Grammy Wyckoff's Chicken Noodle Soup

Don and Gladys Wyckoff

Grandparents are amazing people. They swoop in for visits bringing a shocking array of treasures in their suitcases. When mine came to visit us in Boston in the 1970s my Grandmother would bring things like spray orange cheese-food and my Grandfather would lovingly carry on the airplane a hybrid orchid he had nurtured in his California greenhouse. These were special times! Spray cheese was certainly not something my mother would ever purchase for us. And an orchid arriving in New England was a rare event, especially when they were named for the grandchildren.

But the most unique gifts by far were the little captured times we shared together making something I'd never seen before. Grammy Wyckoff grew up in Kansas and moved to California as a married woman. Somewhere along that path, she learned to make Chicken Noodle Soup. On one of her rare trips to Boston, she spent a whole day making that soup with me. I couldn't have been more than 10 years old, but do you know, it was probably one of the most important gifts she ever gave me. I still make that soup to this day. Granted, I might not spend the time hand making the egg noodles she carefully rolled out and hung around the kitchen. I do, however, make my own chicken stock from our roast chicken. When any of us come down with a cold or sore throat, it is the thing that makes the world right again.


Now, I might add, my mother comes to my house in London with full suitcases of joy. She tried to bring my children the treasured spray cheese from across the sea, but I had to put my foot down on that one. She muttered something about it being good enough for my grandmother to bring us .... But what my children want more than anything is time making bran and molasses bread or perhaps a batch of homemade cookies or two. 

I've published the Grammy's Chicken Noodle Soup recipe in a separate blog post. Do try it, as I think it is a classic. http://www.lifeatmybench.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/chicken-noodle-soup.html

What is a favourite recipe one of your Grandparents taught you?