October Foodie Holidays: Week 4

Oct. 22: Nut Day
Oct. 23: Canning Day, Boston Cream Pie Day
Oct. 24: Bologna Day
Oct. 25: Greasy Foods Day, World Pasta Day
Oct. 26: Pretzel Day, Mince Meat Pie Day, Pumpkin Day
Oct. 27: Potato Day, American Beer Day
Oct. 28: Chocolate Day, Wild Foods Day
Oct. 29: Oatmeal Day
Oct. 30: Buy-a-Doughnut Day, Candy Corn Day
Oct. 31: Trick or Treat for UNICEF Day

Consider including an appendix to your cookbook, with tips and tricks from seasoned cooks. All the snarky remarks about Millennials not knowing how to do this or that, taking classes on so-called mundane things... this is the sort of information, the everyday stuff that "everyone knows," yet no one seems to know anymore. Find the people who have the common sense stuff, and gather those pearls!

I received this tip from one of my husband's grandmothers, who planned a wedding reception for her daughter.

How many nuts to buy?

According to Grandma W., you need 1 1/2 lbs. of mixed nuts for 50 people at a party (or reception, wedding, etc.).

January is National Oatmeal Month

So ends one of the coldest months I've experienced in recent years! January is Oatmeal Month, because apparently we buy more oats this month than in any other. Whether you need a hot bowl of oatmeal to warm up after shoveling snow, have resolved to lower your cholesterol, or maybe you just love oatmeal cookies, this is the month for it!

Sometimes the stories you might include in your cookbook don't have to be of a historic nature, but simply anecdotal. For instance, when I was young (middle school) I decided one summer day to make oatmeal cookies. I was using the recipe on the package of butterscotch chips, but discovered we didn't have quite enough oatmeal. I substituted in some envelopes of instant oatmeal to make up the difference and that worked just fine! "Necessity is the mother of invention," after all. Looking back, I'm sure that doing that added more sugar to the dough, but I don't remember them tasting weird.

You can include as much or as little of that sort of thing in your cookbook, but I urge you to gather as many of those stories as you can. Yes, it will take longer. Yes, it will make your book longer (and probably a little more expensive to get printed, however you decide to do it), but in the end, you have something very personal to share with your family. And that's the whole point.

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