Hello,

My name is Helen and I am happy that you found my food blog!

Here you will be able to browse Vintage Recipes, Quantity Cooking, Kitchen Gadgets, reviews of “Food Destinations” and much more.

I’d like to share a bit of my background and what brings me to starting this blog.

I grew up on a dairy farm in central Wisconsin with a deep rooted Polish heritage.  It was a wonderful way to grow up and it laid the foundation of who I am today.  I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t think back to something I did or something that happened in my formative years on the farm. 

Living on a farm instills a strong work ethic, something that I carry throughout my life.  Caring for animals, crops and gardens taught me to prioritize, meet deadlines and yes work under pressure.  Living and working on a farm is not something you pay attention to 6-8 hours a day, it needs attention 24 hours a day. 

I didn’t fully appreciate back then as I do now how my parents worked as a team to parent my sisters and I and to run a successful family farm.  When I think back how my mother juggled the farm chores she did, sat on a school committee, was involved with church and community activities and sewed 90% of our clothes. All that she did and more and we still had amazing homemade meals including fresh baked bread and desserts.  This was all enjoyed around the family table at 5PM. My dad did most of the crop work in the fields and milking the cows, (my sisters and I carried the milk by hand – no pipelines) along with general maintenance of EVERYTHING.  Besides all of his farm chores,  he did the majority of the grocery shopping and taught my sisters and I well how to do the same.  I think many would agree that there is a certain “art” to this task to get the most value for your money and to choose good quality products.  My dad also cooked on occasion but only certain specialty dishes of his.  During our “downtime” or leisure time, we sledded down one of the biggest hills on the farm, ice skated on our pond, went fishing as a family on our boat in the summer after haying season was over and attended the county fair.  On a regular basis in the summer we swam in the local river that we could independently reach by walking after evening chores.  Most people would say “what a simple life” I would say it was the “BEST” life.  What does all this have to do with a food blog?  Well, the beginning of food starts on the farm level where it’s grown.  You heard of the old saying “you work hard, you play hard” and we did just that.  We consumed big delicious farm meals but we all worked them off too.  There’s nothing better when coming in for lunch or supper and smelling fresh baked bread or something “jiggling” in the pressure cooker on the stove.  Years later when I entered the work force after high school, I became a travel agent and for many years I took advantage of  one of the perks of the job which was travel.  These trips furthered my curiosity about food and different cultures and broadened my knowledge about food. In some cases it was about the origin and preparation of something new not found in the Midwest or even in the United States, but one thing was for sure and that was being able to try something new and trying to duplicate and enjoy a favorite dish from a trip. 

Clients would often ask me if they could bring something back for me from their travels and if they offered I always said a cookbook…gee there’s a surprise! 

I also want to mention that my cooking skills and the opportunity to cook both vintage and new recipes comes from the many mentors I had in my life when it came to food and cooking.  You know how you will hear the meager beginnings of a well known singer, musician or actor and how they started out at their church singing in the choir or preforming in the local play.  Well it’s about that same way for me.  I learned my cooking skills, techniques and style from of course my mother, grandmothers, aunts, ladies at church cooking for a large event, friends and the list goes on.  Lets put it this way…I paid attention and learned just by that and living life.    

So that’s it in a “nut shell” if you can call it that, so much to say in so little time or “space”  As time goes on, I hope you’ll enjoy reading my blog as much as I will enjoy writing it!