I have never received any formal culinary training and yet I have been told that I am a very accomplished home cook. I credit this to a number of factors: my Momma and Daddy who taught me well and early, my Home Economics teachers and The Best of Bridge Ladies. Their first cookbooks were published at the same time that I was establishing my own home, juggling a wonderfully hectic time of career, babies and married life, while all the while still wanting to host dinner parties with friends, new and old.

The Ladies as they began being known as, had the knack of taking simple ingredients found in our freezers and pantries and with their easy to follow recipes, magic was created. When I look back through my extensive Best of Bridge Collection, I can remember first tastes as well as who was gathered around our table,while the babies were sleppy snugly in their upstairs beds.

Many of our family recipes are B of B creations, passed along when a sister-in-law would say as she put on her coat at the front door “Can I get that recipe to impress my girlfriends when we get together next week?” We could not possibly celebrate our early Thanksgivings or Christmases without  Wild Rice Broccoli Casserole or Elsie’s Potatoes.

There is rarely a wedding or baby shower put on by the “Aunties” without Artichoke Nibblers making an appearance. With this, new generations would fall in love with the recipes of our ever-growing family. In fact, I believe that I am such a fervent artichoke fan because of the B of B Ladies.

On Christmas mornings, my most anticipated gift would be the newest B of B recipe collection. While the little ones played with their new toys and D was cleaning up the wrapping paper, I would hurry to get the turkey in the oven, so that I could sit down and page through the book and dream up events to wow my friends.

That “Christmas Morning feeling” was upon me recently, when I found my review copy of the newest B of B cookbook in my mailbox. The babies are not toddlers, tweens or even teens, but all grown up and firmly established in their own homes. In fact, I had the house completely to myself as D was away on business. I made a cup of tea, curled up in my favourite reading chair and paged through The Best of Bridge Home Cooking.

I often felt sorry for the new generation of home cooks, my own kids included, searching for recipes on Pinterest or on line. They couldn’t thumb through a much loved copy of the B of B books and read their own notes in the margins or see the evidence that a cookbook copy might have gotten too close to a stove element, like mine had. That is, until now. There is a new generation of B of B Ladies, including fellow member of Food Bloggers Canada-Julie Van Rosendaal. She has connected with two other accomplished recipe creators and the Best of Bridge lives on.

Julie will be in Winnipeg promoting the cookbook on October 16th and although I have food-styled for the Best of Bridge Publishers in the past and as much as I would have loved to have been involved in this project, alas, I will be making food memories of another kind…in Tuscany.

Kath’s quote: “Time is what keeps everything from happening at once.” From Best of Bridge Home Cooking

Live simply, laugh often, love deeply.

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