Cooking isn’t just about food for me: it’s my therapy. I started cooking five years ago, when the appeal of making food from a can started to fade, and my inner cook began to itch. I started out slow, making simple dishes my mom used to make when I was growing up. But as time went by, I longed for the thrill of making something unknown and the satisfaction that comes from making a delicious and wholesome meal.
I am fascinated by the stories behind each recipe, the hands it passed through to get to each and every table. Cooking the recipes of my family and friends brings me closer to them and allows me to experience a connection that only comes with making their food. Within every recipe I create for Stuck in Thyme, there’s a story or memory that inspired it.
The most important story is that of my grandmother. She was a beautiful woman and she loved to cook. Food became her way of communicating with her husband, her children, her friends, and later, her grandchildren. She spent hours in her cramped kitchen, cooking turkeys and baking cookies for my family’s arrival, working all day to prepare for a visit that only lasted a few hours.
I lost her when I was seventeen – that age when you’re completely engulfed in your own world – so her death blindsided me. After she died, I spent three years in and out of counselling to come to terms with her death. I could never accept it; I could never fill the void that was my grandmother.
When I bake, she is there, guiding me through every stir of a spoon and every dab of icing. Cooking allows me to remember my grandmother when she was alive, shuffling around her kitchen, her slippers scratching the tiles. Cooking brings her closer to me; it is something we share, something she taught me without even knowing it.
With every new post, I will bring you a new recipe to add to your own collection. With every recipe comes a story: a story of my journey to create the dish, and the people and events that inspired it.
For more about me, please visit my professional portfolio at www.gileanwatts.com.
Enjoy!
Gilean Watts
Stuck in Thyme 
That is beautiful, about your grandmother being there with you. I got a little bleary eyed just reading it.
I am soo proud of you! I think this is going to be such a great outlet for you, and I cant wait to follow!
xox
Awesome Gilean! Very touching. My “Grandma Flo” was my cooking and baking tutor as well. At a time in my youth she lived with us and she and I spent many hours in the kitchen. Sadly she passed away only weeks before Ron and I planned to visit on our cross country move to BC. I hadn’t seen her in 15 years and was devastated by the awful timing. When we reached the exit to Prince Albert, Sask. (where she lived and died) Ron pulled over on the excuse to take the dog for a pee, when he got back in the car he had a handful of wild flowers for me.
Grandparents ROCK!!! They have time for us that nobody else does. Thanks for sharing your memory and your cooking motivation! 🙂
Was talking to TJ this morning and he was telling me about this new site, very interesting and looking forward to the recipes and the stories. We never can under estimate the power of our Grandparents. Keep up the good work, and keep TJ fed and he will be happy.
What a touching story! The most precious memory I have of my grandmother is in her old country farm kitchen, cooking on the old cook stove.
Loved your story about TJ, too!
Awesome Gilean. A very emotional read for me. Mom’s recipes to follow!
Awesome job – love the stories and the recipes….amazing the power of grandparents…..and now that I am one it’s more amazing ^_^ Keep up the great work!!
Gilean, your website is as warm and comforting as your recipes. Very nice :)..as for grandmothers, I only ever knew my Dad’s Mum. She passed when I was 9, but I do remember all the kids in the small community of Riverview1966-all called her Nana and she loved each and everyone of them, feeding them fudge and cookies.
Keep up the site..Love it..hey to TJ 🙂
Hey Gilean, great website. I also enjoy cooking to relax and to feed the family and the soul.
Have a good summer at Here.
J
PS TJ is a lucky guy to sample all this grub. Good thing he has a healthy appetite……..
Ginge Power!
Beautiful story!! So much of what we cook comes from our mothers!!! I would like to print every recipe!!! Hi to TJ from the Wallace Sisters!!!