Continuing this week’s focus on the coziness of nostalgia and food… As a fan of all-things-vintage, I loved my future mother-in-law’s idea of throwing me a bridal shower complete with teacups, antique family heirlooms and her closest friends. It was a special, sentimental day I cherish.
But my dearest moment of the day happened just as I walked through the door. Mary – a retired college professor and family friend – immediately came to greet me carrying a small box. She was in the middle stages of Alzheimer’s, at the cruel and bittersweet intersection of complete lucidity and constantly losing words. Between her nervous laughter, hanging sentences and my focused listening, I was able to piece together that she was giving me a gift they’d received for their wedding… a stack of pristinely pressed (and seemingly unused) cloth napkins. So dear.
It wasn’t long before the disease robbed her from us. At her funeral, each person received a handwritten recipe card for the pickles Mary had always made during Christmas. I’ve been obsessed with these pickles since our dating years when I shared my first holidays with Kyle’s family. They’re simple to make, deliciously crunchy, and dill but sweet — basically the best of all pickle worlds. I look forward to the batches my father-in-law now makes in her honor. So today I pass Mary’s recipe on to you, typos and all.
