September 2023 - Secret Recipes

September 25, 2023September 25, 2023

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 Detective^TM; 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 Recipes^TM, 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 (3^rd 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.

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 22^nd, 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 Recipes^TM, 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 Recipes^TM, 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 7^th to the 15^th 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.

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

#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 Recipes^TM 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, 1^st Printing)

[A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret Recipes^TM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3^rd 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

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 13^th is… National Kids Take Over The Kitchen Day and National Peanut Day!

#KidsTakeOverTheKitchenDay

September 14^th 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 15^th, 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 15^th to October 15^th)!

September 16^th 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 17^th 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

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

…37 down and 15 to go!

September 4, 2023

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 65^th 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

For over four decades, Mom loved reviewing different restaurants, especially throughout the state of Michigan, as the Secret Recipes^TM 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…

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?