Family Focus
'To Goldie With Love
Cooking up a tribute for a special family member
Shells Liebman Dorfman
Senior Writer
A
plan spurred by the camaraderie
of family sharing memorable
meals has become a legacy of
the woman who prepared the dishes and
brought the generations together at the
table.
Several months after the death of Goldie
Kaplan in 2005, her daughter-in-law, Sher
Kaplan of Farmington Hills, gathered up
the piles of recipes Goldie had lovingly
followed and began to compile them
into a cookbook: To Goldie With Love: A
Collection of Treasured Recipes.
"They were written on the back of
checkbook registers, envelopes, scrap
papers, our family business stationery and
note cards:' Sher said.
"When I found them rubberbanded
together in the back of a kitchen drawer,
I just knew if I didn't do something with
them they would be lost forever. I felt that
it was a way I could pay tribute to a won-
derful, kind and caring person who really
stood for what family is all about."
For the next year, Sher organized, typed
and edited her findings, adding other reci-
pes contributed by family members along
the way.
"Some [of Goldie's recipes] needed
detective work to become understandable:'
she wrote in the book's foreword.
Goldie's sister, Marion Baill of Cupetinto,
Calif., helped. "When she came for a visit,
we sat down with the recipes for several
hours:' Sher said. "And many were from
Aunt Marion because they always cooked
together for the holidays."
The book also shares some of Aunt
Marion's shortcut versions of the original
recipes, many created with her daughter,
Barbara Baill of Los Altos, Calif.
For example, their version used a food
processor for potato pancakes instead of
a grater, explained Sher, a teacher at Hillel
Day School of Metropolitan Detroit in
Farmington Hills.
Also included are recipes Goldie fre-
quently used from other people, including
brisket made by Sher's mother, Phyllis
Pazner of West Bloomfield.
"My sister-in-law, Marsha Weiss
[of West Bloomfield], found Goldie's
old Hadassah chapter cookbook from
Hibbing, Minn., where Goldie grew up. It
had her mother's recipes in it, so I includ-
ed those Sher said. "One recipe was for a
Milk Dud cake where you use a 5-cent box
of Milk Duds."
Michele Kaplan of Farmington Hills,
married to Goldie's son, David, contrib-
uted her collection of recipes from her
late father-in-law Phil's side of the family.
Michele uses the family cookbook to make
dishes for her family, including Michael,
25, and Todd, 18, and Marisa Hernandez,
27, of West Bloomfield and her family.
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"[My nieces] Marisa, [and Sher's daugh-
ters] Samantha and Molly are already
using the recipes;' Marsha said. "Every
time Samantha comes to town, she makes
my mothers' chocolate chip cookies and
mandel bread. I can see this book grow-
ing with other family recipes as the future
generations add their favorites."
For Marisa, cooking from the book
brings back special memories. "It keeps a
little of my grandma with me,' she said.
"She was an amazing cook and baker. I
just wish she was here to show me her
special touches."
It is also important for Marisa to be
able to pass on the recipes to her family,
including husband Hector and daughters
Alexa, 21/2, and Ariella, 6 months.
"My kids will hear about what an amaz-
ing person my grandma was and how she
always had food for us," Marisa said. "She
always catered to everyone's liking. There
were usually at least three kinds of pota-
toes, chicken (for me) and meat.
"My grandma would always have cook-
ies for her kids and grandkids and soup
in the freezer for when one of us got sick.
My grandma brought tradition to our lives
and, with Sher making the cookbook, that
tradition can live for a long time."
Sher's daughters helped out with the
book. Molly, 16, created the cover. "She
took the original recipes and color-copied
them because she felt strongly about keep-
ing them intact:' Sher said. "From the cop-
ies, she made a collage for the front and
back cover of the book."
Samantha, 23, a student at Boston
University School of Law, helped with
editing.
Publishing A Book
Sher had 75 copies of the cookbook
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printed, delivering them to family and a
few friends. "Several family members said
the recipes brought back so many wonder-
ful memories of holidays and other special
times spent throughout the years together:'
she said.
Sher's husband, Sandy, Goldie's son,
also had a positive reaction to seeing the
cookbook for the first time. "He was very
emotional when I shared the final copy
with him," Sher said. "Then he responded
that I should go bake his mom's chocolate
chip cookies!"
The book has been a way to keep the
long-distance family members connected.
"Our whole family, including aunts and
cousins, call when they make a recipe out
of the book:' Marsha said.
"Since I was a kid, I always remember
my mom having Friday night dinners. The
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Jewish holidays were always at my parents'
house."
In the book's foreword, Sher wrote,
"Phil's favorite restaurant in the whole
world was their dining room."
"Holidays aren't the same Marsha said,
"without my mom and dad and the smell
of the turkey and my brothers and father
sitting in the den watching sports and the
kids running around — and the women
in the kitchen watching my mom and aunt
cook. We still get together for holidays and
birthdays, but it's different without being
in `Goldie's kitchen.'
"But, as Sher wrote in the book: 'Her
legacy to us was love of family, always
being there for each other and continuing
with our family traditions.' This book is
one vehicle to honor her dreams for all of
us."
July 19 • 2007
29