Jinger's Engaged to the Son of a Preacherman

[Italiangirl]

@halcionne thanks for the tips, i Was thinking That beef is like meet... Another thing i learn fronte FJ 

[samurai_sarah]

@Italiangirl

That recipe sounds wonderful! And quite easy to replicate. Thank you for sharing!

[JillyO]

3 hours ago, EmCatlyn said:

They didn't strike me as "attention whores."   It was a brief message, and you got the impression that the grandmother was just so happy for Jeremy that she was bursting.  They may turn out to be "fame whores" -- you sort of know the father is-- but a couple of grandparents sending  best wishes totheir grandson and his girlfriend... That is just human.  

As for the grandmother being willing to be filmed teaching her grandson's bride how to make marinara sauce or whatever . . . Again, why not?  It is unlikely that the grandma went to TLC and asked them to put her in the show.  She is just going along with what her grandson asked.  My mom would have been ecstatic to teach a prospective grandchild-in-law a recipe (on tv or off).

Maybe they will turn out to be fame whores, but on the evidence so far they are no more than loving grandparents.  (If she really is still Catholic, the grandma's statement that she would pray for them is interesting.)

Let's agree to disagree. Of course it's normal to congratulate your grandchild and future in-law. There are plenty of ways to do so: In person, via telephone, via text or e-mail (if they do that kind of thing), by sending a card, by recording a video and sending it to the couple or even by posting it on their private Facebook. In my world, it's definitely NOT normal to congratulate your grandson on his engagement by publically uploading a congratulatory video for the whole world to watch. Screams attention whore to me. YMMV.

[CoveredInBees]

I kind of agree @JillyO If Jinger really wanted to learn the old family recipes she could do it off camera, if grandma really wanted to share it could be done off camera.

Mind you, I imagine the conversation went like something like this:

Granny Vuolo: I'd love for Jinger to come over so we could get to know her, I could show her some family recipes......

Jin/Jer: that would be lovely, can we bring the cameras?

Granny Vuolo: (not wanting to alienate the fiancée) Er......................... Sure

Or:

TLC: we need to make you interesting Jinger, we can't have another season like the last one. We have to show you interacting with people who don't come from the same uterus as you, Any ideas?

Jinger: Erm, Jeremy has family.

TLC: Holy SHIT an Italian Grandma! that means COOKING! Let's drag her on board (without paying her if possible) and see if we can find a money spinner.

6 months later, Mother Vuolo's pasta sauce hits the shelves  

It'll be interesting to see how much the rellies are all on TV a year after the marriage

 

 

[lizzybee]

"Grandma, Grandpa this is a thing with Jinger's family where they like to post all their congratulations for everything in a video on the internet for their fans to see. They thought it would be nice for you to do the same." 

"What do I have to say?" 

"Just the truth, that you're excited about us being engaged." 

"Okay." 

That's how I imagine it went. 

[nst]

1 hour ago, CoveredInBees said:

I kind of agree @JillyO If Jinger really wanted to learn the old family recipes she could do it off camera, if grandma really wanted to share it could be done off camera.

Mind you, I imagine the conversation went like something like this:

Granny Vuolo: I'd love for Jinger to come over so we could get to know her, I could show her some family recipes......

Jin/Jer: that would be lovely, can we bring the cameras?

Granny Vuolo: (not wanting to alienate the fiancée) Er......................... Sure

Or:

TLC: we need to make you interesting Jinger, we can't have another season like the last one. We have to show you interacting with people who don't come from the same uterus as you, Any ideas?

Jinger: Erm, Jeremy has family.

TLC: Holy SHIT an Italian Grandma! that means COOKING! Let's drag her on board (without paying her if possible) and see if we can find a money spinner.

6 months later, Mother Vuolo's pasta sauce hits the shelves  

It'll be interesting to see how much the rellies are all on TV a year after the marriage

 

 

Jinger interesting - and the Pope likes to be married 

they are going to milk Jeremy's parents / grandparents just so they all appear normal

Think of Jessa with Flame's wife having lunch 

FAKE and unreal - we will see right through it 

[twinmama]

15 hours ago, Purrl said:

This, exactly.  My family recipes are like this - Aunt Sarah's Peanut Butter Fudge Frosting: Add 2 Tbsp of Jiff Peanut Butter to 1 container of Betty Crocker Fudge Frosting and mix well. Spread on "homemade" cake (mix from a box)...

Well to be fair to Aunt Sarah, that does sound super delicious! lol

[CreationMuseumSeasonPass]

The main recipe that's been passed down in my Midwestern family is ostakaka. It's basically a Scandinavian cheese custard cake. My great-great grandparents came over to Nebraska from Denmark in the 1880s and it's been passed down since then. However, nobody has seemed to make it since my great-aunt died in 2000, even though we all still have the recipe. In Swedish, Ost is cheese and Kaka is cake.

My dad, uncle and grandpa used to go crazy for it back in the day during holiday celebrations. I remember it had an unusual texture, think cottage cheese mixed with flan. I wish I had appreciated "different tastes and foods" when I was younger. My grandpa is going to be 90 later this year. Maybe I'll try making it for him during the holiday season.

[Mela99]

My Italian spidey-sense is tingling. I'm going to lose my mind if they turn this into a billion and one pasta jokes and poorly pronounced 'buongiornos'. YOU DON'T MESS WITH MY PEOPLE, TLC. 

Also, I hope that Granny is truly okay with sharing the family recipe... on TV... as a holder of many family recipes that came over on the boat, my response would be NO WAY. 

[lizzybee]

My husband's family has this mysterious buttermilk pie that they all freak out about. You can google buttermilk pie but it's not the same thing/doesn't taste the same. It's one of those passed down recipes. As far as I know his aunt currently has the recipe and she's the one who brings it to all the things. At first, I thought buttermilk+pie was revolting. Now? I have to say it's grown on me as a flavor. I don't want a big huge piece, mind you. But I have come to appreciate a few bites of this peculiar pie each member of the family feels one must love if you want to use their last name. 

[Four is Enough]

21 minutes ago, lizzybee said:

 each member of the family feels one must love if you want to use their last name. 

Mr. Four's family is like that with the Polish food, particularly pierogi. So I didn't take his last name.

[wikinggirl]

1 hour ago, CreationMuseumSeasonPass said:

The main recipe that's been passed down in my Midwestern family is ostakaka. It's basically a Scandinavian cheese custard cake. My great-great grandparents came over to Nebraska from Denmark in the 1880s and it's been passed down since then. However, nobody has seemed to make it since my great-aunt died in 2000, even though we all still have the recipe. In Swedish, Ost is cheese and Kaka is cake.

My dad, uncle and grandpa used to go crazy for it back in the day during holiday celebrations. I remember it had an unusual texture, think cottage cheese mixed with flan. I wish I had appreciated "different tastes and foods" when I was younger. My grandpa is going to be 90 later this year. Maybe I'll try making it for him during the holiday season.

Let me know if you want it translated! I could probably do it pretty easily:)

[PianoPounder]

4 hours ago, CreationMuseumSeasonPass said:

The main recipe that's been passed down in my Midwestern family is ostakaka. It's basically a Scandinavian cheese custard cake. My great-great grandparents came over to Nebraska from Denmark in the 1880s and it's been passed down since then. However, nobody has seemed to make it since my great-aunt died in 2000, even though we all still have the recipe. In Swedish, Ost is cheese and Kaka is cake.

My dad, uncle and grandpa used to go crazy for it back in the day during holiday celebrations. I remember it had an unusual texture, think cottage cheese mixed with flan. I wish I had appreciated "different tastes and foods" when I was younger. My grandpa is going to be 90 later this year. Maybe I'll try making it for him during the holiday season.

That sounds really interesting! I  cheesy desserts.

I'm so jealous of people who have family recipes handed down like that, especially from other countries. My family has been in the U.S. so long that we have basically nothing left from our originating cultures. We don't even really have any family recipes, other than my great-grandma's mints.

[defraudedbychipendales]

Way back when they announced the courtship, I went and did some googling. Waaaaay back (at least 25 pages) in the search, I found congratulations and photos with Grannie. She obviously adores him.

[EmCatlyn]

13 hours ago, JillyO said:

Let's agree to disagree. Of course it's normal to congratulate your grandchild and future in-law. There are plenty of ways to do so: In person, via telephone, via text or e-mail (if they do that kind of thing), by sending a card, by recording a video and sending it to the couple or even by posting it on their private Facebook. In my world, it's definitely NOT normal to congratulate your grandson on his engagement by publically uploading a congratulatory video for the whole world to watch. Screams attention whore to me. YMMV.

I see your point. To me the question is whether the video was their idea (in which case it is a little attention-seeking) or if the Duggars or someone from TLC suggested it and showed up with a camera.  Older people often do things to humor their kids or grandkids that they might not think of doing themselves.  I think it is too early to label them attention whores.  JMHO

[EmCatlyn]

12 hours ago, CoveredInBees said:

I kind of agree @JillyO If Jinger really wanted to learn the old family recipes she could do it off camera, if grandma really wanted to share it could be done off camera.

Mind you, I imagine the conversation went like something like this:

Granny Vuolo: I'd love for Jinger to come over so we could get to know her, I could show her some family recipes......

Jin/Jer: that would be lovely, can we bring the cameras?

Granny Vuolo: (not wanting to alienate the fiancée) Er......................... Sure

Or:

TLC: we need to make you interesting Jinger, we can't have another season like the last one. We have to show you interacting with people who don't come from the same uterus as you, Any ideas?

Jinger: Erm, Jeremy has family.

TLC: Holy SHIT an Italian Grandma! that means COOKING! Let's drag her on board (without paying her if possible) and see if we can find a money spinner.

6 months later, Mother Vuolo's pasta sauce hits the shelves  

It'll be interesting to see how much the rellies are all on TV a year after the marriage

 

I totally agree that it is possible to congratulate the grandkids and give cooking lessons to the future grandaughter-in-law without the cameras.  I just think that until we see other signs of attention-whoring from the grandparents we could consider the possibility that the videos weren't their idea.  

What I'd really like to know, though, is if these grandparents are or are not  practicing Catholics.  It would be interesting if they are.

[Cassia]

6 hours ago, Mela99 said:

My Italian spidey-sense is tingling. I'm going to lose my mind if they turn this into a billion and one pasta jokes and poorly pronounced 'buongiornos'. YOU DON'T MESS WITH MY PEOPLE, TLC. 

Also, I hope that Granny is truly okay with sharing the family recipe... on TV... as a holder of many family recipes that came over on the boat, my response would be NO WAY. 

I'm quite curious about this. Why would you say NO WAY to sharing a family recipe? I admit that I have none - my family is from the east coast of Canada and while there are a lot of recipes and foods from that region that you won't find anywhere else, I can't imagine holding on tight to any of them and not sharing. I just think that if I had a spectacular recipe, I would want to pass it along to others, especially family and friends. Sort of like, the more good recipes we share, the better we all get to eat (-Simply Recipes)

I honestly don't understand the mindset behind it. So my question is just a simple, why?

[nst]

27 minutes ago, EmCatlyn said:

I totally agree that it is possible to congratulate the grandkids and give cooking lessons to the future grandaughter-in-law without the cameras.  I just think that until we see other signs of attention-whoring from the grandparents we could consider the possibility that the videos weren't their idea.  

What I'd really like to know, though, is if these grandparents are or are not  practicing Catholics.  It would be interesting if they are.

How would they all hide their thoughts   

 

[VelociRapture]

56 minutes ago, Cassia said:

I'm quite curious about this. Why would you say NO WAY to sharing a family recipe? I admit that I have none - my family is from the east coast of Canada and while there are a lot of recipes and foods from that region that you won't find anywhere else, I can't imagine holding on tight to any of them and not sharing. I just think that if I had a spectacular recipe, I would want to pass it along to others, especially family and friends. Sort of like, the more good recipes we share, the better we all get to eat (-Simply Recipes)

I honestly don't understand the mindset behind it. So my question is just a simple, why?

Speaking for myself:

My family does not share our delicious Christmas cookie recipe with non-family members. It's an incredibly special recipe that only my family has (that we know of - I've searched online and never found anything similar). It's not simply a recipe for us - it's over 100 years of family love and history that we only have at Christmas.

(The only exception to this was when my late Great-Aunt became too old to make them a few years before she passed; mom and I made them for her birthday or as a "feel better soon" surprise when she wasn't feeling good. Mom believes when you hit 90 years old Christmas can be every damn day if you want it to be. )

My mother passed the recipe to me before I moved out three years ago. She received it from my father's Aunt when my parents married. My Great-Aunt received it from her mother. It might go back further, but it's been in the family at least 100 years. So, for us, there is a huge amount of sentimental value to this recipe that makes it so special to us.

Others are free to enjoy them when we make it, but we don't hand out the recipe to just anyone. This is really the only recipe we guard like that though. Anything else we're pretty happy to share.

[Mela99]

1 hour ago, Cassia said:

I'm quite curious about this. Why would you say NO WAY to sharing a family recipe? I admit that I have none - my family is from the east coast of Canada and while there are a lot of recipes and foods from that region that you won't find anywhere else, I can't imagine holding on tight to any of them and not sharing. I just think that if I had a spectacular recipe, I would want to pass it along to others, especially family and friends. Sort of like, the more good recipes we share, the better we all get to eat (-Simply Recipes)

I honestly don't understand the mindset behind it. So my question is just a simple, why?

Part of it, for me at least, is cultural. I was always told growing up that there were some recipes that were special family recipes and not to be shared. I don't know if that's true for all Italians -- @laPapessaGiovanna would be able to tell you better than I would -- but for our particular sect of southern Italians, you keep some recipes in the bloodline. I was legitimately surprised to see an Italian woman sharing a  family sauce recipe with someone BEFORE she married into the family. Again, not trying to stereotype my own people here, but that was just my experience with mostly Italian extended family and friends. 

For me personally, sure, I share some recipes. Some are of my own development, some I've tweaked a little from family favorites. Even a basic sauce recipe is on my blog. But not THE sauce recipe. 

There are a few that are hands-off.  I was extraordinarily close to my maternal grandmother, the one who was born and raised in Italy, and these family recipes were a huge bond for us. To have them and enjoy them, I hold on to a piece of her, and keep her alive within me. I want to pass down that love and that passion for home cooking and instill in my own children pride in their ancestors and appreciation for something that was truly made with love. Because to me, it's not just a sauce recipe, or just a bread recipe. It's a part of something so much bigger.  It's priceless, especially since 99% of my immigrant relatives have passed on now. 

That's my two cents anyway. 

[Lillymuffin]

My family is mostly German, but we have a few recipes like that, too. The biggies are my great-great aunt's sugarcake recipe, my grandma's snickerdoodle recipe, and my great-grandmother's recipe for homemade pot pie noodles. Lots of people make them, but no one make them quite like they did. 

Keeping the recipes in the family, at least around here, is a way of knowing "who your people are." When you taste a deviled egg or some chicken salad (another of Grandma's specialties) at a church social, you can instantly know who made it by how it tastes.

[backyard sylph]

45 minutes ago, Mela99 said:

Part of it, for me at least, is cultural. I was always told growing up that there were some recipes that were special family recipes and not to be shared. I don't know if that's true for all Italians -- @laPapessaGiovanna would be able to tell you better than I would -- but for our particular sect of southern Italians, you keep some recipes in the bloodline. I was legitimately surprised to see an Italian woman sharing a  family sauce recipe with someone BEFORE she married into the family. Again, not trying to stereotype my own people here, but that was just my experience with mostly Italian extended family and friends. 

For me personally, sure, I share some recipes. Some are of my own development, some I've tweaked a little from family favorites. Even a basic sauce recipe is on my blog. But not THE sauce recipe. 

There are a few that are hands-off.  I was extraordinarily close to my maternal grandmother, the one who was born and raised in Italy, and these family recipes were a huge bond for us. To have them and enjoy them, I hold on to a piece of her, and keep her alive within me. I want to pass down that love and that passion for home cooking and instill in my own children pride in their ancestors and appreciation for something that was truly made with love. Because to me, it's not just a sauce recipe, or just a bread recipe. It's a part of something so much bigger.  It's priceless, especially since 99% of my immigrant relatives have passed on now. 

That's my two cents anyway. 

That really sounds very nice. It's completely opposite to my experience. There just wasn't one way they all did anything, and everything was for sharing and giving and making more of, and, of course, arguing over. Grandma's potatoes and eggs and Aunt Marie's stuffed shells are lovely memories, but they weren't sacred; they were just a part of what they had to offer, the moment anyone walked in the door, because people are for feeding.

The Easter cookies, those were a recipe most people learned to make, only Mom and the aunts were always afraid to bake the twisted dough with colored eggs in it like Grandma did. Everything they did they changed a little bit, to suit themselves and to work with what they had. I make what they made, a lot of it, but I actually have access to better ingredients, so it's not quite the same. Except the olives. I can choose olives from 6 or 8 countries at three nearby stores, but they'll never be the ones Mom drove down to Independence Avenue for. No, I take back what I first said: the memories are sacred; they're just not singular or secret. :-)

[Karma]

So, my English MIL makes a great Christmas pudding.  Better than the one my late grandmother used to make, and better than the one my mum now makes from nan's recioe (which is better than nan's because she's reduced the amount of ginger).  

MIL hasn't held Christmas dinner at her place in at least 8 years, I do it most years although my SIL is now happy to alternate with me.  MIL still makes the pudding, and her sons and grandsons love it.  I always give it high praise.

I've been married to her son for 24 years, and we were going out for 7 years before that.  I've asked her for the recipe quite a fe times, but she still hasn't given it to me.  She's 80 now.  It annoyed me, but now my attitude is that if she doesn't give it to me and its eventually lost, then her son will have to suck it up and eat my family recipe Christmas pudding.  

[laPapessaGiovanna]

3 hours ago, Mela99 said:

Part of it, for me at least, is cultural. I was always told growing up that there were some recipes that were special family recipes and not to be shared. I don't know if that's true for all Italians -- @laPapessaGiovanna would be able to tell you better than I would -- but for our particular sect of southern Italians, you keep some recipes in the bloodline. I was legitimately surprised to see an Italian woman sharing a  family sauce recipe with someone BEFORE she married into the family. Again, not trying to stereotype my own people here, but that was just my experience with mostly Italian extended family and friends. 

For me personally, sure, I share some recipes. Some are of my own development, some I've tweaked a little from family favorites. Even a basic sauce recipe is on my blog. But not THE sauce recipe. 

There are a few that are hands-off.  I was extraordinarily close to my maternal grandmother, the one who was born and raised in Italy, and these family recipes were a huge bond for us. To have them and enjoy them, I hold on to a piece of her, and keep her alive within me. I want to pass down that love and that passion for home cooking and instill in my own children pride in their ancestors and appreciation for something that was truly made with love. Because to me, it's not just a sauce recipe, or just a bread recipe. It's a part of something so much bigger.  It's priceless, especially since 99% of my immigrant relatives have passed on now. 

That's my two cents anyway. 

That's how we lost the only "secret" recipe of the family I cared for. My mother comes from a family of no secret recipes, I think it's because my great grandmother on that side was a girl from the big town, quite foreign to the ways of homemaking typical of the countryside. My grandmother is very ignorant of traditions and my mother too. It doesn't help that every woman on that side of the family couldn't stand each other especially their MILs. On my father's side there were recipes, I especially remember very well my grandmother's puoti di Santa Lucia, but gran had three sons with a passion for eating and none for cooking who married three very different women who unfortunately are just three shades of eternally warring bitches so basically none managed to get my grandma's recipes before she had her ictus, after that she tried to tell us grandkids but she couldn't remember. Every year for Santa Lucia I try to recreate the recipe basing it on the very scarce memories my father (who knows nothing about baking) has of it. Until now a complete failure :-(. Should I find the exact recipe you can bet I'll shout it from the rooftops.

Anyway other sides of the family (my mother's 5 SILs) aren't shy in sharing recipes but I don't know if there are secret recipes in their families. 

[Meridae]

My favorite family recipe story isn't even a recipe from my family!

So one of our neighbors, who attends the same parish as my parents do, makes this amazing coffee cake. It's so good that she'll auction it off at church fundraisers and can easily net $300 for one single cake. She guards this recipe like a lion, to the extent where the woman won't let her kids in the kitchen while she cooks and won't let them go through the garbage can when she's done (she's that crazy about it). My mother, who is an avid baker and cook, had tried several times to find a similar version of this cake online with little success, but she was pretty sure the base of the cake was a box mix- boxed cakes have a different consistency than from-scratch cakes do! So I guess one day she happened to stumble across this blog post from five years before, and lo and behold... "This is my friend Fran's (our neighbor) mother's crumb cake recipe! It has been in her family for several years and it's the only crumb cake you'll ever need!" complete with pictures and very clear instructions.

IT WAS THE CRUMB CAKE.

AND IT WAS, INDEED, A BOX MIX.

Now remember, this lady pretty much quarantines the kitchen while she makes this cake so how the recipe got out of her hands and onto the Internet we're not exactly sure. But it is so yummy! Now it's pretty much become the family joke, and it's tradition to make the cake for nearly every family function or as gifts. I have to say my mom makes it better than our neighbor does (and we don't have to fork over $300+ for a slice!)