Memories are made every day. We make them with our children, our parents, our co-workers, friends, customers. If you are anything like me or my family, so many memories that are made come from the kitchen.
Thanksgiving is around the corner, and then Christmas,... two huge food driven holidays. This is the time to remember those loved ones past, and make more memories with those you cherish that are still in your lives. I kept struggling with what should be my first post, and all I could think was family....memories, why I do what I do…………this might be a long one.....
Ever since I can remember I have been baking bread with my grandfather, cooking in the kitchen with my grandmother, creating homemade gifts with my mom, loving every minute of any day that I got to get my hands into something.
This is what I love to do, from throwing all sorts of different themed parties, or events, to having just about any reason (like holidays) to bake or create something!.
My grandparents were the best cooks and bakers I have ever known. They started baking cakes at home for birthday parties, and then went on to make their first wedding cake for Nana (my great-grandmother) over 45 years ago. They had started with a regular cake recipe and about 20 years later started making his aunt Tishi’s pound cake recipe. (which was a hit!) They started using it from then on and continued making all sorts of cakes.
Through word of mouth they started having a lot of request for their cakes. They usually charged only for the cost of the ingredients, but started making them for some people for a little extra above their cost.
Their cakes were beautiful, and very delicious. As a child, my favorite part when they made cakes was eating the pound cake crust that they had cut off. I remember spreading the left over icing onto graham crackers after they made a cake for someone, and the sugar cubes :0)
They made my wedding cake as well, being the last cake they made together.
After my grandfather’s second heart-attack, my grandparents went to Houston in 1988 to wait for a heart transplant. During that time, it made them realize that they had so many precious recipes, and a lot of them being in their head, they decided to make a cookbook so they wouldn’t be lost. My grandmother with her typewriter, typed every page, and each of us grandchildren at the time wrote up our favorite recipe with a picture to add to it. All of the family was able to add their favorite recipes as well, and this became the Kennedy Family Cookbook.
After everything they have done, and even some of the family tried to get them to make it a business, their business was hospitality. It was hospitality in a different way than many people think about. Everything that came out of their kitchen was for others, to show them they cared, to show them their love, and a testimony of their faith. My grandparents didn’t do it for money. They did it out of love, for what they did, who they did it for, and they did it together. That is what I wanted, to make it a business, and do well at it, but its not all about the money, and I am so excited to have something I absolutely love to do, and makes me feel so good, and through everything I do brings back beautiful memories.
My grandfather unexpectedly passed away a few years ago. My grandparents have always been my inspiration whether it be cooking, baking, or just the love that they shared with each other and their family. I had planned in my head that I would become a baker and own a bakery/coffee shop and would slowly take classes when I had the time and could afford it. When my mom talked about buying one of the resorts we would joke around about me coming and running my place there, but realistically knew I wouldn’t move there because of my kids, and their school system. After he passed away we talked about things, joked about things, but deep down it was always something I thought would be great. I knew when it came time for all of us to move, that I didn’t want to be far apart, as we are very close. After losing my grandparents, I realized I don’t want to miss out on moments in life without them, as well as my kids missing out on that time with their grandparents, that meant so much to me growing up.
Ever since I started school, and the joking around about having a business “together” it became more serious and exciting. My schooling moved into a double major for Baking and Pastry as well as Small Business practices in Hospitality. I wanted to get as educated as I could before we ventured into this business.We looked at many different coast and suprisingly ended up in Foley, Alabama, (which I honestly didnt even know had a beach!).
I know from the memories I have and from the ones my mother has, pictures that my grandmother was great at taking as well as keeping everything, they left a legacy, one I want to continue.
I look forward to researching a little more into these things they did, when I think of love, I think of my grandparents, in so many ways. And so long story short.....for those of you that don't know, my grandfather used to write S.H.M.I.L.Y. on various things around the house for my grandmother to find. It stood for See How Much I Love You. At his funeral the pastor talked about the SHMILY tree that my grandparents built for us. The branches, being all the memories, morals, and values they instilled in our lives. My goal was to open a bakery in their honor, so we now have SHMILY Tree Bakery Cafe. I think that explains it all.
