Although my grandmother passed away a few years ago now, I feel that she has been very present among her grandchildren in the past few weeks. My cousin, Danika, has been doing some baking recently. This past week, my brother decided to jump into the kitchen and tweak my grandmother’s brownie recipe.

I also decided to get into the kitchen and do a bit of baking last week. I’d had an inkling to bake, and we had a few ripe bananas, so why not make some banana bread?

While I’m very happy to have my grandmother’s recipe book, I haven’t made much use of it. After she passed, I had the idea of going through it and trying all of the recipes. Basically, the plot to Julie & Julia. The idea came back to me when I was flipping through the book while locating my needed banana bread recipe. I don’t know that I’ll ever go through and cook the entire collection of recipes, but I do think it’s time to jump in and try some of them.

Whenever I’m in the kitchen using one of my grandmother’s recipes, I feel her presence. I still largely associate my grandmother with baking. Whether it was brownies, pies, cookies or squares, it seems like she always had something going on. I was in the kitchen “helping” her frequently during my childhood. And I think we can agree that by helping, I mean licking the spoon, eating the dough trimmings, and probably being in the way. But I always loved being in there with her.

I have another baking project in mind. I’ll likely take a stab at it over the next few days, but it’s just been too ungodly hot this week. Maybe I’ll update this post with some details after I do. All I know is that I will continue to connect with my grandmother every time I bake. I had left the baking to my wife over the past few years, but I think it is time to reignite that flame.

I’ll see you soon, Mémère.