This treat was special in a way I couldn’t comprehend at the time, but now the vividness of great-grandma Toby makes her seem as near as someone I’d truly known. Hugged. Talked to.
As a mother myself, I love to imagine her teaching me side by side. In a way, she did!
Toby died suddenly when my grandma was a teenager. A tragedy. And yet, when grandma is in the kitchen recreating this special dish?
She remembers her own mother. Who baked it for her little Trish. With love.
Just like Grandma did for me.
{My grandma in front of her mother)
Remembering tradition with vintage recipes
Part of what makes this particular story so beautiful is that Grandma’s mother really has always been an inspiration.
Born impoverished into a Victorian England workhouse, her own mother died while she was very young at the beginning of the 20th century.
Eventually, she was sent to Canada as part of a program to relocate the masses of children without homes or families at the time.
Toby persevered and became a mother. She overcame and many years later, still taught us about loving your family through simple acts of kindness.
Mornings always brought the same trouble. In the night I would sneak in for one more bite. A nibble that turned into an inch wide swath across the pan, in an effort to make it less noticeable.
Ahem, that never worked. Not even once!
Greedy little girls, grandma would not abide. This dish is made for savoring, not sneaking.
An intergenerational dish that carried on the bonds of a woman and a child in a kitchen. All those decades later.
Now I make the blueberry pudding
One sad day, ironically in the parking lot of the same Alpha Beta we would shop for treats, when I was 19, Grandma told me they were moving.
Far away.
I was heartbroken. Crushed. For she had been my best pal my entire life. A place of unconditional love. Childhood memories, all tied up in this home, with this person.
Even in that pain, which I couldn’t understand at the time, she knew I would suffer. And so we made our pudding. A comfort to my heart, and my belly.
From that year on, for many, many years when we would visit? Naturally, we made this treat.
Today, my grandma is far away. It has been over 2 years since I have been able to see her.
The longest period of our lives. It isn’t our choice, but circumstance. The one thing that is never far apart though?
Love and memory. She always cultivated that, and I am thankful.
Grandma is 90 years old now, and today I made this in her honor.
In memory of all the wonderful moments we’ve spent together, and in tribute to my great-grandma Toby, who I have spent time with in my dreams.
Here is to you Grandma…
Recipes for love tell stories
Vintage Blueberry Pudding with Lemon Sauce Recipe
On my wedding day, Grandma, my wonderful mother, and her beautiful sisters all presented me with a personalized recipe book. I was sort of “everyone’s kid” growing up in our family, and that made it extra special.
Each of them had hand-written a few favorite recipes to start my own family life with.
Including this vintage Blueberry pudding recipe, perhaps you’d like to add it on rotation with your family?
Blueberry Pudding recipe printable
Would you like to download a free printable recipe for blueberry pudding with lemon sauce? Click here.
Enjoy your moments building the story and traditions of your family. They truly are a precious gift that will carry on in the hearts and minds of those you love.
2 Timothy 1:5-7 That precious memory triggers another: your honest faith—and what a rich faith it is, handed down from your grandmother… and now to you!
May you be richly blessed in the ordinary moments of celebrating life, for that is where the best stuff happens.
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My grandma and I never baked together, but she made the best spaghetti! I still dream of her angel hair spaghetti with a marinara sauce. Her Italian neighbor had taught her how to make the sauce. My mom tried to learn to make it, but with no actual recipe, it never turned out the same. She did learn to make grandma’s other specialty, chicken and dumplings. I make a chicken and noodles in my crock pot that tastes just like it and is much easier! Brings back memories! Thanks for reminding me!!
Isn’t that funny how some recipes just never “quite” pass down the same. What a gift to have those memories! Funny thing about chicken and noodles…I had never heard of it before moving to the midwest. Then it was EVERYWHERE, for things like fundraisers. I loved my moms chicken and dumplings growing up, but like your moms attempts, mine just was never quite the same 🙂 Thanks for sharing Tracy!
So very sweet. Thank you for sharing this story and the recipe, I can’t wait to make it!
Thank YOU for reading! Let me know what you think ♥
My grandma and I never baked together, but she made the best spaghetti! I still dream of her angel hair spaghetti with a marinara sauce. Her Italian neighbor had taught her how to make the sauce. My mom tried to learn to make it, but with no actual recipe, it never turned out the same. She did learn to make grandma’s other specialty, chicken and dumplings. I make a chicken and noodles in my crock pot that tastes just like it and is much easier! Brings back memories! Thanks for reminding me!!
Isn’t that funny how some recipes just never “quite” pass down the same. What a gift to have those memories! Funny thing about chicken and noodles…I had never heard of it before moving to the midwest. Then it was EVERYWHERE, for things like fundraisers. I loved my moms chicken and dumplings growing up, but like your moms attempts, mine just was never quite the same 🙂 Thanks for sharing Tracy!