This book is a wonderful, funny family memoir cookbook. It sprang from the author s desire to preserve her family s recipes and eventually became a book that shares both food and a slice of her life growing up in Vermont. She describes both kitchen triumphs and many humorous errors she made during cooking and has interesting and easy methods to prevent future failures. Vermont is unique from the rest of the New England states in that it is landlocked. When people think of New England, they think of seafood, fishing, ocean, and mostly the state of Maine. Vermont seems to be fairly unknown except for the colorful fall foliage and maple syrup. The author hopes that her book will nourish not only the body but also the soul by relaying some of the daily-life quintessential of Vermont. Vermont s population is made up of a historic mixture of French Canadians, early colonial settlers, and Irish immigrants.

The cuisine of Vermont reflects this combination in the recipes, such as French tourtière (meat pie), Irish salmon pie, and Colonial maple syrup pudding. The author has included twenty desserts and ten main dishes with a full chapter on just the Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners, which include the trimming and even a special recipe for kids to make that keeps them busy and out of mischief, ha. There are some recipes too that developed from happy accidents that she continues to use to this day and from some accidents she would just as soon forget! Each recipe includes detailed steps and helpful hints, including a complete list of utensils along with the list of ingredients, making this the perfect book for the beginner cook. The author feels there isn t anything more frustrating than to be cooking only to be unsure of a step in the process because the writer thinks you already know what needs to be done. She hopes that her instructions are in enough detail to have all the questions answered and you create a very delicious dish. Please join her as she now takes you from food to family stories and back to food once again along with the spirit of life in Vermont.