, ‘In Good Sam, there are no strangers – only friends we haven’t met yet!’ – Gloria Pitzer (1989)

LAST THOUGHTS…

Memories are made, families have fun (even when there’s only two of you), and happiness definitely happens in August! But we’re getting closer and closer to the Labor Day Weekend, which is the unofficial end of summer – just as Memorial Weekend is the unofficial start. Merchants are already gearing up for the fall and winter holidays.

Stores are loading their shelves and racks with candy and decorations for Halloween and the fall harvest season. Are you ready for fall and Halloween, yet? That’s okay… Neither am I. Let’s continue enjoying August’s Family Fun Month a little longer. We still have a couple weeks before Labor Day arrives!

IN CLOSING…

Once again, in honor of August, being National Sandwich Month, here are TWO of Mom’s copycat recipes for Beef Feeder [aka: Sign of the Beefcarver] Style Beef Roast & Rye Rolls; from her self-published cookbook, Eating Out at Home (National Home News, St. Clair, MI; September 1978, p. 22).

#NationalSandwichMonth

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

https://www.balboapress.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001062253

P.S. Food-for-thought until we meet again, next Monday…

#LearnSomethingNewEveryDay

The month of August observes, among other things… National Dog Month, Get Ready For Kindergarten Month,  International Peace Month, National Back to School Month, National Brownies at Brunch Month, National Catfish Month, National Goat Cheese Month, National Golf Month, National Panini Month, and Romance Awareness Month!

Today is also… National Spumoni Day and National Senior Citizens Day!

Tomorrow is… National Be An Angel Day, National Bao Day, Never Bean Better Day, and National Pecan Torte Day!

Wednesday, August 23rd, is… National Ride The Wind Day, National Sponge Cake Day, and National Cuban Sandwich Day!

Thursday, August 24th, is… National Maryland Day, National Peach Pie Day, and National Waffle Day!

Friday, August 25th, is… National Park Service Founders Day, National Whiskey Sour Day, National Kiss and Make Up Day, National Secondhand Wardrobe Day, and National Banana Split Day! Plus, it’s the start of… Be Kind to Humankind Week (always the 25th to 31st)!

Saturday, August 26th, is… National Dog Day, National Women’s Equality Day, and National Cherry Popsicle Day!

Sunday, August 27th, is… National Pots De Creme Day and National Just Because Day!

#TGIM

https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-thank-god-its-monday-day-first-monday-in-january/

…34 down and 18 to go!

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DENVER SANDWICH, LIKE WOOLWORTH’S

DENVER SANDWICH, LIKE WOOLWORTH’S

By Gloria Pitzer, as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – Best Of The Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 188). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition).]

The Denver Sandwich was a lunch-hour specialty at the Woolworth’s dime store [diner] on Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit back in the day of saddle shoes and bobby socks, the Kern’s clock and streetcars that took you as far as the state fairgrounds – even up to 6 Mile and Palmer Park.

How the Denver Sandwich came to be a Detroit favorite, I will never know for certain, except that you can overdose on these and develop a strange side-effect that causes you to walk bow-legged, as if you’re nursing a saddle sore!

INGREDIENTS:

3 eggs

3 TB milk

2 TB each: chopped onion and diced green pepper

a dash each: season salt and black pepper

3 TB butter

2 slices buttered toast

1 slice Swiss cheese

INSTRUCTIONS:

In a small bowl, beat eggs with milk until frothy. Add chopped onion and diced green pepper – plus season salt and black pepper. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Pour egg mixture in skillet, stirring it until it is slightly scrambled, and turning it only one time, and briefly at that, to keep the center soft. Slip it out of the pan and onto buttered toast. Add cheese and the top slice of buttered toast. Cut it into 4 triangles and serve it piping hot! [Makes 1 sandwich.]

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

https://www.balboapress.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001062253

See also…

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Happiness And Radio

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Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Happiness And Radio

Thank God Its Monday, thus, #HappyMonday to all! I look forward to every Monday, as they’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you!

#TheRecipeDetective

#HappinessHappensMonth

#NationalRadioDay

Next Sunday is National Radio Day and, for Mom, happiness happened whenever she was on the radio, talking about her copycat recipes! I’ve written several blog posts about Mom’s harmonious relationship with radio because radio filled her life with so much joy!

“The Recipe Detective” was the name given to her, in the mid-1970s, by a local radio audience because she investigated the secrets of the food industry, coming up with workable recipes for imitating their signature dishes and grocery products.

Mom always said that – of all the TV shows she was on and all of the newspaper and magazine interviews and stories about the Secret Recipes DetectiveTM, since her fast food recipes business began – she honestly preferred radio over all the others.

For the first three decades that Mom and Dad were in business, full time (1974-2004), not a day went by without a generous amount of mail or phone calls, expressing an enthusiastic interest in the recipes they developed and published, as a kitchen table enterprise. A couple years in the middle were overwhelming!

Under Dad’s talented direction and full-time management, they went from a hand-operated mimeograph machine, in our laundry room, to a full-fledged office – staff and all – then back, again, to the simplicity of a home office and a two-person (for the most part) operation.

Mom’s friend, Dick Syatt, at RKO-Radio in Boston, once told her, in regard to the tremendous response they received from her FIRST appearance on The Phil Donahue Show, in July 1981: ‘Hell is God giving you what you thought you wanted!’

They liked it better when it was simple – from the means by which they distributed and publicized their books and newsletter to the eventual exclusiveness of working with radio. They “had it all”, once – enough to know that’s not what they truly wanted.

Mom had been invited to do QVC and videos but, she learned, the filming of her recipes wasn’t as essential to their success, as production executives insisted. Mom proved that, too, when she lent her work to the Braille Institute and Books for the Blind – Talking Books. The way in which she described and presented her recipes made pictures redundant.

Radio felt like home to Mom. The audiences felt like close friends and the shows’ hosts felt like family. As a matter of fact, she had so many great things to say about her radio experiences – here are just some of those…

My Cup Runneth Over and I Can’t Find My Mop (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; Dec. 1989, pp. 57-59)

RADIO – SPECIAL PEOPLE

ADVERTISING WITH BOB Allison’s ‘Ask Your Neighbor’ radio show, which we later came to do, brought us the kind of audience that made all of the work worthwhile. We had only developed one book at that time. The [ad] spots we bought on his show were quite expensive for our limited budget, but the results were so rewarding that we later even increased the number of spots we took.

At the same time, I was placing ads in ‘Grit’ magazine, ‘Family Weekly’ (based in Pennsylvania) and with all of the Tower Press magazines, advertising the 200 recipes on our 4 x 6 cards and the books. We began to grow and increase our subscriptions nicely, at a rate that we could comfortably handle.

The five kids were all still in school and living at home as this developed. Paul was working as a purchasing agent for the Willey Sign Company, where he had been for nearly 20 years. The time he was then giving me, to help me fill orders, was after he came home from his own job at the sign company.

He also devoted every weekend and his two-week vacation to helping me with the recipes. So I was not surprised when he decided he would have to give up the sign company job in order to devote full attention to our recipe business.

He could see that with a few hundred letters a day, six days a week, I could not handle it alone. The kids were pitching in after school, if only to stuff envelopes, lick postage stamps and assembled the newsletter; [then,] alphabetize the 4 x 6 cards after they had been mimeographed and allowed to dry on the dining room table.

It was quite a relief when we decided to take the 4 x 6 cards to our printer and let them lithograph them on the offset, instead of fooling around with the messy mimeograph, ourselves, any longer. This left me free to devote more time to developing new recipes that would imitate the franchise menu items, and there was a constant interest in such dishes from all over the country. Every day presented a new and exciting challenge!

Radio has become one of the biggest blessings in our work and my recipe visits came about as a result of my initial work with Bob Allison and his ‘Ask Your Neighbor’ show. Other broadcasts it became a tradition with us involved all of the stations listed here – and then some.

The contacts of most of these came as a result of the wire service carrying a story about our recipes from time to time, the biggest occurring after a write up in ‘Mother Jones Magazine’ in 1976 [when it first began]. Zodiac news service carried the story and from that we must have been contacted by 100 stations in less than a week.

Many of those have remained among our regular visits even today. Others have come to us from the publicity we have mailed out to several hundred stations that are listed in the national Radio Directory [found in many public library systems].

Putting together such publicity was a huge project and a 10% return of such contacts is gratifying. So, for that reason, many people back off from using direct-mailing publicity. The behind-the-scenes work, involved in making our contacts, entails days and days of putting one of these projects together. None of it ever just happened.

The favorite broadcasts that I have considered my home-away-from-home include KNX-Radio, in Los Angeles, where I first met Jackie Olden; and now, Mel Baldwin and Melinda Lee carry on the Food-News show [there]. You will note that I mentioned them frequently in our newsletters.

There was also my introduction to WHIO-Radio, in Dayton [Ohio], where Lou Emm first introduced me to his listeners – before Donahue, as that is where Phil originated his TV show years ago. The monthly visits that I now enjoy participating in are with Andy Thomas of WVOC-Radio, in Columbia [SC] and with Marty Kaye, on a weekly basis, at WIBA-Radio, in Madison, Wisconsin.

I was so sorry to see Ed and Sydney Busch retire from their ‘America Over the Weekend’ broadcasts, for I began broadcasting with them at WFAA-Radio, in Dallas, in 1976 or 1977 – and it was over that station that I met Colonel Sanders.

Many of the stations with which I have worked in the past 20-plus years have made me feel so much a part of their regular staff, and their family of listeners, that I have come to think of them as my home-away-from-home.

When I work with WHO-Radio, in Des Moines, and Jan Michaelson, it is like ‘family’; for I worked with Jan at a Cincinnati station for many years prior to his move to Iowa. I was made to feel right at home. The listeners also accepted me like ‘family’.

From other radio experiences, I have come to know and love the staff and the listening audiences of each of the stations, which include KSDO-Radio, in San Diego [and] WIBC-Radio, in Indianapolis with Jeff Pigeon; who, after talking to me for only five minutes, had so inspired his listeners to want to try our recipes that we received nearly 1000 letters within two days after the radio visit!

My other radio visits cover KLIF-Radio, in Dallas, with Kevin McCarthy; KSL-Radio, in Salt Lake City, with Bob Lee; and WJR-Radio, in Detroit, with Bob Hynes on late-night and Jack Mindy and daytime.

There is also a long and friendly relationship between Toni Harblin and her listeners and me at WTNY-Radio, in Watertown, New York; as well as, WBKV-Radio, in West Bend, Wisconsin and WKRC-Radio, in Cincinnati, with JB Miller. I first met JB when he was with a West Virginia radio station, perhaps 12 or 13 years ago.

KTAR-Radio, in Phoenix, is a long-time friendship that comes along during the holidays, when I visit with Preston Westmoreland or Pat McMahon. And there are regular visits with Mike Donavon at WSTV-Radio, in the Steubenville, Ohio area.

Kathy Keene, at WHBY-Radio, in Appleton, Wisconsin, has an enthusiastic following. There are so many others that I hope I haven’t forgotten to mention these wonderful friends and the story of how we have grown.

WSUB-Radio, in the New London, Connecticut area, is [where I visit] with my pal, Margie Kreschollek – The Micro Whiz – and is a new radio visit that I thoroughly enjoy. Margie takes my conventional recipes and converts them to micro cooking in no time at all!

Another outstanding experience I had recently was with Jim Warren and Prime Time America. Beth Albright and I hit it off like old friends on her show at WISN-Radio, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; where we had two hours with which to acquaint her listeners with my recipe secrets.

Tim Regler, of KLIN-Radio, in Lincoln Nebraska, and I found his family of listeners just like neighbors on our street – friendly and receptive. Another recent visit that has become a regular event with us is with WFIR-Radio, in Roanoke, Virginia.

Dennis Elliott, of WMFR-Radio, in High Point North Carolina, was another challenging broadcast that brought wonderful letters from his listeners. When Dan Leonard left WEBR-Radio, in Buffalo, I was honored to be one of his last guests. I’ll really miss him there.

But the second Tuesday of every month, if you are in the Oklahoma City listening area, please tune into KTOK-Radio in my regular visit with Carol Arnold and her audience. We promise to give you chocolate recipes if nothing else!

LAST THOUGHTS…

https://www.balboapress.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001062253

IN CLOSING…

Once again, in honor of August, being National Sandwich Month, here’s Mom’s copycat recipe for a Denver Sandwich, Like Woolworth’s; as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 188). [A revision of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition)].

#NationalSandwichMonth

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

https://www.balboapress.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001062253

P.S. Food-for-thought until we meet again, next Monday…

#LearnSomethingNewEveryDay

The month of August observes, among other things… National Dog Month, Family Fun Month, Get Ready For Kindergarten Month, International Peace Month, National Back to School Month, National Brownies at Brunch Month, National Catfish Month, National Goat Cheese Month, National Golf Month, National Panini Month, National Sandwich Month, and Romance Awareness Month!

Additionally, as the second week in August (14th-20th for 2023), it’s also… Elvis Week, which is always the week of August 16th!

Today is also… National Creamsicle Day!

Tomorrow is… National Relaxation Day and National Lemon Meringue Pie Day!

Wednesday, August 16th, is… National Tell a Joke Day, National Roller Coaster Day, and National Rum Day!

Thursday, August 17th, is… National Nonprofit Day, National Massachusetts Day, and National Thrift Shop Day!

Friday, August 18th, is… National Fajita Day, National Mail Order Catalog Day, National Ice Cream Pie Day, and National Pinot Noir Day!

August 19th is… International Bow Day, National Soft Ice Cream Day, and National Potato Day! Plus, as the third Saturday in August (for 2023), it’s also… World Honey Bee Day!

Sunday, August 20th, is… National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day!

#TGIM

https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-thank-god-its-monday-day-first-monday-in-january/

…33 down and 19 to go!

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BATTER-COATED CHEESE SANDWICH

BATTER-COATED CHEESE SANDWICH

By Gloria Pitzer, as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – Best Of The Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 114). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition).]

INGREDIENTS:

Archer Teacher Fish Batter (Below), using beer instead of club soda

½ cup Crisco

¼ cup margarine

Cheese sandwich (as prepared below)

2 slices buttered bread

Mayo and mustard, to taste

2-3 thin slices Monterey Jack cheese

1 slice Swiss cheese

2-3 thin slices tomato (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Prepare one recipe of my Archer Teacher Fish Batter (see below) – but instead of the club soda, use beer. Melt Crisco oil and margarine in a 12-inch round skillet and get it hot without letting the margarine turn brown.

Prepare a cheese sandwich, buttering one side of each of the slices of bread; then applying mayonnaise and mustard, if you like, and slices of cheese, plus tomato slices – if you wish. Put the sandwich together securing it in 3 or 4 places with wooden toothpicks.

Dip it in the prepared beer batter on both sides to coat it evenly and lift it with a pancake turner into the hot oil mixture. Fry until golden brown and crispy on both sides. Replenish the oil and margarine as needed to maintain at least a 1-inch depth of melted oil mixture in the skillet. Serve it at once with a side of my shrimp cocktail or tartar sauce (see “Recipes” tab.) This is a favorite fast food of the Texas-Oklahoma area!

ARCHER TEACHER’S FISH BATTER (from p. 108 of same book)

[Combine as listed…]

1 teaspoon sweet basil powder

1/8 teaspoon each: oregano powder and sage powder

1 teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon garlic salt

about 3 cups of boxed pancake mix

2 to 3 cups of bottled club soda [or beer]

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

https://www.balboapress.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001062253

See also…

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Happiness Happens