A Gift Through Time

My great Uncle Tom (my dad's uncle on his dad's side) was born in northern Indiana, but was primarily a Michigander who lived most of his life in the Detroit area, in St. Clair Shores. He served in World War II in the Pacific, like his younger brother, my grandpa. During most of our childhoods, my grandparents on both sides were based out West, so my Uncle Tom and Aunt Pearl, who had no kids of their own, became grandparents of convenience to us growing up, here in the Midwest. They had an old-timey organ on which he plunked somewhat creakily. He had an incredibly built-up model train, model station, and town collection spanning a giant table in the basement. They were wonderful old folks of the type they simply don't make any more, as times have changed. He passed on, in his 80's, probably 12-15 years ago, and his wife Pearl died about three or four years ago.

One year, when were probably under 15, my twin brother and I received, as a birthday or Christmas present, a HAND COPIED Cookie Recipe Book in a spiral bound notebook. Uncle Tom had painstakingly filled an entire 150 page notebook with recipes in his old school, legible handwriting.

I'm not gonna lie. I had long-since forgotten the thing existed. At 12 or 10 or whenever we got the cookbook, I was doing sports and music, and cooking was barely on my radar, to say nothing of baking. (30-some years later, to this day, I STILL don't consider myself much of a baker although obviously I am a Food Preparation Enthusiast.) So the recipe book sat on some shelf somewhere in my folks' house, or in a box, and was lost in time for awhile. Then, before the current madness, I was on a trip with the family down to Bloomington, Indiana, where my folks live. As I'm sure many families experience, there was another routine sifting-through of old materials on this trip, the ol' "Do You Want This? If Not, I'm Throwing It Out" game. I came across the recipe book and decided I'd take it - just as a memento of Uncle Tom and Aunt Pearl, mostly.

Like I said, I'm not that much of a baker. And I rarely touch my cookbooks anyway. I wasn't even really planning on making anything when I took the book.

Then about a month or so ago, I picked it up bored, and started leafing through it. And it's irresistible to me now. Did I mention the 150-page notebook is completely full? And HAND WRITTEN. It must have taken DAYS for him to copy them all out. And the recipes!! The notebook probably contains a hundred recipes and names like Date Cherry logs, Earline's brownies, Texas brownies, Chocolate Almond Snowdrops, Finnish Pinwheels, Almond Nut Balls, Spritz, Delectable Date Drops, Santa's Whiskers, Cream Cheese Dainties, Holiday Malt Chews, Linzer Tarts, Fudgies, Refrigerator cookies, Sponge Drops, Mallow swirl brownies, Molasses bars, Tutti Frutti Cookies, Icebox Cookies (somehow different from Refrigerator cookies I guess), something just called: "Rocks," and the one I finally chose to make today: Potato Chip Cookies, so chosen because it was the weirdest one I could find in the book.

My wife described the recipes as "Depression Cookies" and I don't think she's far off. The ingredients list is pretty amazing too. Some of these call for lard, shortening, mincemeat, molasses, orange rind, anise seeds, etc. One of them calls for 1/4 of a teaspoon of crushed cardamom OR a teaspoon of brandy. It's amazing.

I'm sitting here saying I'm not much of a baker, but this Old Recipe book is giving me ideas, and now I'm like: "Dang I want to try making ALL of them. Where do I get mincemeat?" Today I'm substituting lard for the shortening because the store I was at only had lard, and somehow Utz potato chips felt like the right brand. I will share some pics of the Potato Chip Cookies when finished. THANKS UNCLE TOM!

UPDATE: Here is how they turned out!

There was some lag time to the final finsih because I had a rather hilarious #CookFail when I tried the first time a couple of days ago. I won't tell the whole story to spare myself and my great Uncle our collective dignity, but if you look closely at the recipe in the O.P. you may be able to guess what my mistake was. And Uncle Tommy's. Hey, I said I wasn't much of a baker. Anyway I MIGHT have overdone this batch a little but not terribly so. They're good!

The Vegans aren't going to like this.

The War on Soy: Why the 'Miracle Food' May Be a Health Risk and Environmental Nightmare

By Tara Lohan, AlterNet. Posted November 21, 2009.

Vegetarians aren't the only ones who should be concerned; there's soy in just about everything you eat these days -- including hamburgers, mac 'n cheese and salad dressing.

" . . . soy's glory days may be coming to an end. New research is questioning its health benefits and even pointing out some potential risks. Although definitive evidence may be many years down the road, the American Heart Association has quietly withdrawn its support. And some groups are waging an all-out war, warning that soy can lead to certain kinds of cancers, lowered testosterone levels, and early-onset puberty in girls.

Most of the soy eaten today is also genetically modified, which may pose another set of health risks. The environmental implications of soy production, including massive deforestation, increased use of pesticides and threats to water and soil, are providing more fodder for soy's detractors. . .

A study in the British medical journal Lancet in 1996 warned of the effects of soy in infant formula. The study found babies had levels of isoflavones that were five to 10 times higher than women taking soy supplements for menopause. The effects in girls could be early-onset puberty, obesity, breast and reproductive cancers. Boys could face testicular cancer, undescended testicles and infertility. Additionally, O'Brien says, a 2003 British study conducted by Gideon Lack of St. Mary's Hospital at Imperial College London followed 14,000 children from the womb through age 6 and found that kids who had been given soy formula as infants seemed almost three times as likely to develop a peanut allergy later on."

Doesn't it seem like every week there's some "news" story in which we learn that some previously be-knighted health food item isn't all that healthy after all?- or that in order for health-conscious eaters to enjoy their pristine palatable, little children in Laos have to be forced into back-breaking labor? As a fairly care-free omnivore I read stories like this with some bemusement.

[Sigh.] Folks, it's become manifestly clear that ingesting anything whatsoever is a risky proposition, either nutritionally, or for the global environment.

There is no such thing as any food that is 100% good for you, and 100% guilt-free. If you are one of the "food purity" people who only eats "health food" I've got news for you, and so does Tara Lohan at Alternet.org. Even your SOYBURGERS turn out to have some health risks.

While it's fine and well to be mindful of what you're putting in your body, I think people who think that they're "eating healthy" or eating without guilt are kidding themselves. All food has risks. All food has negative consequences for the environment in some way.

My advice? Enjoy what you eat, knowing full well that it's probably killing you slowly. Some of these health nuts seem to think that eating the right foods will make them fucking immortal.

Personally, I think I'm gonna have tater tots and about ten beers this evening. I may not live forever, but I'm certainly going to enjoy being alive, and eating and drinking what I damn well please. I'm not huge fan of tofu, but I enjoy it once in awhile, especially when it's pressed and fried. My hunch is that from here on out, it might even taste a little better!