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So, just in case any of you have missed the mountains of pink everywhere this month, I might as well alert you that this month is Breast Cancer Awareness month here in the states, coinciding with similar breast cancer awareness events in many other countries.

If you would like more information, click here to be whisked away to the Susan G. Komen foundation’s website.

I don’t have a Breast Cancer story to tell. Luckily, Breast Cancer has stayed fairly far away from my family and friends. This is one of the only situations that I find myself lacking a story to relate, and I am so thankful for that.

Cancer is no stranger to my family, however. Two grandparents, 4 great aunts, 2 great uncles, An Aunt, all have battled with cancer. Some won, some lost.

My dad’s mother and my grandmother, died of Brain Cancer in October of 1977.

Though I never met my grandma, I know she was beautiful.

In every picture I’ve seen of her, her thick, dark hair is perfectly coiffed, her makeup applied with precision, her smile like a starlet. When I was growing up, I’d look at my dad’s family photos, and I always thought that she looked like Judy Garland.

My dad says she wore high heels from the moment she woke up until the moment she laid down to go to sleep. Not because it was the style, or she wanted to be like June Cleaver, but because she wasn’t quite 5ft tall, and her husband was much taller than her. Also, she thought she had short legs, and she explained that the cut of the shoe elongated the look of her leg, making them seem longer and narrower. Just knowing that someone so beautiful could be so achingly neurotic… I imagine her like a cross between Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, and though I don’t even know if she liked to dance, when I think about her, I see her dancing and twirling about in my mind.

I hate to pick favourites, but if I had to pick my favourite relatives from both sides of my family, the majority of them would be from my dad’s side. Whatever his parents did to raise such kind, wonderful people, is beyond me.

I wish I knew more about her.
I’ve asked little questions here and there, but my dad was very close to his mom, and its hard for him to talk about her. I can’t blame him for that. Everything I have learned about her, I learned from various other family members, and stories that my Great Aunt Poppy used to tell me when I was younger, about my grandma when she first married my grandpa (My great Aunt Poppy was my grandpa’s sister).

Of course, I try to celebrate the life that my grandma must have lead, and I don’t dwell on her being gone.

So to celebrate her this month, I’ve made her some pink heart butter cookies. My dad says that during the whole month of February, she would decorate and celebrate Valentines day, because Her birthday was on Valentines day. She loved pink and red hearts. I also know that she was a very accomplished baker and cook. My aunts have all told me how amazing her cookies and cakes tasted. She’s part of the reason I took up baking as a hobby.

…And while I know my grandma dying of brain cancer isn’t the same as telling a story about breast cancer, I feel better knowing that I’m able to share the little bit about her that I know.

Brain cancer isn’t something you can really check for on your own. Breast cancer is something you can catch early through regular self examinations and screening methods. Take care of yourself.
Well, now that thats’ all shared and done… On with the recipe, right?!

Cherry almond butter cookies with cherry cream cheese icing-

1 cup butter
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cherry extract
1 tablespoon almond extract
3 tablespoons almond paste or finely ground almonds
2 egg yolks

Cream together the butter, almond paste and the sugars. When fluffy, add the egg yolks and whisk throughly. Whisk in the flavouring extracts. Add the flour a half cup at a time, stirring until fully mixed. refrigerate at least one hour.

Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out to about 1/2 inch thickness. Cut out shapes and lay an inch apart on a nonstick cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes, or until the tops just start to brown a bit.

For the icing-

1 cup cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon cherry extract
a few drops of milk, as needed for thinning
food colouring.

Mix all ingredients together, saving the milk for last, only adding to thin the frosting to the right consistency. Use a piping bag to apply to cooled butter cookies. Sprinkle with decorative sugar and eat!

I honour your memory, Grandma.

-A.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 1st, 2008 at 3:14 am and is filed under October 2007. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.