In this episode we will talk about what makes a recipe special, and prompts you to save it, and bake it or cook it over and over again. . What are those sensory cues that connect you to a recipe. We also feature some of our favorite recipes from JOÏ: Baking & Photographing Northern European Pastry. 

Joanna has a small recipe notebook in her bookshelf where she has handwritten some of her favorite recipes. They are the ones she really wanted to make sure she didn’t forget because they are really awesome. It includes a recipe for an Indonesian marinade for pork shoulder chops that is amazing on the BBQ, an Indian egg curry that is an absolute favorite in her family, a salmon quiche with a parmesan crust that I got from a magazine years ago and is excellent, or her mom’s recipe for pavlova that her brother always asked for on his birthday.

One important reason she wanted to create a cookbook from the recipes she has developed is because she feels all of them are special to her in some way. Just the fact that she put in the effort to develop them: she researched the pastries history, tried other people’s recipes, created her own variations or interpretation and kept tweaking until she was happy with them. Some of them are family recipes, or recipes she has been making for years.  Many of them are inspired by pastries she ate during her childhood. All of them come from parts of the world where she spent her youth. Part of the fun of writing the book was adding the stories that made them special, the feelings or memories they evoke or the personal history connected to them. She hopes these little stories will help make the recipes special for the reader as well and encourage them to try it or make their own variations.

Some qualities of a recipe that has staying power in your life are:

- Emotional connection - The recipe reminds you of your childhood or has special memories associated with it. Something you cooked on a first date, something you ate every Christmas as a child...

- Practicality - The recipe is just familiar and easy. It’s your go-to when you can’t think of what to cook for a weeknight dinner or when you are craving a snack of some sort.

- Heritage or Legacy - The recipe that has been carried down over generations in your family and it is your responsibility ensure it lives on and is passed down to future generations. Your grandma’s secret recipe. Something typical from your culture or the region your family is from.

- Innovation - The recipe that you made your own, that is something you came up with yourself or that requires honing a special skill to make. The recipe you use to wow your friends or family

- Recognition - Your personal speciality. The recipe everyone asks you to cook on special occasions or for pot-lucks, the ones everyone always compliments you on.

Cyntia’s favorite recipes:

• Christmas eggnog (her mom’s recipe) 
• Wacky Cake (Canadian family recipe)
• Danish Coconut Almond Cakes (Drømmekage) from Joi the cookbook

Joanna’s favorite recipes:

• Swedish Sticky Chocolate Cake (my birthday cake since I was 3 years old — Emotional connection, Legacy)
• Chicken wit

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Executive Producers: Cyntia Apps & Joanna Struiksma-Facey
Podcasts Hostess: Cyntia Apps IG @cyntiaappsphotography
Joanna Struiksma-Facey IG
@brightspotbakeshop
Music: Matt Jones, OceanSwim Production
Podcast Engineering & Production: Matt Jones, OceanSwim Production