The baker

So our house was slightly non-traditional you could say, as Dad did all of the cooking however Mom stuck to baking, for a good reason... she excelled at it. My Mother was featured in The News Herald in December 0f 2004. The paper actually came to the house and photographed my Mother as she slathered dark chocolate on her buttery homemade cookies and also her displaying a tray of Christmas cookies in front of her beautifully decorated Christmas tree. Some quotes from the article:

Every year at about this time, Patricia Olszowy of Allen Park starts her Holiday baking.

"I have been making cookies around Christmas for at least 25 years." she said. "Last year my two daughters and I made around 20 different cookies, and took a big platter to a Detroit Firehouse." "The Firefighters were thrilled. I felt that was just a little thing we could do to thank them for risking their lives for us everyday."

"My husband loves to cook, so I usually let him do that" she said. "It's just fine with me".

Needless to say, the article generated some buzz which lead me to creating Mom flyer's to sell her famous cookie platters and cheesecakes. They become a hit throughout the neighborhood and she could barely keep up.

So now I am left with scrapbooks of recipes and memories of licking the batter filled bowls as a child up until last Holiday Season. Every time Mom came down to Cincinnati, she would grace us with her Chocolate Cheesecake, with homemade crust. My oven was even broken one time and she managed to bake it in a toaster oven! Ted and I were amazed and enjoyed it just as much.

So guess with this all means. I need to learn how to bake. Not just any baking, baking like my Mother. Everything from scratch. Okay, let's not go that far but when the Holidays are near, I promise to try your famous cheesecake and crust recipe. I start to cry even imagining that chocolaty taste and that Saltine crust that you did so well. I hardly doubt I can recreate such a thing. But I will try, that is what you would have wanted as you continued to try and teach me but I wouldn't pay attention. You even bought us the cook book, "How to Cook everything" because you & Dad were in awe that I didn't even know how to slice a tomato. Sorry...I was raised by pros and never felt the need to compete.

Thank you for the endless memories of Holiday baking and your amazing desserts throughout my adulthood that you've mastered. You were a true, Betty Crocker and so was Dad.

Your cooking and everything else is always on my mind.

Your hungry daughter