Process

This cookbook is a tribute to my grandmother, who passed away when I was eight years old. The baby on the second page is me, the youngest grandchild. Her recipes are now treasured memories — like waking up early to peanut butter toast strips and green tea at the kitchen counter during weekend trips to visit her in Los Angeles, or making sorbet together while she underwent chemotherapy at her bright, periwinkle beach house in Ventura, CA.

I was fortunate enough to collect her recipes from my Aunt, who preserved her mother's handwritten notes and memorabilia. Using these, I created this cookbook to honor and keep her culinary legacy alive. Through these recipes, I can see the influences of her childhood in Spring Grove, Minnesota, shaped by her Norwegian heritage, as well as her adulthood in Los Angeles as a single mother, marked by the trends of the 1970s.

Saratoga Jazz Festival