Pam Anderson, Maggy Keet and Sharon Damelio aren’t just the voices behind the blog Three Many Cooks, Tasty Kitchen members, and occasional TK Blog contributors. They also happen to be close personal friends of ours. In fact, in internet years, you could say we’ve known each other for centuries. Our long digital history is also peppered with extended periods of actual face-to-face, bunking-together-with-late-night-marathon-conversations time.
So you would think there wouldn’t be much about them that’d be new to us. And yet the collection of stories from their new book offered even old friends like us a new and intimate look into their lives, their family, and their wild culinary journey. The title says it all: Three Many Cooks: One Mom, Two Daughters: Their Shared Stories of Food, Faith & Family. This book is a clear representation of who they are, kitchen scars and all. Amid all the drama, hilarity, epiphanies, tragedies and celebrations that come with family life, there is the unmistakable undercurrent of staunch loyalty and unbreakable love. And always present—as a centerpiece, backdrop, preamble, or something joyfully anticipated—was food. In their words:
We couldn’t agree more.
To kick off our celebration of the Three Many Cooks book, we’d like to hear all about your “really good stuff”.
Share your favorite story about food and family.
And by “family” we include friends who have made themselves part of our family. We know you have those stories. The ones you love telling and re-telling when everyone gathers at the table, laughing just as hard each time. Or the one that you can’t share without a break in your voice because it’s just that powerful, moving, heartbreaking, life-changing. We want to hear them all, and share our own stories below, too.
We’ll also have a very special giveaway this Friday that you won’t want to miss, so make sure you come back for that. But first, it’s story time. So pull up a chair, make yourself comfortable, and let’s get started.
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Brigitte Fitzgerald on 4.27.2015
I would love any of the items being given away and could really use them. I would especially love the pot which seems like it would make it so nice for cooking roasts, chili, etc.
Lisa G on 4.27.2015
I would LOVE the ice cream maker!
Jenny on 4.27.2015
I would love the food processor to replace my unbelievably loud food processor that’s so loud, our two cats flee for safety because they think the world is coming to and end!
maria on 4.26.2015
french oven
Carolyn P on 4.25.2015
French Oven
Kita on 4.25.2015
I would love to have the French Oven. Mine is just worn out, it was a cheapie.
Melinda on 4.25.2015
I’ve always wanted an ice cream maker!
Nan on 4.25.2015
I confess I’d love the food processor!
thecutestboysmom on 4.25.2015
Food processor, please. Mine is on its last stage of life……
VictoriaDoubleU on 4.24.2015
Food processor!
Judy Sims on 4.24.2015
I love to snicker over the time my very “professional” daughter wanted to be oh so domestic and cleaned a self clean oven with a harsh cleanser. Along comes her hubby, because he is the Chef of the kitchen and the expression on his and her faces I could only imagine! WE still tell that story to whoever will listen. Yes, they had to replace the entire unit!
Carol on 4.24.2015
I love to cook and grew up in a large family that always sat down together for dinner. My mother and father are both excellent cooks. Dad is adventurous and tackled the ethnic dishes — My mom was a great all around cook who could stretch a meal to feed many while always producing amazing food. all of the children helped out in the kitchen and as a result they raised 6 good cooks. Now as my parents are quite elderly I love to ask them about their parents recipes. I also always ask them specifics about the recipes we were raised on.
On one occasion I had my parents over for dinner and I prepared one of my favorite family meals for my parents. It was good, but it was no where near as good as when my mother made it. I asked her what she thought I did wrong and she responded with one word… Butter. It cracked me up. I had definitely lightened up the recipe and she was exactly right. I learned a valuable lesson. Butter DOES make everything better.
This really isn’t a story, it is more a reflection on how food was important to our family dynamic by allowing us to cook and eat together and discuss our daily lives. We still love to cook together and share recipes and food experiences.
I love all of the prizes but I would have to choose the dutch oven. I have always wanted a Le Crueset pan (and a Kitchen Aid Mixer
)
Minnow in Hampton Roads on 4.24.2015
I would love the LeCeuset pan first – but all the prizes are awesome!
Denise Lamb on 4.24.2015
I love cooking and learning recipes from my Mom and Nana.
After my husband and I married I visited my mother-in-law to
learn how to make her famous cole slaw. I always make that
recipe with my Nana’s potato salad. Imagine the surprise when
my husbands sisters and their families came to a barbecue the
summer after their Mom passed away and I was able to serve them
her beloved cole slaw recipe. Same thing with my Nana’s potato
salad. They both are at every special dinner.
Also learning recipes from friends is also always a fun thing to do.
So many fond memories of having them show me how to make
their special tomato sauce, goulash, pot roast and other things.
Love the recipe from Pamela Anderson’s sausage, white beans,
onion and tomatoes. A family favorite here.
Denise
peej2 on 4.24.2015
It seems like every time I go home (Minnesota) there is some sort of celebration going on and I cook in my mothers kitchen. I’ve lived across the country from them for 30 years so I’m not familiar with her kitchen. The last time I was up was four years ago for their 60th anniversary and I volunteered to make 40 pounds of my mother’s famous potato salad. her arthritis is so bad now it’s difficult for her so I volunteered…I think. I may have been volunteered. It took the better part of two days to boil the 40 pounds of potatoes, dozens of eggs (from my sister’s chickens), chop onions, etc. She kept me company and directed me. It was a special time since she is now 83 and my father is going to turn 90 in November.
Karen B on 4.23.2015
I made a certain dish every new year, pork roast, sauerkraut and dumplings. At first neither child would really touch it. My husband and I loved it. Then after so many years they might eat a dumpling and maybe the roast but not the sauerkraut. Then in the teen age years they would try the sauerkraut. Now that they are grown, married and living with their own family. What do you think that they both do. Pork roast, sauerkraut and dumplings. My son insist on making it, taking over the cooking duties for that day and of course my daughter makes it for her family. It makes me smile when they tell me how it turns out. They also say, “not as good as yours but its close”. Good times, indeed.
Beth B. on 4.23.2015
My love of cooking comes from cooking and watching my Mother cook. She was cafeteria manager of an elementary school in rural Georgia. Back in the 50’s and 60’s everything was made from scratch. She made home-made yeast rolls, her own pizza dough, as well as baked awesome cakes and pies. She was well-known around the community for her cooking – or even in the State. When the state of Georgia school leaders came in town for meetings, they always re-arranged their meetings and schedules to be able to eat at the school where my mother cooked. She has recipes published in the Chattanooga cookout (I can’t remember the year). She was even asked to make a fruit-cake wedding cake for one of the teachers at the school who was getting married in December. It was 4 layer cake and my dad carefully placed the unassembled different tiers in the back of his van to transport it. She baked strawberry bread, fruit cakes, and German chocolate cakes to sell to make at Christmas time so she could buy our Christmas. Even when we were grown with families of our own, she cooked every Sunday after church and invited her entire family (along with whatever friends we wanted to bring along). I will never be the “baker” she was and I often take short-cuts where she would not have, but what she passed along to me was the love of cooking a meal to get her family together at the dinner table so we could share our lives with one another.
Beth M. on 4.23.2015
I have so many memories of cooking with my Mom and Grandmother, they both were the type that like having you by their side helping them cook or bake. They never had a problem with people showing up unannounced for dinner, their motto is “there is always room in the pot for another potato” One of the funniest stories happened in 2000, I helped my mom make strawberry jelly at her house. I brought two jars home, put one jar in the refrigerator and the other jar in the pantry. My best friend was my roommate and she was engaged at the time. I went to college on Saturday, when I came home I was going to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Went into to the fridge and discovered that there was only a teaspoon of jelly left in the jar and there was no bread, the entire loaf was gone. Later that evening my friend and her fiance came home and he apologized for eating all the jelly, he said it was soooo good he couldn’t stop eating it and he would of finished all the jelly but there was no more bread left. Then a couple years later, he helped my mom make jelly and he paid me back with a jar of jelly. At the time I was a miffed not only for eating the jar of jelly but also my loaf of bread. But to this day this is one of the stories that gets retold when we are around friends and family.
grandmajohnnie on 4.23.2015
Coming from a family with 8 children and working parents, I learned to cook young and in large quantities on an electric stove/electric oven. When I married, I didn’t know how to cook ‘normal’ quantities on a GAS stove! I felt like I knew nothing. The apartment freezer could not hold all the leftovers we had. We would ‘host’ our little brothers and sisters for weekend overnights and always had so many (leftover) meals for them to enjoy! Win/win! My dad told me one day that his mother and mother-in-law (MY grandmothers!!!) were horrible cooks, and when he married our mother, the first thing he purchased was a cookbook. He told her to forget everything their mothers had taught her. BTW – my mother was a FABULOUS cook and baker. Our house as a child always smelt heavenly. I now have 2 grandchildren that enjoy meals with their grandparents, and spend so much time in the kitchen with me. I have really enjoyed reading all the posts. They bring back so many memories!
Angela B on 4.23.2015
My mom was a fabulous cook. She grew up in an Italian immigrant household and her father was a chef in the “old country” who taught her well. She made us (her 4 children) wonderful pastas, fish and even our favorite kid food: tuna casserole, chicken stuffed with herbed cheese, chicken ala king, pizza’s on the grill, etc. She was the kind of cook that could just throw together items she had in the pantry and make something magic happen. It was when my elderly Italian aunt was visiting that us kids were begging for tuna casserole. Mom’s version did NOT include canned soup-it was a roux-based, mushroom, sauce-y concoction (with parmesano-reggiano, of course!) that I’ve never been able to duplicate well. Anyway, she made the casserole and we all sat down to dig in. My Aunt raved that it was the most fabulous casserole she’d ever had and asked for the recipe. It was then, while jotting down the recipe, she realized she had neglected to put any tuna in the tuna casserole. Tuna-less, tuna casserole. We teased her mercilessly until she passed away several years ago. There was also a great story about her cleaning squid after a few too many glasses of grappa, but I’ll keep that in my memory bank for another day! I miss her and her tuna (less) casserole like nobody’s business.
Shawna C on 4.23.2015
My grandmother has always gone through phases of cooking various foods. She came visiting almost every weekend when I was a child, and I remember a few years of delicious grated-potato-carrot soup with homemade dumplings, a few months of lumpy homemade chocolate pudding (and the “lumpy” is not a complaint, it was delicious and the lumps just made it seem that much more homemade), and a very long stretch in my teen years when she’d arrive with absolutely enormous packages of homemade chocolate chip cookies which never seemed to get stale, even when I rationed them to the point of only eating a couple a day.
She’s in her 90s now, and for the last few years her visits have reduced to about 5-6x a year, but she’s still bringing a dense homemade chocolate cake pretty much every time she comes.
Darlene on 4.23.2015
Although my mother was just an average cook, our meals were memorable because our family of 6 always ate dinner together. My father worked as a high school music teacher, gave private music lessons in our home, and performed in a theater band for six months of the year in the evening. Despite this hectic work schedule, we always ate dinner together – fitting it in between his jobs. I’ve tried to place the same priority on family mealtime. It made me sad to hear that only my son and one other student in his class raised their hands when their class was asked how many eat dinner with their families.
Donna on 4.23.2015
My memories of meals were: Monday leftovers from Sunday’s meal; Tuesdays surprise; Wednesdays spaghetti, Thursdays chicken, Fridays fish, Saturdays beans and franks; Sundays roast beef.
My Nanny was a wonderful Portuguese cook with spices and flavors.
Mom cooked meals she saw in a magazine even if no one liked the ingredients. Mom was a better baker and still is at 90 years young.
Mother-in-law cooked Italian, simple, fast meals, delicious.
I think I am a combination of all three women (except Mom, I only use ingredients from a magazine recipe that everyone likes), I love to cook and receive many compliments.
janmaus on 4.23.2015
My mother and my grandmother, both excellent cooks, had very different ideas about their recipes. My mom was expansive, constantly trying new things and experimenting wildly–never writing down her versions and sharing with anyone who asked. Her mother was rigid and secretive, following her recipes to the letter and keeping the family traditions secret. When my Nana finally allowed me into her kitchen–to observe more than help–she made it clear that she was sharing something precious, and indeed she was. I’ve tried to walk a middle path, experimenting nearly as much as my mom, but always documenting and filling my cookbooks and notebooks with penciled notations and dates, both to jog my memory and document things for my own kids and grandkids. And I share. If you want one of my recipes, no matter how long it’s been in my family, just ask and it’s yours. What I did learn from both of these women is that food should be fun!
Sandy Oldfield on 4.23.2015
PAM, I remember making free form pizzas in my new kitchen in New Canaan and you and I created an olive and anchovy one that was VERY heavy on the anchovies, determined we were not going to skimp like the pizza parlor on our fave topping! No one else would eat it so we did clean up ourselves. I was pretty sick that night and, although I still eat anchovies, I’ve never had them again on pizza!
ali grace | cookies and grace on 4.22.2015
When I was little, my granny graciously welcomed me (and my huge messes!) into her kitchen. She had a little stool I could stand on, and she loves to remind me of the way I would lick my finger and stick it straight into her sugar canister.
Pam Anderson on 4.22.2015
Erika, Three Many Cooks (Maggy, Sharon, and I) and many others on our team had toiled for a solid week to welcome over 100 food bloggers and sponsors for a weekend of food, fellowship, and fun called The Big Potluck. The event was over and that Sunday night we had all given so much of ourselves that no one had the energy to go out for dinner much less cook. Supplies were limited but Erika looked in the fridge and found cooked rice and onions, hotdogs and soy sauce. From those ingredients, she created Hotdog Fried Rice, which ranks up there as one of my most memorable meals–both the dish and the friends that shared it.
Patty Paulsen on 4.22.2015
Back when my children were still children, their friends were always welcome at the table. No matter what was on the menu, from tater tots and sloppy joes to turkey dinner with all the fixings, my kids’ friends had a place to land. Sure, we had to look for an extra chair and add an extra plate at the table. We talked about our day, I listenened (and learned) about the latest music or the coolest jeans (and who was wearing them). As each of those kids grew up, their friends knew they were always welcome. Many times I would come home from work to find my teenage son and his friend cooking burgers on the gas grill. “Wow”, I’d say, “does this mean you won’t want dinner?” “No”, they’d yell in unison, “this is just a snack!” My daughter’s friends would show up to gossip and giggle and would end up in the kitchen making cookies or dog treats. I got treated to insider information on who was the cutest boy or who had the hardest teacher. Those times filled me with joy; not only because we were the official gathering place, but also because of those beautiful, close relationships that I was able to develop. Those ties have remained strong throughout the years. Even now as adults, my children invite their friends (and their friend’s children) over to dinner. I am blessed.
Judy Fox on 4.22.2015
Helping my grandfather in his garden is a memory I will always cherish. I found a crazy love of raw onions in that garden. Big Bermuda ones that I would peel and eat like an apple.
Erika (TK) on 4.22.2015
I come from a large extended family that is semi-obsessed (and perhaps a bit more than just semi) with food, so it’s hard to pick just one story. One of the earliest (I must have been about 4 years old, or even younger) revolves around my grandmother’s oldest sister, who was very strict and proper and formal. All the grandchildren were afraid of her. But somehow, she found out I loved these little milk confections called pastillas, and she would always quietly hand me a few whenever she visited. It was like this little secret between us that made me feel very special. It was years before I knew her real name; to me, she was always Grandma Pastillas. To this day, I always think of her whenever I snag a batch of pastillas.
Bryn on 4.22.2015
My gram was a fabulous baker. Breads and sweets were always plentiful in her house and she baked for for those in her town for some extra pocket money. At every family get together the amount of desserts she would prepare was staggering. However. The meal leading up to that decadent ending was ummm….questionable. I’m not entirely sure she owned salt or pepper and she never met a cut of meat she couldn’t turn to leather. The funny part was that nobody in the family knew that the rest of the family was gagging down the meal! We were all too polite to complain and ate just enough not to offend. Since her passing we’ve all “confessed”, and shared many laughs. But we all agree, We would all suffer through the food to share another meal with her again.
Margaret on 4.22.2015
Like so many I remember going to my Grandmothers for Sunday dinner (lunch). She made the best chicken & dumplings (not dumplins’- clearly enunciate, she was a school teacher)! When she passed away we went through the house taking what she wanted us to have and I spotted the pot she always kept on the stove and used to cook almost anything, along with her cooking utensils in the silly old crock she always kept them in. They are my most treasured possession and I use them everyday.
C. L. ( Cheryl ) "Cheffie Cooks" Wiser on 4.22.2015
Cooking with my Father at his Restaurant and also My Uncle’s Restaurant (My Dad’s oldest brother across town) at an early age (teen). Not all glory I started peeling 50 pounds sacks of potatoes. Gradually moving up to cashier and working alongside my Father on the grill top and steam table. I knew early on the Restaurant business was not for me (long hard hours, successful most definitely) as a career. The lessons and hands on experience with both of them began my love of foods. I also share many memories with my Mother in the kitchen. Utilizing those practices and skills today to cook 3 square meals a day 7 days a week for a large family. Happy Cooking everyone!