{gratitude 11.28}

For Thanksgiving, my baby sister always makes her special mac-and-cheese, so I decided I should pull out of of my classic recipes, too. Recipes remind me of trial and error, well-meaning relatives, and late teen days spent poring over newspaper and magazine food sections. I have files of spattered recipe cards and ripped out pages jotted with notes. Two of my sisters and I like cooking and have go-to recipes we can make in our sleep. Of course there is the other sister who attempts TikTok recipes that don’t come with clear instructions… *cough* ANYWAY, especially after reading Tricia’s ode last week, I realized I wanted to add my gratitude for recipes – especially those passed along from friends.

pinch, dash, smidgen, skosh

Recipe’s a map word, it plots
from ‘pre-heat’ to “serve,”
a receipt for instructions
received to make hors d’oeuvres.

Recipe’s a sheep dog word
corralling woolly thoughts
that call “a skosh” three teaspoons!
(It saves us from “store-bought.”)

A recipe’s passed hand to hand,
Holds Nana’s looping script.
It’s inspiration – whimsy, planned,
Memorable meal transcripts.