Finding Mrs. Pidgeon

 

    Let me begin this first blog post by telling you- I am not a blog writer. I don't have the magic touch of telling you a thousand-word backstory that grabs every search engine's attention and paints a beautiful picture of how I came across a recipe while sitting in a wooded spring meadow. 

Maybe this will please you, maybe it will keep this blog hidden for all time; either way it is just not who I am. 

The purpose of this blog is to share Mrs. Pidgeon's recipes with the world; and to tell you why I think it's important that I do so.  I found her dusty recipe box tucked away on a shelf at an estate sale last week.  It was the only thing in the home that seemed to have belonged to a woman, telling me she must have passed long before her husband.  There was a set of dishes that may have been selected by a woman's hand and preference; but everything else in the home told the story of a widower.  The living room was scattered with tools, coin collections, old comics, and books about Star Trek (my kind of find!)  I purchased a few books and went to leave, but the small box on a shelf grabbed my attention. It seemed out of place among all of the belt buckles and old audio equipment.  

It was a small wooden box with "Recipes" written simply across the front, and a nicely carved protrusion on the lid meant to hold up a card for the cook to have hands-free access to his or her list of ingredients.  To my delight, it was also crammed full of recipes.  I felt at once joy for the find, and also sadness that such a thing was discarded. This would be a highly prized heirloom in my family; and I could not imagine why no one chose to keep this tiny box of memories. 

Perhaps the owners of the home had no heirs. The company running the estate sale never mentioned the family, only the "owners of the home".  I realize it could also be possible the surviving family didn't feel a particular attachment to the deceased for whatever reason.  To tell you the truth, I'm not even certain that the name "Mrs. Pidgeon", which has become so widely loved across the internet, is even the name of the woman who jotted these recipes down over the course of her life. I heard the name "Mr. Pidgeon" repeated by the woman running the sale, and found it charming. In my mind, the woman who owned this tiny box must have been "Mrs. Pidgeon" and so the name stuck with me, to give the mystery woman identity.  It's certainly a friendly one at that. 

My husband and I excitedly browsed through the contents of the box on the way home, noting how it would be nice to add new dinner options to our outdated habits. We found several right off the bat that sounded easy and impressive.  Once home, I immediately cracked into one called "Tiajuana Casserole" in Mrs. Pidgeon's exceptionally lovely handwriting; as we had all the ingredients on hand and love anything Tex-Mex in nature.  On a whim, I thought it might be nice to share this recipe on Tik Tok, an app for making short, entertaining videos. I never imagined the reception it would receive.

Within two days, over a quarter of a million viewers from around the world latched onto Mrs. Pidgeon; many of them as shocked as I was that her box of treasures was discarded for a mere $3.  She was brought back to life in a sense with her small wooden recipe box, and the internet wanted more of her. So every night, I picked a new recipe to try, and gave the world a 20 second glimpse into her kitchen.  We all were equally enthralled with her instantly. Her old world taste and knack for making even the most mundane dishes seem extraordinary grabbed us all by the heart. 

It brings me unimaginable joy to share this woman with the world.  To see the comments from men and women who share my nostalgia for small treasures like this.  I cry every time someone comments, "If my granny's recipe box were discarded this way I hope someone like you would find it and share it with the world." because that's exactly why I chose to do this.  My family is food-centric. We show love with our cooking; and I can't imagine my grief if I were to lose both a family member and her beloved recipes.  Food brings us together.  It brings us all to a common table to forget our troubles briefly and enjoy a lively communion with those we hold most dear. 

In 2010, my great-grandmother was still with us, and I had a 4 year old little girl.  My mother loved that we had 5 living generations, and for Christmas lovingly created a cookbook for each woman in our family. It was called "5 Generations" and was filled with handwritten notes and photographs, as well as all the recipes our family brings to important family gatherings. Each recipe had a small story attached- who brought it, why it was important, and funny things that happened while we enjoyed the dish.  When my mom passed away in 2018, it became my most prized possession. 

My mom's handmade cookbook, lovingly decorated by my then 4-year-old daughter.

Now every time I see a recipe book or box at an estate sale, for this very reason, it comes home with me. This book, or small box, was once part of a family.  Part of the soul of the woman who worked that kitchen to feed her loved ones.  I can't let it be thrown out, I just can't.

So now here I am, after many requests. Doing my best to put into words the journey of Mrs. Pidgeon's recipe box.   I may add in my mother's recipes and stories from her book occasionally. I also have a lovely recipe book from a woman I call "Luella" that I may share with you here and there.  Most of the posts in this blog will be simply recipes, no long winded tales or winding roads to how the recipe came to be.  In any account, I hope you enjoy them as I have. And I hope in this way, we can keep a spark of these women alive in our hearts, and in our kitchens.

~Cassie