And Relish

Today I had a go at making and canning Corn Relish, something I've never made nor eaten, but which I found in an old cookbook we got from Joe's mom. I love the book. It's so common sense and old fashioned (in a good way), yet it's not even 40 years old. Yep, I'm a little sensitive about getting closer to 40, especially since it's my birthday tomorrow. There's no need to explain in this recipe, for example, the very temperature at which you must boil the zillion ingredients you've piled into the stock pot. You just "boil it for a minute or so" because you know what boiling looks like and you don't need some author to tell you. At least that's what I imagine the author telling me when I read it. And it turned out yummy enough for any burger or grilled chicken, or even alone in its own side dish. And because I'm trying to play by the rules, just so you know, I did use a thermometer. Oh well. So much for rebellion.


I also loved finding three seemingly randomly placed recipes throughout the book, written on notebook paper in my mother-in-law's hand-writing: Impossible Pumpkin Pie, Eggnog Pound Cake, and Mandarin Orange Cake. Yum! I'm definitely putting those on the future baking agenda.