BOOK: Echo of Heartbreak, A Recipe for Life by Carol Ann Kauffman

 

"Echo of Heartbreak, A Recipe for Life" 

is a short story written in the form of a letter 

from a very ill mother to her unborn daughter, 

telling her the incidents surrounding her birth,

 giving her advice on life, 

and leaving her the best

 of her family recipes.

Excerpt:

A Letter to My Unborn Daughter

 

Hi, Sweetie! 

I’m your mama. My name is Melina Valentina Rossetti Rosemont. I’m thirty-three years old. I’m a geneticist at the Harborton University Hospital. I work in the Lab. I am of Italian descent and married an Englishman, the brilliant and handsome Dr. Ethan John Rosemont, who is a thirty-one-year-old English Literature professor at Harborton University. We say the alphabet threw us together, because Harborton University insisted on us sitting alphabetically at all university meetings. I hope you inherit his thick, gorgeous, blonde wavy hair and tallness and my brown eyes and sense of humor. 

And I have a very serious heart condition. They say it needs attention yesterday. Others in my family have had the same condition and lived full, productive, long lives without submitting to the knife. But there is a very real possibility, honey, that while you’re on your way into the world, I may be on my way out. But this is my choice. Today all we talk about is choice, but usually the choice is to choose not to carry to full term. That is not the choice I am making. I choose to do this. I choose you.

Now, there are a few things I’ve learned along the way to this point in my life, and although I completely give you permission to make your own mistakes, you might want to avoid some of the same ones I made and make a few new and interesting ones of your own!

So, consider this a recipe book. Yes, I’m going to include some of our favorite family recipes. But it’s also a recipe for living a full and happy life.

 

1. It doesn’t matter what others think of you. It matters what you think of you. Wow! If I had only figured this one out earlier. I spent all of my high school and half of my college years trying to fit into a mold that – just didn’t fit me. 

2. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something, even Ethan Rosemont, your father, unless of course, it’s a safety issue, like running with pointy scissors. Then you should listen to him.

3. Love comes in all sizes, shapes, and colors. Don’t overlook potential best friends or lovers because they are different. Your father’s grandma didn’t like Italians. She missed out on knowing and loving a lot of wonderful people with such closed vision. And a whole lot of great dinner invitations and Christmas eves with the thirteen kinds of fishes, and... 

 

Melina’s cell phone rang. She put down the journal.

“Hello?”

“Mel, what did the doctor say?” It was her best friend, Gloria Velasquez.

“He said… Glo, can you come over? Ethan’s not home and I need to talk to you.”

“Oh, Jesus! You are scaring the crap out of me. I’ll be there in five minutes.” Click.

 

4. Men are strange, bizarre creatures. Don’t look for perfection. You will be constantly disappointed. There are no perfect ones, believe me, they all have kinks. Some kinks you see right away, and some you don’t. Pick one who has kinks you can live with. And pick only one man at a time.

5. Don’t make promises lightly. Once you have given your word, keep it. It’s a pact, not only with the other person, but with yourself as well.

CHICKEN SOUP

In a large stockpot, boil a whole chicken in 8 cups of water. Remove chicken, let cool, debone and dice chicken. Return to the stockpot. Cook small pasta for soup according to directions. In a frying pan, sauté 1 T. olive oil, 1 medium diced onion, 3 stalks diced celery, 1 clove garlic (Leave whole, easier to find and remove before serving.) Add to stockpot. Add ½ c. fresh chopped flat-leaf parsley, a pinch of salt and pepper, add pasta and simmer together for 20 minutes.

 

6. Like yourself. Make peace with what you think are your flaws. If you are my daughter, you will probably inherit my wild curly hair, big boobs, ample thighs, and my giggle. Embrace them. Learn to accept them as part of who you are.

7. Stand on your own two feet. You have all the inherent building blocks of an independent woman. You should have met my tough old great grandmother.

 

Dear Gentle Readers,

Sometimes a book comes to life in unusual ways. This book, Echo of Heartbreak, A Recipe fo Life, was an in-depth character profile for a background character who never appeared in the book, MacKalvey House.

MacKalvey House is the story of a young girl abandoned by her father. She had wonderful grandparents that made sure she had every possible advantage they could give her. But, as grandparents age and become ill, Michelle found herself alone. 

After college graduation, young American Michelle Rosemont visits a quaint, little village in England and decides to stay. She takes a job as a photographer for a historical magazine and meets Kenneth MacKalvey, an older British author.

Their mutual attraction is instantaneous, but can she deal with his dark and shady past or will old family scars and secrets stop her from trusting him and keep them apart forever?

They are opposites in every way. Can they find happiness together despite their major differences?

Twists and turns at every corner heighten the suspense in this cozy village mystery.

In this new and exciting chapter in the many lifetimes of our eternal lovers and soulmates, they find each other again. In every new lifetime, fate tends to keep them apart until they’re ready to face the obstacles and handle the burning yet beautiful emotions of love.

Amazon Buy Link:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017HZ6DIS/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i4

When I finished MacKalvey House, I discovered the character profile of Michelle's mother, Melina Valentina Rossetti Rosemont, was enough to tell a story on its own. All I needed were the recipes.

Now, I am descended from a long line of fabulous Italian cooks, but I am not one of them. My mother was an outstanding cook and baker who never wrote down a recipe. She never gave a recipe to anyone either. Well, let me rephrase that. She never gave anyone the recipe correctly.

About ten years before I wrote this book, my mother fell and broke her hip. She was in a rehab facility close to me. But because she was blind and very, very hard of hearing, complete rehabilitation was not expected.

One of our many loud conversations revolved around recipes and the fact I knew she gave me her recipes incorrectly. She just laughed. She explained while she was able, she was always happy to make whatever we wanted and wanted hers to be the best. But now that her kitchen days were over, she was willing to rattle off a list of ingredients and directions for X. 

So I went home and made X and the next day returned with a little bowl of X, to which my mother would say "too much flour, too much salt, you rushed it, didn't you?"

After many attempts and a few laughs along the way, many (not all) of her recipes were saved. Mother came home from the facility in a wheelchair, but she came home to live another four years. She passed away in 2006. 

These are those hard-fought-for recipes. I gave them to my family members in a scrapbook with photos of my parents early days, everybody's wedding day, and the kids when they were little. And now, you can have them, too.

Go hug your mama,
Carol

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