select articles are taken from our magazines and reproduced in a blog format for easy, accessible reading & sharing
My family’s farm has sat at the site of where the Badlands and Yellowstone collide for four generations. My childhood was spent running barefoot to the river, collecting rocks and agates off the banks with my siblings, before irrigating the crops amidst clouds of mosquitoes.
My maternal grandmother, Twila Wilhelm, is the only person I know who still bakes a plateful of goodies to give to family around the Holidays. Miniature loaves of poppy seed bread, homemade potato mints, chocolate-covered toffee, and the ever-elusive divinity are coveted items that we all await to receive each year.
Read MoreChocolate Bavarian cream pie has been a Rowson holiday staple for generations. Of course, like most family recipes, I thought that the Bavarian cream pie was a proprietary Rowson family heirloom.
Read MoreAn æbleskiver (ei·bluh·skee·vr) is a traditional Danish pancake— a fluffy sphere about the size of a tennis ball. My Nana always makes them for Christmas, and we always did the same growing up. The family record for number of æbleskivers consumed in one Christmas morning is held by my Uncle Nick: an impressive twenty-one.
Read MoreMy grandma, the GM, lover of root beer floats and chocolate, and Eastern Montana’s historian was a force to be reckoned with.
Read MoreToday, when I lifted the pie crust to be draped over the top of the apples and sugar and cinnamon, I realized I was moving in the kitchen with the same effortlessness I watched my grandmother use. She drifted from countertop to countertop, mixing ingredients, shutting cupboards, and deftly lifting wax paper to lay crust atop a pie that already smelled like heaven.
Read MoreThe women in my family have a long history of hands that smell faintly of onion and garlic. I was raised in an apron, learning how to cook cherry pie filling thickly and to peel a potato skin paper-thin. I’m proud to come from a long line of strong women and incredible cooks— including my Great-Grandmother, Amalia (Mollie).
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