My grandmother Mary and her parents arrived from Poland on Ellis Island in the early 1900’s. They settled in Denora, Pennsylvania where there was a large community of Poles and plenty of work in the steel mills on the Monongahela River. Although she grew up speaking Polish, she quickly adapted leaving home in her teens. She found work in hotel kitchens and later as a personal cook.

Here is one of her prized cookbooks and just some of the hundreds of recipes she clipped from magazines and newspapers. There is no way of knowing which of these she made nor which were her favorites.  We do know that her sliced bread and cream puffs set a standard by which all others are judged.  But that she left the cooking of Polish specialties, like cruschiki and pierogis, to other relatives.

– PM

Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant