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Episode 381: Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All · Cookbook Love Podcast

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You are listening to the Cookbook Love podcast with Maggie
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Green, episode number 3 81.
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Welcome to the Cookbook Love Podcast, a podcast that celebrates cookbook readers,
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buyers, collectors, writers and clubs.
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And now your host.
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Cookbook author, culinary Dietician, and Cookbook writing Coach Maggie Green.
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Hi everybody.
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Welcome back to another episode of the Cookbook Love podcast.
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Merry Christmas, and I am excited to be here, here in my
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cookbook Bunker this morning.
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Obviously not recording this on Christmas day, but close enough that I am enjoying.
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So much the spirit of the season.
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Advent and quiet winter morning.
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We really did have, uh, snow last night and I'm getting ready to head
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to the kitchen here after I finish recording this episode to, uh, bake
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some Christmas cookies and enjoy a nice quiet morning here at home.
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But as they say, one of the most important things to do in the morning is the thing
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that you need to do most first, and that is record this episode for you.
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I'm going to make an attempt to record this Christmas episode without any
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redos or without any, uh, stopping.
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Restarting, hopefully Scott won't have to do a ton of editing, um,
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in order to send you the message that I want to send you today.
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So, um, first of all, cookbooks are why we are here.
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Cookbooks bring us together as a community of people, many who I've
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never even met, but who listen to this show on a regular basis.
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And it is our shared love of cookbooks, the writing, the reading, the
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collecting that bring us together.
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It's a shared love that brings us to this podcast.
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It certainly brings me to the microphone.
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Every week talking to you and talking to all the lovely cookbook
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authors that I have interviewed over the past seven years.
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I am so grateful for this platform.
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Grateful to be able to connect with you, share with you, and,
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um, help you and serve you, and be here as someone who is a voice.
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Of encouragement, a voice of hopefully some fun, a voice of, uh, cookbooks
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and something that we all love.
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And so I wanna first of all just say that and, um, think about this
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community and this shared love of cookbooks, um, bringing us together.
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Um, the second thing is the, the fruit of this love that we have, that
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we share here, um, is friendship.
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People writing books, people who are listening that have uh, published books.
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And this all starts with this love that we have for each other, for ourselves, for
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our topics, for what we wanna write about.
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And we can actually.
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Use this spark of an idea to create and manifest and bring to life a book from
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a love that we have, uh, for our topic.
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And I think that's the most fascinating thing when I think about books.
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I think I do think about them truly as fruit of something that we create.
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And, um, I think that they're an incredible thing.
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I, I always am thinking about books, reading books.
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Collecting books, writing books, talking about books, uh,
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fiction, nonfiction, cookbooks.
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Uh, one of my very favorite things.
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So, um, when we think about, uh, books, I did wanna share seasonally
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a couple of books that really.
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Um, are books I turn to in the kitchen this time of year,
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but only at this time of year.
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And I maybe have mentioned them a couple podcasts ago, but I do wanna
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bring them up again because we have used them and we use them every year.
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And, um, I keep all my Christmas recipes and magazines and books kind of in
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one section of my cookbook bunker, so that around the middle of November.
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I can go pull them all out and start looking at them and feeling the spirit
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of the season and getting inspired.
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And the first one is Christmas at River Cottage, uh, by Louis Braiser, Lucy
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Braiser with seasonal notes and recipes from who fearing Lee Witting stall.
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This is a British book, um, but it has lovely photos.
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Uh, ideas for wintertime, making Christmas cards, tree decorations,
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Christmas wreaths, uh, gift wrap.
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And then of course a lot of really beautiful, uh, recipes.
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And we always, um, I shouldn't say we, my husband Warren makes a Christmas pudding.
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And, um, that's a very British thing to do.
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And we always think about, um, if you've watched All
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Creatures great and small on PBS.
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Uh, Mrs. Hall is the cook and she always makes Christmas pudding.
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And so, uh, they had a, a great, uh, PBS special, all about the
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Christmas episodes of all creatures.
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Great and small if you haven't watched it.
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But anyway, so the pudding is always a feature of Christmas and
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it contains, um, dried fruits.
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Orange peel, lemon peel nuts, pumpkin seeds, and then you
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soak it and you let it sit.
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And then, uh, Christmas night you are, when you serve it, you uh, light
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it with some, uh, rum or brandy and flame it and then eat it as dessert.
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Sometimes people serve it with a creme on glaze, like a thin custard.
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Um, I also think of going to the Christmas carol to see the
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play and Christmas pudding is a big part of that play when the.
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Um, the family's getting together for Christmas dinner and, um.
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So this is a beautiful Christmas book, Christmas at River
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Cottage, again by Lucy Brazier.
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So, um, the other one is Advent festive German Bakes to celebrate
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the Coming of Christmas by Anya Dunk.
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And this book is an amazing book also from a different perspective,
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but talks a lot about just the baking that takes place in Advent.
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There's beautiful, uh, photos in this.
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Wonderful baking recipes.
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And the chapter dividers are these lovely wood cuts or linoleum cut
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prints, um, for the middle pages of the, um, the chapters where they go from
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different chapter to different chapter.
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So, um, I've been reading that book and today I am gonna make, um, their
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Christmas, Christmas schnapps, which is a, uh, and I'll have it ready for
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Christmas, but it is a, uh, vodka infused.
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Drink that you keep to mix with, uh, they say with orange juice, or
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you could mix it with, uh, coffee.
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It contains coffee, beans, gen, uh, vanilla orange and some diara sugar.
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So it's a sweeter, um, festive cinnamon.
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Coffee, e flavored infusion.
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And, um, I look forward to making that.
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I haven't made it before.
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I've made the spiced almonds, the cinnamon stars we've made stolen, um,
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but a lot of really beautiful things in this book, um, titled Advent.
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So those are the books that I have been enjoying and enjoy every year when it
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comes to, uh, Christmas and Advent.
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And, um, thank you so much to those authors for writing those books and.
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I think it's amazing how books impact us.
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They become part of what we do, part of who we are, part of our seasonal, uh,
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cooking and, uh, just incredible that they have shared this, these books.
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So, um, check those out if you haven't checked them out before.
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And then the shared love in these books made me realize that really
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the message of this holiday, uh.
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That we're celebrating.
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Um, there's a secular level of the holiday.
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We've got trees and gifts and decorations and food.
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But what Christmas at its root is really all about is how the
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presence of love is found in people.
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And it's a saving love that descends upon us and walks with us.
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And it's like a friend that gives us strength and offers us forgiveness.
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Friends are people who don't expect perfection all the time.
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They're willing to forgive and, um, this presence of friendship and love.
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Through, of course, uh, the Christ Child is the image that we have at the
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root of what Christmas is all about.
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And I want to, um, share with you a couple of things that really
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bring this topic to life for me.
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A couple of them I've mentioned before on the podcast and a
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couple of them might be new.
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So the first is the story of.
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Barrington Bunny in the book called The Way of The Wolf, the Gospel
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of New Images by Martin Bell.
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This is a story that was read on National Public Radio maybe 20 years
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ago, and I heard it one Christmas morning and I've never forgotten it,
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and I had to even go out and find the book that contained this short story.
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And, uh, I thought I would share it with you today.
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So this is called Barrington Bunny.
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Once upon a time in a large forest there lived a very furry bunny.
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He had one lo ear, a tiny black nose, and unusually shiny eyes.
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His name was Barrington.
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Barrington was not really a very handsome bunny.
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He was brown and speckled, and his ears didn't stand up right,
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but he could hop and he was, as I have said, very furry in a way.
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Winter is fun for bunnies.
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After all, it gives them an opportunity to hop in the snow and then turn
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around to see where they have hopped.
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So in a way, winter was fun for barring.
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But in another way, winter made Barrington sad for you.
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See, winter marked the time when all the animal families got together in
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their cozy homes to celebrate Christmas.
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He could hop and he was very furry.
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But as far as Barrington knew, he was the only bunny in the forest.
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When Christmas Eve finally came, Barrington did not feel
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like going home all by himself.
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So he decided that he would hop for a while in the clearing in the center
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of the forest hop, hop, hippity, hop.
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Barrington made tracks in the fresh snow hop, hop, hippity hop.
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Then he cocked his head and looked back at the wonderful designs he had made.
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Bunnies he thought to himself can hop.
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And they are very warm too because of how furry they are.
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Barrington didn't really know whether or not this was true of all Bunnys
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since he had never met another bunny.
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When it got dark, too dark to see the tracks he was making, Barrington made
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up his mind to go home on his way.
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However, he passed a large oak tree high in the branches.
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There was a great deal of excited chattering going on.
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Barrington looked up.
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It was a squirrel family.
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What a marvelous time They seem to be having.
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Hello up there called Barrington.
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Hello.
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Down there.
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Came the reply having a Christmas party.
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Asked Barrington, oh yes, answered the squirrels.
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It's Christmas Eve and everyone is having a Christmas party.
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May I come to your party?
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Said Barrington, softly.
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Are you a squirrel?
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No, what are you then?
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A bunny.
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A bunny?
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Yes.
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Well, how can you come to the party if you're a bunny?
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Bunnies can't climb trees.
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That's true.
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Barrington said thoughtfully.
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But I can hop and I'm very furry and warm.
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We're sorry.
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Called the squirrels.
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We don't know anything about hopping and being furry.
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But we do know that in order to come to our house, you have
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to be able to climb trees.
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Oh, well said Barrington.
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Merry Christmas.
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Merry Christmas chattered.
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The squirrels and the unfortunate bunny hopped off toward his tiny house.
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It was beginning to snow when Barrington reached the river.
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Near the river.
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Riverbank was a wonderfully constructed house of sticks and mud.
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Inside there was singing, it's the beaver's thought, Barrington, maybe
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they will let me come to their party.
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And so he knocked on the door, who's out there called a voice, Barrington Bunny.
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He replied There was a long pause and then a shiny beaver head broke the water.
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Hello?
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Barrington said the beaver.
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May I come to your Christmas party?
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Yes, Barrington.
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Beaver thought for a while, and then he said, I suppose so.
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Do you know how to swim?
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No.
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Said Barrington, but I can hop and I am very furry and warm.
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Sorry.
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He said the beaver.
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I don't know anything about hopping and being furry, but I do
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know that in order to come to our house, you have to be able to swim.
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Oh, well Barrington muttered his eyes filling with tears, I suppose.
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That's true.
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Merry Christmas.
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Merry Christmas called the Beaver, and he disappeared
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beneath the surface of the water.
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Even being as furry as he was, Barrington was beginning to get
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cold, and the snow was falling so hard that his tiny bunny eyes could
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scarcely see what was ahead of him.
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He was almost home.
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However, when he heard the excited squeaking of field mice beneath the
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ground, it's a party thought, Barrington, and suddenly he blurted through his tears.
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Hello field mice.
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This is Barrington Bunny.
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May I come to your party?
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But the wind was howling so loudly and Barrington was sobbing
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so much that no one heard him.
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And when there was no response at all, Barrington just sat down
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in the snow and began to cry.
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With all his M bunnies he thought aren't any good to anyone?
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What good is it to be funny, uh, furry, and to be able to hop if you don't
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have any family on Christmas Eve?
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Barrington cried and cried when he stopped crying.
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He began to bite on his bunny's foot, but he did not move from
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where he was sitting in the snow.
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Suddenly, Barrington was aware that he was not alone.
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He looked up and strained his shiny eyes to see who was there.
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To his surprise, he saw a great silver wolf.
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The wolf was so large and strong, and his eyes flashed fire.
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He was the most beautiful animal Barrington had ever seen For a long time.
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The silver wolf didn't say anything at all.
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He just stood there and looked at Barrington with those terrible eyes.
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Then slowly and deliberately, the wolf wolf spoke Barrington.
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He asked in a gentle voice.
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Why are you sitting in the snow?
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Because it's Christmas Eve said Barrington and I don't have any family
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and bunnies aren't any good to anyone.
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Bunnies are too good, said the wolf bunnies can hop and they're very warm.
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What good is that Barrington sniffed.
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It's very good indeed.
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The wolf went on because it is a gift that bunnies are given a free
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gift with no strings attached.
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Every gift that is given to anyone is given for a reason.
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Someday you will see why it is good to hop and to be furry and warm.
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But it's Christmas moan, Barrington, and I'm all alone, and
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I don't have any family at all.
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Of course you do replied the great silver wolf.
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All the animals in the forest are your family.
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And then the wolf disappeared.
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He simply wasn't there.
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Barrington had only blinked his eyes and when he looked.
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The wolf was gone.
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All the animals in the forest or my family thought, Barrington,
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it's good to be a bunny.
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Bunnies can hop.
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That's a gift.
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And then he said it again, a gift, a free gift on into the night.
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Barrington worked first.
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He found the best stick he could, and that was difficult because of the snow.
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Then hop, hop, hippity, hop to the beaver's house.
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He left the stick just outside the door with the note.
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That read here is a good stick for your house.
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It's a gift, a free gift, no strings attached.
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Signed a member of your family.
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It's a good thing I can hop, he thought because the snow is very deep.
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Then Barrington Dug and Doug, soon he had gathered together enough dead leaves and
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grass to make the squirrels nest warmer.
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Hop Hop, hippity hop.
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He laid the grass and leaves just under the large oak tree and attached
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the message, a gift, a free gift from a member of your family.
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It was late when Barrington finally started home, and what made things
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worse was that he knew a blizzard was beginning hop, hop, hippity, hop.
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Soon, poor Barrington was lost.
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The wind held furiously and it was very, very cold.
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It certainly is cold.
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He said out loud, it's a good thing.
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I'm so furry, but if I don't find my way home pretty soon I might even freeze.
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Squeak, squeak.
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And then he saw it.
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A baby field mouse lost in the snow and the little mouse was crying.
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Hello, little Mouse.
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Barrington called.
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Don't cry.
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I'll be right there.
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Hippity hop in.
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Barrington was beside the tiny mouse.
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I'm lost sobbed the little fellow.
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I'll never find my way home.
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And I know I'm going to freeze.
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You won't freeze.
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Sid Barrington, I'm a bunny, and bunnies are very furry and warm.
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You stay right here where you are and I will cover you up Burlington.
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Lay on top of the little mouse and hugged him tight.
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The little tiny fellow felt himself surrounded by warm fur.
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He cried for a while, but soon snug and warm, he fell asleep.
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Barrington had only two thoughts that long cold night.
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First, he thought it's good to be a bunny.
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Bunnies are very furry and warm.
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And then he felt the heart of the tiny mouse beneath him, beating
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regularly, and he thought All the animals in the forest are my family.
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Next morning, the field mice found their little boy asleep in the
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snow, warm and snug beneath the furry carcass of a dead bunny.
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Their relief and excitement was so great that they didn't even think to
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question where the bunny had come from.
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And as for the beavers and the squirrels, they still wonder which
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member of their family left the little gifts for them on Christmas
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Eve after the field mice had left.
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Barrington's frozen body simply lay in the snow.
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There was no sound except the halling wind, and no one anywhere in the forest
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noticed the great silver wolf who had come to stand beside that brown lapard carcass.
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But the wolf did come, and he stood there without moving or saying a word
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all Christmas day until it was night.
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Then he disappeared into the forest.
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So that is the story of Barrington Bunny from The Way of the Wolf, the
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Gospel, and New Images by Martin Bell.
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Wonderful Christmas story, and I wanna leave you today with some music.
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This is a song that I listen to.
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Almost year round in my car, early in the morning when I pull out of my
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garage, often in the dark at six or six 15 when I drive and head to, um, St.
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Agnes Parish, where I, uh, here in our.
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Neighborhood to go to morning mass, and this is called Night of Silence, and
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it was written in 1981 at St. Thomas Aquinas College by a music student who
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was on retreat, and he was starting to doubt whether or not he was doing
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the right thing, being a music major.
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He says in his story about writing this song that he was feeling like the study of
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music was becoming very intellectualized.
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There's a lot of in his mind and in his head about it.
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And he had lost the connection to, uh, music from an emotional perspective.
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And the story of this can be found on his website called Night of Silence.
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And, um, this.
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Night of Silence website is also a resource that's dedicated to the season
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of Advent and, um, the time that happens, uh, prior to Christmas and the way that
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night of Silence connects, not only to Advent, but then the way that he wrote
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the music that connects it to the song and the popular Christmas tune Silent Night.
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So.
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I wish I could play night of silence for you here on the show, but
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due to permissions and music and all that kind of stuff, I can't.
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So what I'm going to do in closing our Christmas episode today is I'm
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going to read the words to you.
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You get to listen to the words and then I'm going to put a link
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in the show notes for you to head over to YouTube and listen.
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Night of Silence sung by the St. Olaf Choir.
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Um, they are from Norway.
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This was recorded live at the Eros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway, and
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was part of an Emmy award-winning special St. Olaf Christmas in Norway.
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And um, it's a beautiful Christmas song.
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And it's lovely to watch the choir members singing it, and I think that this
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is something that you couldn't really enjoy for, uh, the Christmas holiday.
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So here are the words to the first, um, three verses of Night
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of Silence, and I will, uh, leave you with this, um, as we close our
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Christmas episode of Cookbook Love.
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So it says Cold are the people.
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Winter of life we tremble in shadows.
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This cold, endless night, frozen in the snow, lie roses, sleeping
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flowers that will echo the sunrise.
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Fire of hope is our only warmth, weary its flame will be dying soon.
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Voice in the distance.
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Call in the night.
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On when you unfold us, you speak of the light, gentle on the ear, you
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whisper softly rumors of a dawn.
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So embracing breathless love, awaits, darkened souls.
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Soon we will know of the morning spirit among us.
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Shine like a star.
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Your light that guides shepherds and kings from afar.
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Shimmer in the sky, so empty, lonely, rising in the warmth of your son's love,
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star, unknowing of night and day spirit.
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We wait for your loving sun.
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So I want to wish you all a happy holidays, seasons
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greetings, Merry Christmas.
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Uh, we will be back next week with a New Year's episode of Cookbook Love podcast.
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I look forward to 2026.
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Uh, thank you all for being here, and I hope you all have a
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wonderful Christmas celebration.
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And as always, keep loving your cookbook.
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Thanks for listening to the Cookbook Love podcast.
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You can find out more information@www.cookbooklove.co.