Fall Breads and Grandma

Most people probably think of me as someone inspired by Martha Stewart. This is true in the sense that I do appreciate her standards in baking and love the challenge to duplicate her work. However, I believe my true inspiration for baking has mostly come from my Grandmother, my father's mom.

Growing up, it was common for anyone in my family to be driving down Albany Avenue in Kingston and just decide to take a sudden detour to my Grandmother's house. It never failed that upon entering her back door, which walked directly into her kitchen, she would have been cooking or baking something. If she wasn't, she was doing the dishes because she had just finished cooking or baking something. Her home always smelled sweet.

Awhile back, Grandma had a beautiful vegetable garden that she was so proud of and loved to show off. She would tend to the tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and most importantly, pumpkins. She never gave up on a poor little vegetable that wasn't doing well and always took on the challenge to nurse it back to health. She did this successfully time and time again.

She had herbs planted around her yard in random places. I will never forget how she taught me to be careful when planting mint because it will take over your yard. Even though I already knew this, I planted mint at my home in Santa Fe and it took over all of the wild flowers. I remember her visiting and telling me that I should have listened to her, but I just love to have the mint wherever it wants to be. I also had mint outside my door in California recently. It was there when I moved in and I remember thinking that was my Grandma watching over me. When I was a young child, my Grandma would pinch the bottom of the mint plant, run her fingers up the stalk to remove all of the leaves and rub them in her hands. She would put her hands to my nose and it smelled like peppermint candy or Doublemint gum. And then I would do the same thing, copying her. It is amazing to me how one scent can bring back a lifetime of memories. Fresh mint does this for me every time I smell some. It reminds me of the time I have spent with my Grandma and her connection with the Earth. I still cannot help but run the mint over my hands whenever I run across some.

One of my Grandma's many talents is to remember recipes. She never seems to write one down and every time she bakes something, it tastes exactly the same as it did the last time you ate it. I don't know how she does this. And she never willingly shares the recipes with you either- and if you try to duplicate a recipe you will never come close to the same outcome, even if you have watched her closely and took notes. Take it from one who has tried this strategy... over and over.

Each fall, my Grandma's kitchen transforms into a bakery more like a factory. Early in the morning, she runs to the grocery for her last-minute supplies and heads back home to start her famous Pumpkin Breads and Applesauce Cakes. Sometimes she would use the pumpkins in her garden versus the canned variety, but no matter what, it always tastes the same. I don't know how to cook with fresh pumpkin, I have tried and cannot get the same flavor that she does. I finally have given up and go for the canned pumpkin.

After several weeks of baking, she packages them up. Each bread goes into a foil tin and wrapped in plastic wrap. She ties the package carefully with beautiful ribbons- orange for pumpkin and red for applesauce. Sometimes she will put a turkey sticker or a pumpkin sticker on top of the plastic. There comes the time close to Thanksgiving where you can start looking for the mailman for your package from Grandma. You pray it arrives safely, because she told you it is on its way, and you run to the kitchen with the box. When you open the box, you can find remnants from Grandma's house. A pine cone. A pine branch. Some fresh rosemary. And one time, I got a fresh basil plant to root on my kitchen windowsill. When she has fresh jalapenos from her plant, she will dry them for me and include those as well. She will recycle an old Halloween or Thanksgiving card onto construction paper, write a little note and always sign it "Enjoy!" Which I do.

I cherish my Grandmother's fall bread deliveries and anyone who drops by my house that day finds it to be one of their luckier days, because no matter how much she sends, it is gone before the sun sets.