Delectable Dishes from the Kitchen of Lettie Giannoni Foster: Updated by Her Daughter Raylene Thompson

By Raylene Thompson

As a teen, Raylene Thompson had a less than stellar reputation in the kitchen. In fact, her younger sisters would burst into tears at the mere thought of having to eat any one of her tasteless and unpleasant dinners. As her life progressed and took her to Asia to live for forty years, Raylene learned to rely on live-in housekeepers to prepare delicious meals for her, never learning to cook herself until she returned home to America to care for her aging parents.

In a collection of family recipes that highlight cuisines from around the world, Raylene shares a multitude of her late mother’s tasty and easy-to-prepare dishes that combine great tastes from international kitchens and utilize crisp, fresh ingredients from local family farms and markets. Her delectable recipes include hot clam dip, melted brie in a crust, apricot nut bread, Flemish beer stew, teriyaki chuck roast, chicken satay and peanut sauce, English toffee ice box pudding, and soft and chewy peanut butter cookies.

In this delightful cookbook, a daughter serves tribute to her late mother by sharing simple yet delicious recipes that teach home cooks around the world that preparing a wonderful meal is one of the best ways to show love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LifeRich Publishing
• Release date: Nov 19, 2018
• ISBN: 9781489719461

Raylene Thompson

Raylene Thompson is a retired American businesswoman who traveled internationally and lived in Asia for over forty years. While she enjoyed fine food over her lifetime, she did not learn to cook until she was over sixty years old. Raylene currently resides in Napa, California. This is her first book.

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Copyright © 2018 Raylene Thompson.

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This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

ISBN: 978-1-4897-1945-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-1946-1 (e)

LifeRich Publishing rev. date: 11/17/2018

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Introduction

This book of recipes is from the collection of my mother, Lettie. I hope it will bring you a taste of the cuisines of many different areas around the world, but especially Japan and China, where my family lived, as well as, France, Italy and the USA. It is an introduction to delicious and easy to prepare dishes, wonderful combinations of great tastes from the kitchens of the world.

These days, we are increasingly conscious of the importance of crisp, fresh produce from local family farms and farmers’ markets, as well as, the efficiency of well-run modern supermarkets. The goodness of fresh, ripe ingredients is at the core of many great recipes.

Enjoy this collection and may it bring you as much pleasure as I had in preparing it for you.

Acknowledgement

A belated thank you to my lovely sister, Alma, for her great microwave recipes and her warm cheerfulness in the kitchen; to my sister, Marsha for her unselfish giving and for the love and sharing through many past holidays, and to my great friend and favorite chef, Maisie Chung, for her considerable culinary talents and her deep sense of humor.

A huge thank you to all of the generous people who contributed to this book. I also wish to thank my two special friends, Leni Sissopoulis and Irene Moutsos, whose love of cooking is a joy in itself and who taught me some of the fine points of French and Greek cuisine.

Special thanks to my indispensable friend, Susanne Gauthier, for her amazing, appropriate advice and counsel, because without her help, this cookbook would never have been published.

Preface

Putting this cookbook together is my way to honor my mother, Lettie Giannoni Foster. It has also been a great way to put down, once and for all, some of the many favorite family recipes for my children, grandchildren, friends and relatives to enjoy.

The variety of food offerings plus culinary arts development in the last two decades or so has been a catalyst for many people who enjoy time in the kitchen, preparing and eating great food. The enormous explosion of cooking shows on television will attest to that. They have also assisted me personally in experimenting and modifying favorite recipes into healthful alternative creations for delicious meals, snacks and decadent desserts.

As a teen, I had a less than stellar reputation in the kitchen. My tiny young sisters, an adorable pair of twins, would burst into tears at the thought of having to eat any one of my tasteless and unpleasant dinners, necessary only on the occasions when Mom and Dad were out. My slightly younger sister, Alma, would kindly comfort the two of them, all the while feeling the great injustice of it all. No one appreciated miserable food. Before long, ten-year old Alma could cook for all four of us. The twins were thrilled beyond compare.

For the more than 40 years I lived in Asia, I almost always had full-time live-in cooks. So I did not feel any great urge to learn to cook until I was in my sixties and had moved to the USA to help my parents as they progressed into their 80s and 90s and became more needful of an extra hand. My elderly mother then sat by my side in the kitchen and patiently taught me. Dad likes his this way….

I learned out of necessity, as Mom grew more delicate and less capable over the years that I cooked and cared for her and Dad. Mother’s passion for great food inspired me to learn, dish by tortuous dish, and to finally succeed and then go on to develop my own culinary style.

I have updated some recipes to accommodate today’s more healthful habits, replacing margarine with butter and eliminating the use of cream of mushroom soup that was so popular in the 1950s. I use fresh produce widely, in place of canned.

The special dishes that I now create and share with family and friends over intimate small dinners, festive holiday parties and casual summer picnics are a joy in themselves. Locally grown or supermarket fresh ingredients make it easy to create delicious dishes with easy to follow recipes. I hope you will experiment, though, and feel free to add the special components, herbs and spices that you most love.

Be creative!

Dedication

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Lettie Giannoni Foster

with Raymond on their wedding day

She was the warm and comforting fragrances of my childhood; the sweet scent of the lemons and roses she grew; the sheets that dried in the fresh air and the delicious meals she prepared for family and friends.

She was a reservoir of helpful hints for the kitchen and home; a professional, stay-at-home mom who took her job seriously.

Mama was the music of big bands, the lilt of happy songs, the crunch of autumn leaves and the sizzle of bacon on special Sundays.

She was the creator of a cozy home, an ordinary living space made charming with her flea-market finds, the producer of that welcoming sight of a beautifully-set table, brimming over with delectable things to eat.

My mother was the feel of sunshine on our backs as we picked fruit one summer, the taste of the delicious and nutritious picnics she always brought with us. She was the voice of enthusiasm over each of Dad’s new duty stations, her excitement infecting us all.

My voice of patience, quietly teaching me to cook when I was more than 60 years old and finally ready to learn.

Above all, she was Easter holidays and Christmas mornings. No holiday of any kind passed her by. She was my first love, my bosom pal, sometimes even my enemy.

This cookbook is dedicated to Lettie Giannoni Foster, with love and gratitude for everything.

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