My mother passed four years ago, at 88 years of age.  That’s a really long run for anyone.  I was reminded of her cooking recently when I was moving some recipe books and a note fell out of her 1990 edition of Southern Living. Not a lot of people know this but she invented lists.

She would have been 71 when she wrote this note. The top note references Karen’s brother getting married. He has two kids now, one in college. She then notes Mother’s Day. She had seven children, no doubt she wanted to be free that day to receive phones calls.

I’m not sure what the next word is but she then lists a reminder to collect her Meals on Wheels schedule for 2004. She formed that charity service with her church Woman’s Guild. Another reminder to pay her estimated taxes and to add bleach to the filter in the attic, which I’d done many times for her. Those reminders were all crossed off as completed.

I couldn’t help but browse through the cookbook. Southern Living was ahead of its time as some editions such as this list the nutritional values, which almost seems antithetical to southern cooking. The recipes in this book stood out to me as being as plain and simple as possible. Here’s a page from September.

I intend to cook this bean recipe and then mix it with a couple cups of rice. I might make a ritual of cooking from a recipe in this book every September.

My mother was born in September. Her husband was born in September. They were married in September and their first child was born in September. Happy birthday, mom.