The story continues…..
We left off with the first version of the cookbook being printed and distributed in 1979, as a surprise Christmas gift for our family. They all loved the gift and asked if we had more copies to give to their friends….fast forward from 1979 to 1990…”Several moves later, when the Weisser family returned to California from Guam, Kerry decided to expand the earlier version of the cookbook.”

With the help of my brother, Rad, and his original Mac computer that used floppy disks, I began to type up more of our family favorite recipes. With the help of my mom, sister and aunt Nancy, we collected more recipes and tested each one to make sure it would make the cut before it was added to the cookbook. My Uncle Yogi and cousin Kurt owned a printing company in Redwood city and they published the first edition of Baby Bear Stew: A Family Heritage Cookbook. Helping illustrate the cookbook were the oldest three of my four daughters-at the time Rachel was 9, Jessica was 7, Bethany was 4 and Bekah was 18 months old. Bekah did get her handprint made into a turkey for one of the illustrations and she was my sweet baby buddy who sat and played on a blanket near me while I typed every day. Each chapter begins with a drawing and a saying like “You can give without loving, but you can’t love without giving”.

The 1990 newspaper article explains…”All the recipes are “tried and true”. Most are relatively simple or “easy gourmet” but there are a few elegant ones like Nancy’s Flaming Veal and Gram’s Orange Tarragon Chicken with Grapes. Most of the salad recipes have been adapted to use plain yogurt instead of sour cream for health conscious people …

This week’s Passion Perspective features one of our very own……….the story began many, many years ago, in the fall of 1990…..when a bay area newspaper featured an article titled
The Roselyn Family Shares the Joy of Cooking“

The article began with a bit of history…
“Cooking is a joy in the Roselyn family which now spans 4 generations. Friends remember special times and wonderful food enjoyed over the years at Myrna and Leo Roselyn’s former home in Atherton, their condo in Menlo Park and at the home of their daughters, Roz Wagner and Nan Jorgensen. To the Roselyn family, food means a gathering of family and friends, sharing, nurturing, an act of love. Now their granddaughter, Kerry Wagner Weisser, has taken the next step. She’s gathered the BEST of the BEST into Baby Bear Stew: A Family Heritage Cookbook.”
And now 25 years later, Kerry’s 4 daughters are married to 4 awesome guys who love to eat and there are 7 grandchildren so far who have all benefitted from this great heritage of family food, fun and fellowship. Over 1,000 copies of the Baby Bear Stew Cookbook have been sold and many have been given as wedding presents. The family heritage of great cooks now spans 5 generations and we hope our passion for healthy eating will continue for years to come.…