Posted by The Columbus Dispatch, OH on December 12, 2009 at 08:47:23:
FIRST PERSON
For 'queen' of old, the reign was sweet
Saturday, December 12, 2009 3:23 AM
By Barbara Kochick
First Person is a weekly forum for personal musings and reflections from readers.
The recent Dispatch contest to elect a cookie queen and king brought back fond memories of my own experience with cookie fame.
My husband, our children and I were living in Pittsburgh in 1984 when a reader sent a request to the Pittsburgh Press food editor asking for new cookie recipes.
I wrote a letter describing my journey from a new bride with no baking traditions to a mother of three young kids with a fully culled repertoire of Christmas goodies. I described the pleasure of baking and the joy of giving plates of these precious edibles. I enclosed cookie recipes with my letter.
Story continues belowAdvertisement A few days later, the food editor called seeking permission to reprint the letter and the recipes -- and to include a photograph of me.
The offer sounded like fun, so I said OK.
After the package appeared, we got calls from relatives and friends wanting to know where their trays of cookies were. Even strangers sent nice notes.
One caller wanted to know what happened with her cookies. The ingredients were expensive, and the cookies didn't turn out properly.
After talking to her, I couldn't figure out where she had gone wrong. She decided to give the pan to some neighbor boys who would eat anything.
We got another call later that night, after we'd gone to bed.
My husband heard me say, "Yes, they do freeze well."
That Christmas and five others had passed when I was standing in line at an after-Christmas sale with my daughter, a teenager at the time. To help expedite my transaction at the register, I started filling out a check.
The woman right behind me was peering over my shoulder, trying to look at my check. I was a bit annoyed, but she eventually tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "Are you Barbara Kochick, the famous cookie baker?"
Well, yes, I was Barbara, and I did bake cookies. But famous?
She explained that, every year since my letter appeared in the paper, she had made one of my recipes that ran with it. It was her favorite, she said.
I was obviously flattered by the conversation.
As I left the shop with my daughter (who was, predictably, mortified), I pondered how the woman could have remembered my name and my face after such a long time.
Eventually, it dawned on me: She'd never copied the recipe onto a card or sheet of paper. Each year, she'd pulled out the newspaper story and made her cookies looking at me!
I was stunned by the power of the press. How nice to live on in a stranger's Christmas tradition.
I hope your queen and king have as much fun with their "fame" as I did with mine.
Barbara Kochick, 64, of Pickerington still bakes a variety of Christmas cookies -- for her two grandsons.
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