Remembering parent's life

[shootingstar]

Other than pray (for those who are religious) and cry, what activity did you do that best captures your memory/love for a parent who died?

My partner's mother died last night in a nursing home. She was 93. She will be cremated as per her wishes.

Strange as this might sound to some folks, but shortly after my dearie and I found out about her death, a few hrs. later we went to French pastry shop and had 2 lovely French tarts in her memory.

She was an experienced cook and baker..and truly did bake incredible gourmet German tortes, cakes and cookies. This is stuff that is difficult to find in regular bakeries even in major cities in North America, and does not stoop to using shortening, icing sugar...etc. She could make puff pastry ...from scratch. She did receive college training in Germany in home economics and cooking in the 1930's, hence she did understand some basic food chemistry which enabled her to invent sugarless German tortes and kuchens when my dearie was on a diet. We have tried to find English-language German recipe books that document what she prepared...and it's VERY difficult.

When my dearie was a boy growing up in Germany, then in Canada, his mother did bake 1-3 different cake tortes (mocha, hazelnut crumb with ganache like fillings, etc.) each Sunday. She also baked delicate Christmas cookies without any perservatives, which would last for at least 1 month, in the cupboard, not in fridge.

Baking and cooking was genuinely her creative expression where she excelled and where she was happiest.

Her 2 sons, loved watching their mother baking and she did have a gentle style of explaining and storytelling that made her sons receptive to cooking later in life when they had their own families. Hence, these 2 men cook ..none of this crap about male vs. female roles.

I know that this forum talks much about weight loss, food for fuel. But in some families, home cuisine...is 1) truly an expression of a person' love to create for someone else 2) cultural legacy to carry forward, particularily the best recipes from the heart.

And probably when my mother passes away, one of things that I will continue to carry in memory and in practice, is some of her cooking...I know it's good for my health.