Delicious Details: memoir with family recipes

By Heather Hinsley

“Delicious Details” takes readers on an intimate heartfelt journey, portrayed as a
symbolic canvas of existence where family, food, and recovery converge to paint
the intricate picture of a life. This book is the portrait of one woman’s remarkable
journey, marked by resilience, moments of serenity, and shared connections with
loved ones.
Going beyond the realm of a mere recipe collection, this memoir ventures into the
author’s transformation. Woven throughout the narrative are personal recovery
anecdotes spanning the author’s life journey, from birth and beyond. Revealing the
profound influence of the natural environment, the visual arts, and culinary nutrition
for enhancing recovery and facilitating healing. The book serves as a poignant
reminder that each person possesses an invaluable story to share, contributing to
the collective, where individual experiences blend to create a masterpiece of human
lives. Life’s journey isn’t characterized as either bad or good art; it’s an unique work of
art in its own right. The pages resonate with a message that’s beautifully simple – we
are all spiritual beings on an adventurous path through diverse human experiences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Nov 9, 2023
• ISBN: 9798765246900

Heather Hinsley

The author is an accomplished culinary artist, blending traditional family recipes with professional experience. Her background encompasses art, pastry, and chef instruction, she creatively crafts her culinary story. Her journey towards healing from trauma is one of recovery and is deeply rooted in ancestry, combining Sicilian heritage with her Indigenous First Nations Mi'kmaq influences, resulting in a memoir that is both culturally inspired and professionally refined. Heather Hinsley enjoys the southwest and lives in Durango, Colorado USA

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Copyright © 2023 Heather Hinsley.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Balboa Press

A Division of Hay House

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Bloomington, IN 47403

www.balboapress.com

844-682-1282

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Credit: D things

Collection: Getty Images

https://photodivine.com/

ISBN: 979-8-7652-4691-7 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-7652-4690-0 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 11/09/2023

CONTENTS

Prologue

Dedication

Part 1: Family Roots And Sweet Details

Turbulent Times

Fragments Of Hope

Embracing Love

Finding Freedom

Part 2: Healing And Artistic Pursuits

Culinary Arts

Finding My Way

Journey Of Entrepreneurship

Health And Hospice

Health And Wellbeing

Afterword

Customizing Your Culinary Creations

Support Page

Acknowledgements

Generational patterns are woven into the fabric of our lives. But they are not set in stone. Fabric can be unraveled, tears mended, knots untangled. And a new pattern can be tenderly and intentionally begun. We are the story-weavers of this generation. May we wield our looms with the bravest love and fiercest hope imaginable.

~L.R. Knost

One day you will tell your story

of how you overcame what you

went through and it will be

someone else’s survival guide.

~Brene Brown

Foreword, Joe Clifford, author of Junkie Love, the Jay Porter Thriller Series, and A Moth to Flame

The word trauma has been hi-jacked. Pop culture claimed the term, tossing it around willy-nilly, dropping it in to explain every unpleasant event. Like OCD, which has been turned into a cute malady, where one likes all their shoes pointed in the right direction, a clean, neat house. True OCD is far darker. Those afflicted with obsessive compulsive disorder in its purest form experience intrusive thoughts, planting images designed to disturb. These are the thoughts you wouldn’t share with anyone. You carry them with you, push them down, learn to accept them. They become a part of you, like a tumor, you carry the stone. OCD is not an adorable affliction. It’s a living hell.

Same with trauma. Post-traumatic stress disorder. It’s become a talk show topic, or a word reserved for shell-shocked soldiers. Watered down, the term trauma has been rendered almost a joke, an excuse to define the weak. And for all those who believe that, who think trauma is nothing but a snowflake phrase for the timid and inept, I say, from the deepest parts of my soul, and with the most genuine of intentions, Please. Go fuck yourself.

This book isn’t about me. But I survived trauma. I don’t need to tell you what it was. Like the Boss says, I’m easily found. When I was asked to write this foreword, I was honored. I’ve known Heather Hinsley for a long time, so radiant in high school, the beautiful indie girl I’d spy dancing alone in the art room; who I had a massive crush on; who was too cool for a boy like me, and thus forever out of reach.

Now we’re older. I’ve always been more pessimistic than Heather. I’d like to say I’m just old, broken. To tell you the truth, I take a much darker, more pessimistic view than my fellow former classmate, voted Most Artistic by the Class of ’88.

Which is why I find such inspiration in Heather’s book, her willingness to open her heart and soul and share her life and her journey, her pain, and, yes, the trauma she survived.

In the end, this book isn’t just a memoir or a cookbook; it is a testament to a survivor, a woman born an artist, who took the biggest chance one can take in this life: to thine own self be true.

Like OCD, like trauma, like so many powerful terms, phrases, and mantras, the creed to thy own self be true has been rendered a joke. It’s easy to mock sincerity. It’s easy to make fun of everything when you don’t stand for anything. It’s also lazy. It’s boring. It’s a waste of time, mine and yours.

Delicious Details defies easy definition, and the book certainly does not fall neatly into a genre. I hope I am wrong, but sad to say, the book probably won’t be a bestseller. I don’t think Heather gives a damn about that. Her intentions have never been motivated by financial gain or to win popular approval. She’s an iconoclast, who, with this book, has crafted a unique opportunity for the reader: to follow a survivor on a journey that shines a light on the human condition in its unfaltering, fervent, relentless pursuit of Hemingway’s challenge: to write one true sentence. Ain’t nothing to writing. You sit at the typewriter and bleed. Amen, Ernest.

Delicious Details is full of true sentences. Many of them are too true. This is a book that dares you to look deep inside yourself, challenges you to ask who you are. Not the face you present to friends and family, not the glossy illusion we present on social media, but who you really are. Read that again. And again. Who you really are.

I don’t blame those who sleepwalk through this life. I understand the drudgery of the dreaded day job, those who are stuck in situations that they can’t escape, how it whittles you down, can break a spirit, crush a dream, leave you cold. I empathize. I don’t judge. I am not a religious person, but I used to love the phrase But for the grace of God, there go I. Until I caught sight of the sad bastard over there, knowing that whatever cruel fate I was spared got slapped on another. I take no joy in that. To live is to suffer. Yeah, I know, that’s mastering the profoundly obvious. Doesn’t make it any less true.

I’ve rambled too long. I love Heather. Always have. That sixteen-year-old boy never really grows up. Maybe I’m biased. But in reading this portrait of the artist as a young woman, I got to feel young again. And in reading about Heather’s traumas, perseverance, and her indefatigable spirit that allowed her to thrive and soar, I felt strong once more, if only for a little while.

Truth is, Heather could’ve saved her time and just quoted Louisa May Alcott, which is all I’ve done here. Only I don’t write as well as Alcott. Few do. I just reworded her genius. So let’s close with this quote from Transcendental Wild Oats:

"To live for one’s principles, at all costs, is a dangerous speculation; and the failure of an ideal, no matter how humane and noble, is harder for the world to forgive and forget than bank robbery or the grand swindles of corrupt politicians."

Heather, like I, like a select few, has chosen to do just that: she’s lived for her principles, and taken the hits and punishment that comes with it all the way. This world has a way of bringing even the toughest to their knees. The real warriors are the ones who stand back up and spit in the face of the storm; who find the will to carry on despite the wounds that never really heal.

Instead, Heather has taken this pain, the hope she’s mined and excavated, these experiences that have defined her and made her the remarkable woman she is today, and she’s used it to create art. Better still: she’s found a way to do even more, weaving these experiences and turning it into sustenance. Literally.

Only Heather Hinsley could pull off this feat. Take a heart-wrenching, inspiring bildungsroman in the spirit of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and … sprinkle in a delightful cookbook.

I love that! Kills me. It’s so … Heather. Take the damage, heartbreak, and woe, the good and the bad, the backbreaking and uplifting, and use it to turn that into a physical, tangible, very real ideal: recipes for conjuring delicious meals, appetizers, and desserts to nourish and feed your soul.

This is a book you’re meant to eat, devour, ravishingly.

So sit down at the table. I hope you’re hungry.

Joe

JoeClifford.com

PROLOGUE

Cellular Tapestry

The ancestors who came before me are part of the very fabric of my being, passing down diverse threads in their genetic legacy. I firmly believe that I am not here by chance, rather, the journey of my existence began long before birth. The odds of being born are incredibly slim, and, in my later years, I have appreciation for this gift of life. Generations of parents have contributed to shaping who I am today. This is known as my inherited factors, or heredity. For example, I believe that information and memories are stored within my cells, greatly influencing my life. It is my belief that generational information has been encoded into my cells long before my birth, along with a blend of nature and nurture shaping this identity of mine. Nature represents the pre-existing factors influenced by genetic inheritance and other biological elements, often referred to as medical conditions. Nurture embodies the external influences after conception, and is often referred to as lifestyle conditions. For myself, most importantly, these additives, or deficiencies, start with the foods and drinks a mother consumes or doesn’t consume while a baby is in the womb. This time of critical nourishment from edible sustenances and diverse beverages continues throughout a lifetime.

At the heart of this book is an exploration of generational factors, including childhood trauma; a phenomenon personally experienced and carried through our cells. My own life story is interwoven throughout this autobiography narrative, spanning from my conception to the poignant moment when I stood above my parents’ graves in my fifties.

My life began with the miraculous fusion of sperm and egg within the depths of my parents’ bodies. Within a woman, the eggs, which carry DNA, are stored in her ovaries for her entire lifetime. For a male, the genetic material of DNA is stored in newly made sperm. And so, when the two merge, a new individual comes into being - a zygote, a eukaryotic cell with all the information needed to develop into a unique human being (side note: I put a sign above the door with the words Zygote Studio in the first art space I built from the ground up). With divine influence my parents created me and they passed down more than physical attributes for my identity. The DNA my mother carried within her body contains a history that, I believe, is intergenerational, multigenerational, and ancestral knowledge. The profound concept of this transmission leaves me in awe because I feel the immense feminine power behind it. My father, however, contributed basic genetic information, also passed onto me. This union, this dance of DNA, marked the beginning of my personal story, my earliest stage of development – unique identity.

As I contemplate the miracle of life, I am often reminded of the countless generations that precede me, contributing to the intricate tapestry that is my existence. Each ancestor, with their own hopes, dreams, stressors, and successes, has left an indelible mark on my genetic makeup. From my parents, to my grandparents, great-grandparents and beyond, their experiences, both positive and negative, have been passed down through the generations. It is as if their stories, their memories, are encoded within the very fabric of my being.

In the pages that follow, I will take you on a journey through my personal history, a history shaped by not only my own experiences, but also the collective experiences of those who came before me. I am the product of a lineage that spans continents and cultures. On my fathers side, I am most connected to Indigenous Peoples of the island of Nova Scotia, and on my mothers side to the native people of the island of Sicily. Not long before I was born, these brave relatives, ancestors of mine, left their homelands of Canada and Italy in pursuit of opportunities for