"Test Kitchen Tuesday!"...Today the kitchen tested me.

Hey there y'all...welcome back to Que-Licious! (Original post date was Jan. 2013)

Yesterday was a pretty uneventful day in the kitchen, but it was a great day for writing a cookbook. My intention was to smoke a pork butt, develop a new recipe for a Carolina style barbecue sauce I have been working on, take some awesome mouth-watering pictures, and share with all you fine folks. Obviously that didn't happen. I'll tell you what did happen...winter in Ohio!

I knew I was in for a challenge right away when the temperature gage on our enclosed back porch said 2 degrees, or as I interpreted...GO BACK INSIDE! Nevertheless; I thought I would give it a try, mistake #1. I have fought the cold, the wind, the rain, and the snow of Northwest Ohio before when doing a smoke and settled in bundled up Eskimo style to get the smoker warmed up to start my smoke. Mother Nature and my smoker had other ideas. Try as I may, the wind and bitter cold was victorious over my attempt to bring a little warmth and sunshine into this blustery winter day.

Frustrated and defeated (and about a 15 minute rant to myself as to why we don't live in Key West) I finally threw in the towel after a good 2 hour fight with the elements and the smoker and shifted gears. Standing there in the kitchen...hands on the table, head hanging low, I happened to fix my gaze on a picture hanging on the wall. A framed cross-stitching picture that my grandmother had made. Ever get one of those gut feelings like someone is trying to tell you something?

I got the message. I couldn't help but think about mommaw and all those cold mornings when she would be the first one out of bed to start the fire in her cast iron cook stove and at that moment a wonderful flood of memories came rushing over me and I couldn't help but smile...and then I started writing...and I wrote all afternoon. It was this time last year that I began a cookbook project called "The Forgotten Kitchen" which contains family recipes and stories of my life growing up with a grandmother who taught me to cook, love, and live. Several factors interfered with me finishing this book; most of which were self-induced. Returning to this project is a major accomplishment for me emotionally. Not only because of missing my grandmother and dealing with the demoralizing effects of Alzheimer's Disease, but also because of facing the loss of my dad. I spent the last week of his life with him in the hospital and took my draft of "The Forgotten Kitchen" with me and would read to him after his chemo treatments until he fell asleep. Reading back over the chapters now, I can see him smiling and sharing memories with me of our time together as a family. The words I would read brought back memories for both of us, each one with a different meaning and special place in our hearts. I truly believe this cookbook is a turning point of some sort in my life; I'm just not sure of the direction yet, but I know I will be guided. I have learned to listen to that inner voice we all have telling us what we need to be doing but choose to fight it because WE think we know best. I could have stood in the kitchen and blamed the weather and cold and become so frustrated that I wasted the entire day being very unproductive. I could have broke down when I started remembering time with family on the farm and my dad sharing those stories with me during his last days...but I didn't. A pretty amazing thing happened instead...I became inspired.

So, for this week's "Test Kitchen Tuesday" I believe the kitchen tested me. I would like to end this post with and excerpt from my cookbook as another little sneak-peek into what's to come when this bittersweet project is complete.

Keep cookin' y'all.

"The landscape of a kitchen can leave just as effective of an imprint on the mind’s eye. For me, it is a cast-iron cook stove consuming one whole wall in the kitchen with a commanding presence; a batch of fresh apple butter and preserves sitting in mason jars to cool; an old buffet filled end-to-end with homemade pies; and the ever present combination of wood smoke and ham. With the scene always present in my mind, I chart my path and try to convince myself I am headed forward when in reality, I am constantly returning to that back porch to peek at that all familiar view through that old screen door." 

~Excerpt Taken From "The Forgotten Kitchen"
Stephanie Robinson, Author