From Tasha Tudor and Family website.
I love Tasha Tudor’s illustrations. They are so evocative of another place and time and stir up feelings of family gathered around the kitchen and gardens overflowing with foxgloves and larkspur. Tasha introduced me, via her cookbook, to one of the best macaroni and cheese recipes I have had. It has become a mainstay on our July 4th table.
Once you cook something, accompany it with a tale or legend, embellish it with your own rendition, and serve it up the following year for a second helping, you have established a tradition.
We love the 4th.
We love to eat.
Every year, along with the chicken, hamburgers, bratwurst, hot dogs, ham, sloppy joes, or whatever the main dish is that year, a big pan of macaroni and cheese sits alongside.
July 4th, folks. It is always hot here on the 4th. There is usually rain the night before or early in the morning and it is generally hot and muggy – and I make macaroni and cheese.
Tasha relates in her cookbook that Thomas Jefferson enjoyed macaroni and cheese. Whether he invented it is questionable, but, it makes a hearty tale for a hearty dish, and he did, it seems, draw plans for a pasta making machine.
We like Tasha Tudor’s recipe and I like to weave a good tale. I did, one steamy Fourth as I employed some of Katy’s friends to help in the first making of Tasha Tudor’s mac ‘n cheese. As the kids were growing up, there were more often than not friends that joined in the celebration. I miss them. They went and grew up on us and are off starting families and careers of their own. At any rate, they grated the cheese and they crushed the crackers and, at least for that first serving, they bought into the tale that Thomas Jefferson loved macaroni and cheese. So, on the Fourth of July, our national holiday, I thought it fitting that we have a dish that the author of the Declaration of Independence seemingly enjoyed.
Do you think Jefferson used Velveeta™ along with the shredded cheddar cheese and crushed Ritz crackers on top? (me neither)
Do you have any traditions, foodwise or otherwise, for Independence Day?
Do you have a favorite summertime meal?
Stay tuned . . . if I have time between the cheese grating and the table setting, I’ll post a few pictures of our very own cutoff parade!
This is so interesting Lifeonthecutoff. It is wonderful to learn about your celebrations. We are so much the same and so different. Much of the food you mention sounds new to me. Peta Mathias said once that food is the best way to learn another’s culture. It is so much part of our festivals and celebrations. I am loving hearing how you celebrate the birth of your nation. I love the link with food and story telling!
Thank you too for putting the link to my blog. It is all wonderful .. touching others around the world.
I am enjoying learning about you as well, Joan. I think that the food and customs and tastes and such are different, but the human spirit is the same. I was unfamiliar with Peta Mathias, so, googled her. She seems to be quite the chef and personality. I agree that food is the best way to learn about each other’s cultures. We love to eat and get two women in a kitchen and even with a language barrier they seem to work it out.
You are quite welcome for the link. My friends and readers were so touched to see your greeting reaching out across the ocean.
Penny
Wonderfully woven! Thanks for the years of deception and good mac-n-cheese. Since I never posted a blog and you resisted adding this link, we might as well direct everyone here for a good laugh:
Thanks, Katy. Unfortunately, I can’t open it here, but, I will post it on my blog for you.
Thanks for visiting my blog Lifronthecutoff, one of the wonderful things about blogging is the meeting of others through the Internet and learning of the different way of life and celebrations in other countries. I enjoyed reading your history and seeing the photos of the cookbook – I would love to see it – I love cookbooks but am not a great cook!
I enjoyed visiting you via your blog, Marilyn. Isn’t it exciting learning what each other’s celebrations are, how they are done, what we do and eat? Tasha Tudor was a 20th century woman who lived a 19th century lifestyle. Pictures of her gardens in Vermont were so inspiring to me as I worked on my first garden.
Thank you for commenting. Penny
I have enjoyed googling Tasha Tudor, and enjoyed viewing the Tudor family website. Very interesting and I love the sound of Ginger Pennies, I will have to make some!
Don’t they sound wonderful? I keep meaning to make them and now that you’ve mentioned it maybe I will on the next cool and rainy day. I’m glad you are enjoying discovering Tasha Tudor. There are a few books about her lifestyle, one is called Tasha Tudor’s Garden, that are just beautiful about the lifestyle she led and her lush gardens. They were an inspiration for my own gardening.
Love Tasha and love macaroni and cheese. It is sinfully delicious, especially yours via Tasha.
I know. Why do all the really delicious foods have to be sinful? Oh well . . .