Gayles Story

There is more than one beginning to this story. Start where you like, and expect more chapters to come…

Amazing days with Helen McCully - learning the 'art of food'

Before I had children, I "studied" cooking with a wonderful friend, Helen McCully who, at the time, was the Food Editor of House Beautiful Magazine for many years in New York City. Often, when I would arrive at Helen's home she would have this devilish twinkle in her eyes, and I knew I was in for an amazing day. Gastronomy is the study of food; what your ingredients are capable of doing on your palate and, when cooked at different temperatures, how each can lend subtle characteristics to your creations.

I spent many hours in Helen's kitchen, putting together ingredients and learning the "art of food". You see there were no recipes to follow. We could explore the palate and its different "zones" of taste, combining and blending herbs, spices, fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and meats, to no end. The key was to understand how each of the ingredients reacted at different temperatures and with each other. Change the order, change the temperature and we would come up with some of my most memorable culinary creations. Helen died a few years back and I like to think that she would be very proud of what I have achieved.

At this year's Taste of Chatham, the Bing Cherry with Grand Marnier was a big hit.

The family harvest - you name it, we grew it

As far back as I can remember, we raised our children by following the harvest. Gardening was a family activity, and our approach was to be very creative in the unusual seeds we planted. We were fortunate that we could grow a variety of crops, so each of us would select our personal favorites. The end result was that our garden, while usually plentiful, was always diverse. With each wave of the harvest - strawberries in June, wild blueberries in July, peaches in August - my husband and our two boys would gather the fruit and vegetables in buckets and baskets and into the kitchen they went… although some crops never made it as far as the kitchen, as we snacked on crops as we went. Food for us was more than nourishment; it was an adventure. Inventing new recipes was a fun and artful expression of our garden's bounty. What great memories.

Marshall & Rodney's story - why we had to eat healthily

The younger of my two boys, Marshall, had very severe food allergies as a child. That's really what started this whole thing of making our own foods… so we absolutely knew they were pure. We literally had to make everything; back twenty years ago, labeling was not what it is today. It meant I had to learn how to can vegetables so we had them all year round. And as far back as I can remember, I have baked all my own breads;

We would always, always be making cookies… The boys learning many things as we cooked. Rodney, my eldest, recently reminded me "Mom, you taught us fractions, ¼ cup plus ¼ cup equals ½ cup." As we used the individual measuring cups for a visual math lesson. He would have been three at the time.

Marshall and I at last year's Taste of Chatham, having served our organic chicken dish with roasted summer vegetables to half the Cape. Marshall’s recipe with the Habanero Red Bell Pepper Jelly, garlic, and lime glazed all that we grilled.		Over the years, I would give away some of our treasures as gifts for the holidays, special occasions or just because. Friends told me I should bring my recipes to market, and when my two children - now in their 20's - also encouraged me, I succumbed. The challenge now was how to bring my recipes to market and maintain the same quality and flavor that I made for the family. To be continued… There are plenty of other stories currently in the pipeline. Why the Yiddish for 'mixing spoon' became my nickname as a child Why people had dessert first at this year's Taste of Chatham Why some of my work with local families has nothing to do with cooking What I created in 45 minutes as one of the Boston Cooks Presentations What little treasure arrived with my great-grandmother from Budapest What happened in my most recent 'greenhouse classroom
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