The Cookbook

I got a package in the mail from my mother-in-law. She has a tradition that she has given a cookbook filled with family recipes to her children for their wedding. I was fairly excited to get it because I love to use family recipes that have been passed down. My family still makes a lot of traditional Norwegian and German food and I’d like to incorporate some of K’s heritage into our cooking. Plus there are some of her recipes that he would like to have (her chocolate chip cookies are to die for).


Boy was I aiming a little high! This cookbook has recipes for mashed potatoes, jello jigglers, green been casserole, rice krispy bars, applesauce made by cooking down apples and throwing in a few red hot candies, cider…you get the picture. Pretty basic stuff and nothing I couldn’t learn how to make by reading the can or the box. I was incredibly insulted when I got it. First, we’ve been married for about 2 years now, and I can definitely cook better than this. I’m pretty sure I’ve got how to make mashed potatoes down!

I immediately called my mom to ask if I was out of line for being so upset. (My mom will definitely tell it like it is and I trust her to put me in check when needed). She said I wasn’t. Who knows, maybe my mother-in-law is still having trouble coming to terms with losing her ‘baby’ and is keeping these favorite recipes to herself so that I can never make cookies like that and then she can still be the best provider for him. I don’t know, I think I’m stretching for that one, but I just need to try and see why she would do something like this. It probably wasn’t even intentional, my in-laws are nice people, they just do some frustrating things. I can’t tell K how mad I was because regardless it’s his mother and I’m not going to say something mean about his family to him even though when K saw it he was pretty disappointed too. I’m going to have to call my sister-in-law (K’s brother’s wife) and see what her cookbook was like…