Week 20: Filled Date Cookies

This week I chose to make filled date cookies.  Dan  requested that I make date cookies this week.  His beloved maternal grandmother Mary Leeson used to make date cookies and Dan loved loved loved them.  He cannot actually remember why he tried date cookies for the first time, because much like Ryan, Dan was a very picky eater when he was a kid. He really liked his Grandma Mary's cooking and baking,  but is still surprised that he tried a cookie that contained dates.  Once he tried them,  they became his favorite cookie that she made.  At times he was the only person who'd eat them.  Grandma Mary passed away in December of 1998, so Dan hasn't eaten one of her date cookies in a number of years.  When he asked me to make them as the cookie of the week, I had him sit with me while I searched the internet for recipes.  Well we found one that looked and sounded similar to Grandma Mary's, so I baked it.  I am ecstatic to report that the cookies are delicious!  They are not exactly the same as Grandma Mary's but Dan swears they are close. I don't actually remember what they tasted like, although I do remember eating them.  The recipe is wonderful but it calls for almond extract.  Dan thinks that the addition of almond extract versus vanilla extract is the small difference between Grandma Mary's cookies and the batch I made today.  Next time I will use vanilla extract in the hope that the recipe will be even closer to the cookies that Dan remembers so fondly.   Here is the link to the recipe that I used:  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Filled-Date-Cookies/Detail.aspx



My 1st trip to the cottage in 1989

 Mary Alberta Mark (Dan's grandmother) was born on July 3, 1918 on her family's farm in Cass City Michigan.  She was one of eleven children and graduated from Cass City high school at the age of 16.  She met Dan's grandfather Russell Kermit Leeson at his sister's house after working a shift at the local Kroger store.  They eloped to Ohio in July of  1940 and were married by a justice of the peace.  Upon return from Ohio, they both went home to their respective families, and kept the marriage a secret for months.  After many years of living in Cass City they made a permanent move to the cottage they owned in Caseville.  It was at this cottage that I first met Dan's grandparents in 1989.  It was right after we graduated from high school, and he took me up to their cottage for the weekend.  I liked his grandparents right away.  They made me feel comfortable right from the beginning and were always extremely kind and generous to me.

When we'd visit the cottage, I'd always get to sleep in the middle bedroom.  Lucky for me as this was the place that Grandma Mary stored all the cookies that she had baked!   It was cool in that room so she'd  store all of her sweet treats in plastic storage containers, or on baking trays covered with foil right on the dressing table. It always smelled so good in there and I have to admit that I snuck a few cookies after bedtime.☺  For years we'd go on vacation "up north" and stay at the cottage with Dan's grandparents.  We had such a good time.  We'd play board games, do puzzles, visit with Dan's extended family, have bonfires, and road trip to neighboring towns like Port Austin and Bad Axe.

On one of these "day trips" Dan took me to Jenks Park.  It had a great beach and a well with a hand pump, perfect for washing the sand off your feet and shoes after a day at the beach.  After that first trip to Jenks Park, every time we went up north, we'd make the trip to what became our favorite beach.  We'd pack picnics, Dan taught me to skip stones, we'd swim, and in the evenings, we'd watch the sunset on Lake Huron.  If it sounds idyllic that's because it was.  We loved loved loved that beach.  Once in the early 90's we took Jim and Chris my "brothers from another mother" up north to visit Grandma Mary, and of course we had to take them to Jenks Park.  We were having a picnic on the beach when a kitten ran up to us and made herself at home on our blanket (see photos below). Well we left Jenks Park with more than memories and pictures that day...we left with a cat.  We appropriately named her Jenks.  She lived with Dan's parents until she died just a few years ago.

Jim, Chris, and Dan at Jenks Park 10-16-93



Jenks and I on the beach



 



My favorite memory of Jenks Park is on October 16, 1993.  It was sweetest day weekend and Dan and I decided to go up north and stay with Grandma Mary.  I had never been up to the cottage in the fall, so Dan and I planned the trip to see the fall color.  We were heading into Port Austin to go to dinner for sweetest day, and we decided to stop at Jenks Park so I could get "fall beach pictures."  Well, while I was on the beach snapping pictures I turned around to see Dan with a box.  He proposed on our favorite beach on that foggy and drizzly day in October.  We were fortunate enough to see 2 young girls walking down the beach and asked them to take our picture (see picture above).  After our dinner we went back to Grandma Mary's cottage to find a bottle of "cold duck" left by Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Dick (Grandma Mary's youngest sister and her husband).  They were in on the secret and left the wine so we could celebrate when we got back to the cottage (see photo below).

We continued to go up to the cottage for years and years.  Even after Grandma Mary entered a nursing home, we'd stay at the cottage so we could visit her for the weekend.  After she passed away we'd still go up north and stay in her home. It was sad to be there without her, but it always felt to me like she was there...just taking a nap in the other room.  The cottage was sold after Grandma Mary passed away and Dan and I were heartbroken.  We had always wished we'd have enough money to buy the place and keep it in the family.  Dan remembers going up north as a kid, and spending his days swimming and spending time with his family.  He really wanted to be able to give our children a piece of that happiness so they'd remember "the cottage on Wild Fowl Bay" as fondly as he did.  Sadly Grandma Mary passed away before our children were born so they didn't get to meet her.  We chose Mary as Victoria's confirmation name to honor her,  and to honor my Sito Georgia whose middle name was also Mary. The kids can recognize Grandma Mary in pictures and they hear plenty of stories about her.  Today as they ate a version of the date cookies that she should have been famous for, I hope that they have another piece of her to add to their memory. ♥

Dan and Grandma Mary...she didn't want her picture
taken because her hair wasn't done ☺

Dan proposed on Jenks Beach 10-16-93

Dan, Grandma Mary, and me at the cottage in 1993.