Author Archives: elizalyonsmorrison

This blog is one of two profiling the life of women during war, and the service of veteran Marion Leane Smith Walls. The first blog War, Women and Warcake. The My Mother’s Cookbook recipe for Molasses Cookies, the rolled out version, demonstrates the skill of home cooks to ‘make do’. The recipe is an olderContinue reading “Molasses cookies and knitted bandages…”

This blog is the first of two which will explore the life and death of Mercy Babcock Hall. Pumpkin pie and the experiences, and the challenges inherent in Mercy’s life in early British Colonial Nova Scotia is where we begin. Don’t miss the second blog on Mercy’s life: Corn, Buckwheat…and two miles from Shediac, onContinue reading “Squash, Pumpkin Pie and Mercy…”

I am amazed at home cook’s ability to transform the ordinary into extra ordinary. There is proof of the importance of this in our traditional foods, which are celebrated locally, regionally and internationally. Look at almost any ‘traditional’ feast food and at its roots are ordinary ingredients. Whether the approach is to add ‘special’ ingredientsContinue reading “Folks, feast foods and Poutine Râpée?”

Living in an area once known as the “world’s largest hayfield”1, I am enjoying the industry of local farmers. The hectic hay making and blueberry harvest has me thinking about haying and drinking vinegar /Shrub. The ‘drinking vinegar’ recipe in the My Mother’s Cookbook Collection is for Blueberry vinegar. The handwritten “Aunt Emm” in theContinue reading “Hay making and Blueberry shrub.”

One of my favourite recipes in the My Mother’s Cookbook collection is for a ‘traditional’ blueberry muffin. As a child I thought blueberries only grew near the railway… that this Blueberry muffin recipe came into the collection while our family was living in Cumberland County, NS some 60 miles(in 1968) from the nearest railway, isContinue reading “Blueberry Muffins…An Appalachian treat?”