Apple Betty and Sloppy Joe
Stirring Up the Past with Family Recipes and Stories
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- £7.99
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- £7.99
Publisher Description
Compiled by four sisters and based on their recollections of their childhood in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Apple Betty & Sloppy Joe captures the glow of memories formed while growing up in a midwestern kitchen. From Lemon Meringue Pie to Tomato Soup Cake, from Mom's Chicken Pie to Grandma Noffke's Sliced Cucumber Pickles, this charming book features hundreds of recipes (some classic, some quirky), plus dozens of food and cooking-related anecdotes, memories, humorous asides, and period photos that transport readers back to Mom's or Grandma's kitchen, circa 1950.
The Sanvidges share a legacy of beloved dishes and food memories that resonate not just for their family, but for readers everywhere who grew up in a small midwestern town - or wish they had. Nostalgic, funny, and warmhearted, Apple Betty & Sloppy Joe celebrates the ways food and food memories link us to our past, and to each other. A delightful gift for food lovers of any generation.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This curious collection is one part retro cookbook, three parts family scrapbook. Crammed with childhood photographs and fond family memories, this volume from the four Sanvidge sisters, who grew up in Wisconsin in the 1960s, feels uncomfortably similar to crashing someone else's reunion. Text accompanying a recipe for Ground Beef and Mashed Potato Casserole, for instance, reads, "Dad didn't like this one at first... so mom would make it only when he went hunting." Other commentary covers Julie's lousy singing voice, the family bus ("Red Rover") and vacations at the lake-sweet, but almost entirely irrelevant to any reader looking for background on a particular dish. Not that most recipes invite close examination; the authors excavate largely musty, unadorned dishes like Spamwiches, Tuna Noodle Casserole, Meat Loaf and Twice-Baked Potatoes (the casserole requires a can of mushroom soup, the meatloaf is brushed with ketchup, etc.). Even more bizarre are non-recipes like Cereal in a Bowl ("Make sure there's milk in the refrigerator"). Anyone with a soft spot for mid-Century Midwestern cuisine, or a voyeuristic interest in other people's families, might enjoy this offbeat collection.
