To Know Without Knowing

Last Sunday I wrote about my wish to inherit favorite family recipes so that I can carry on traditions in Ian's and my kitchen and...someday so that I can pass these traditions down to our children.  The very next day, Ian and I came home from work to find a brown paper-wrapped package in our mailbox addressed to Ian and Katie Haag.   The return address sticker was from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and from a couple whose names were not readily familiar to me.  Ian and I opened the mysterious package to find a cookbook entitled "The Flavor of Wisconsin: An Informal History of Food and Eating in the Badger State."  I gathered this was a gift from someone that my mom knew from when her family lived in Milwaukee, but it wasn't until I found the postcard enclosed in the book that I knew this gift was from my second cousin Mary.  She had also enclosed a note that so thoughtfully explained the idea behind this gift.  She wrote, "It seemed like it might be a good present for you to connect you with your Wisconsin ethnic and food 'roots.'"  I was amazed at how timely (and so very touching) her gift was given that, less than 24 hours before, I had expressed an interest to preserve my families' traditions through cooking.  It's as if Mary knew this, but she couldn't possibly have.  She even recalled a childhood memory of hers when she was visiting my mom's family in the early 1960's when they still lived in Milwaukee.  It seems that my Grandma was cooking tongue for dinner that night and so Mary decided to go home.  I remember when I was a child my mom told me stories about my Grandma cooking tongue and I would imagine an enormous pink tongue sitting on the table.  Last week Ian pointed out tongue in the grocery store and it wasn't too far from what I had imagined.  Grandma...if you're reading this....I would love to inherit any of your tried and true recipes EXCEPT for the tongue.

For those of you who don't know, I actually have quite sturdy food roots in Wisconsin, although I've never been there to see them for myself.  In the early 1900's my great grandfather Balistreri immigrated to Milwaukee from Sicily with his family and made a living by selling produce from a horse drawn wagon.  Eventually the family business evolved to include a number of produce markets.  My grandfather and his brothers worked in the business and, in fact, I have been told that my grandfather met my grandmother when she was hired at one of the stores as a teenager.  Today, the business includes 8 locations of award-winning gourmet food markets in and around Milwaukee.  If you're interested in learning more about the history of the Balistreri family (like why the markets are named Sendik's instead of Balistreri's), check out this link: http://www.sendiksmarket.com/home/company_information/history/

Thank you, Cousin Mary, for giving me such an incredible gift and reminding me of my roots.