View in browser When I was a young girl, my mom and I would sit on my grandparent's wraparound porch—which Nana and Grampa called the piazza—and look out over the Berkshire Hills. I loved sitting there on the piazza talking to my mom about old times. “Tell me Mom, what was your grandmother Lettie like?” “She was a great cook,” were the first words out of her mouth. “She was also very stern.” Inside my grandparent’s farmhouse were pictures of Great-grandma Lettie, and to be honest, she kind of scared me. She seemed tall and burly and I couldn't imagine being gathered into her arms and cuddled, the way my Nana Sears hugged me. “But she was an amazing baker! Wow, could she bake! Homemade bread, Boston cream pie, baking powder biscuits, blueberry muffins with wild berries we'd pick along the roadside, and her famous lightning cake filled with homemade strawberry jam” Mom said. “What do you mean? She made a cake when there was thunder and lightning outside?” I asked. She replied, “No, it was so quick and easy to make, it was fast like lightning.” I still wish I’d met Great-grandma Lettie—despite the fact that she seemed a little scary—and had a chance to bake with her. But I am lucky enough to have the original recipe for her famous Lightening Cake. It’s over 150 years old, but beyond the stains and smudges, I can still make out her surprisingly delicate script. In recent years, I’ve made Lettie’s Lightening Cake, and as the sweet fragrance of vanilla and strawberries wafts through my kitchen, I think maybe Great-grandma Lettie wouldn’t have been so intimidating after all. Hope you’ll enjoy her recipe as much as I do! Lettie’s Lightening Cake with Wild Strawberry Jam Happy Mother’s Day to all of the incredible mom’s out there! P.S. What’s one of your favorite food memories from your mom, grandmother, or great-grandmother?? You can also find me here!