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Stories posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

Our Christmas Cookbook - Prologue. Prologue

Aditus

When Valkyrie, Cole, and I wrote twenty-five stories and/or poems and put together An Advent Calendar in 2016, I found out I love collaborating with others, especially with my good friends. It’s inspiring, motivating, and opens new perspectives.

For me as a northern hemisphere dweller, the Holiday season means shorter days, lights to chase the darkness away, and sharing good food with others. I’m totally ignoring the bad weather here, by the way. The idea of combining stories with recipes appeared obvious, so that‘s what we did.

I had lots of fun, learned new words, and am thankful for calling those two friends.

 

Cole Matthews

This is the time of the year for sharing. We bake cookies, have feasts, give presents, thank each other, and otherwise show appreciation. For some of us, food is a way to show our love and gratitude.

However, food is not something we can share virtually.

What we can do is share recipes dear to us. Those recipes tell stories, and prompt memories that offer others glimpses into our lives. Giving gifts, be it food, clothes, objects, or experience are ways to thank you for your love and support. This is a collection of recipes, but more importantly, they accompany pieces of our lives we freely offer to you.

In the coming days, you’ll see flashes of our hopes, our histories, our past, present, and yes, our future dreams. From me you’ll indulge in a magic confection. There are friends going the distance for one another. The pain of a loved one’s suffering is presented for your consideration. We often presume, but sometimes our loved one’s stories are so much more. A man, and perhaps a part of me, struggles with what life offers. Miscommunication is our biggest hurdle. We love, and may not understand why, but isn’t that part of it all?

Additionally, I’ll visit with the ghosts of my Christmas past.

My fellow gift-givers will also share generously. We hope you enjoy our offerings.

We do so with smiling hearts and gentle, humble spirits. Please enjoy our treats, and have very happy holidays.

 

Valkyrie

“How was your Christmas?”

“It was great! We had ham and potatoes and broccoli and pie for dessert.”

This is a typical exchange with the individuals I work with. You can sub any holiday/occasion and the response is inevitably about what food was served for the occasion. Scroll through Facebook or Instagram or any social media site and there are undoubtedly pics of someone’s dinner they’re either enjoying at a restaurant or made themselves. In the fall, I enjoy seeing Cole’s own posts featuring his “Fall Cavalcade of Desserts”—homemade goodies for us to feast on with our eyes, and maybe, if you’re lucky enough to live closer than several hundred miles, even get to nibble on a piece. Aditus and I regularly share recipes and pics of our dinner. If I’m stuck for what to make for a meal or add to my shopping list, Aditus usually has an idea to inspire me.

So when Aditus approached us about completing another Advent Calendar type collaboration, the idea of compiling a cookbook was a perfect fit for three people who love cooking and sharing our precious recipes and experiences.

The stories in this collection are a combination of joy, heartbreak, and levity. We hope you enjoy them as much we enjoyed writing them. And please share if you decide to try any of the recipes we’ve featured.

Happy Holidays!

We will post one story per day in the following order: Valkyrie, Cole Matthews, Aditus. We'd love to hear your thoughts about the stories and recipes. Thank you for taking this journey with us.
Copyright © 2019 Valkyrie, aditus, Cole Matthews; All Rights Reserved.
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Stories posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 
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  • Site Administrator
13 minutes ago, dughlas said:

Ohhh, lovely. I enjoy reading recipes and more importantly the stories that go with them. Thank you.

I hope you enjoy them all :) :hug: 

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  • Site Administrator
1 minute ago, LilDaddy98 said:

My first roommate had never had real mac and cheese until he had dinner with my family. He thought that any food made from scratch was for the upper class as he had only ever really had prepackaged food. Ended up teaching him how to cook various foods. He is currently attending a local college that offers culinary arts classes. That first bite of homemade goodness. 🙌

Well good homemade mac and cheese is magical ;) What an awesome story :) 

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5 minutes ago, Valkyrie said:

Well good homemade mac and cheese is magical ;) What an awesome story :) 

Oooh, I think I'll start calling it that. "Magic Mac." Has a nice sound to it. 😊

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2 hours ago, LilDaddy98 said:

I began feeling like we as a culture are losing our culinary heritage.

So many things my grandmother ate as a child were not prepared and served to her daughters because she worked so much after she legally immigrated to the US. My family is fairly assimilated and has lost much of our connection to our ancestral foods. On the other hand, we eat many things that our neighbors and friends have introduced us to!
;–)

Edited by droughtquake
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On 12/1/2019 at 5:15 PM, LilDaddy98 said:

Umm, I'm totally down for this. I need some new ideas. Two Christmases ago my grandmother gave us all a handmade booklet of her favorite recipes. It has become a treasured part of my culinary library. So anything I can add, especially in story form is a bonus. 

That's awesome!  I'm doing the same thing with my grandmother's recipes.  My paternal grandmother gave me her handwritten recipes and I'm scanning them in and collecting the images and family memories to share in a booklet.  It's good to see my idea is something others have enjoyed.  Thanks!!!

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