About Mama

CupcakeMama is a collection of recipes (mostly), rants and raves from a Canadian social media developer, college professor … cupcake baker and mom extraordinaire!

I come from a double line of great family cooks.

From a very small child, I can remember my dad in the kitchen on a Sunday morning making beef stew or mac n’ cheese for us to eat while watching the football game that evening. My mom and I hated football, but so loved gathering in our living room and settling into a warm bowl of my dad’s food on a crisp fall evening. I could always feel my dads love when I ate those meals. Sometimes it is the simplest things that make us feel the best. I think that is why I love to cook for my family and friends – I have learned to pass love and tradition on through food.

My mom usually played the role of old standard when it came to everyday meals. She knew her way around a pork chop and taught me the value of cooking well. My dad always joked with me that I thought that celery and melons came from the store already pre-cut into clean and perfect sticks or chunks. My mom took very good care of me in all ways when she was here. It was only after I took charge of my own kitchen as an adult that I fully realized how much.

Stories from The Red Binder …

Most food lovers have a book or folder that they use to keep all of their trusted recipes in.  My mom had a red binder that she used to hold every food treasure (hand-written, of course) she knew of. I never realized how precious every day items can become. That tattered, grease stained old binder is now a cherished memento of a lifetime of her cooking experiences. I am honored to keep watch over it.  In an attempt to preserve the hand written recipes that my mother left behind,  I started typing the recipes out – so that I could retire her binder to the hope chest where other trinkets and treasure from her life now live: her wedding dress, her favorite mug, the wig she wore during her chemotherapy.

In the process of typing the recipes, I started to relive the memories of cooking each of them with my mom or aunt or grandma and thought about the numerous times I had passed the recipes on to my cousins or friends. As I typed more and more of the recipes that had shaped my life, I realized that this collection was a gift and that I wanted to share it with the world. That is how this blog was born.

I hope you try these recipes and enjoy them as much as I have.

Here is my life – for the love of food.