What is your name?
Jan: Janet Lynn Houston. I was named after my dad’s old girlfriend. I was always told that my dad loved the name Janet. Here’s the funny part, my dad wasn’t always faithful. I knew it, but I didn’t really understand it until later on.
When my mother was older and living in an assisted living facility, I took her and a friend to Leavenworth Washington. My mother wanted a keychain with her name on it, Doris. I saw my name up there, and asked my mother if she ever minded that I was named after one of my fathers girlfriends. She said “no, except I didn’t know that he was still dating her, at the time.”
Emily: Haha. We call her Grandma Jan. She is Brett’s mother, and to connect the dots for everyone, Brett is my partner. She treats my children like her own extended family, and we are very grateful for the love.
The questions…
You always worked, even when working wasn’t the stylish thing to do. Why?
Jan: Money, of course.
Emily: Ha!
Jan: During my first marriage I got pregnant right after college and money was tight. At first I was able to work part-time, which was really nice. I went full-time when I divorced Brett’s dad.
Emily: Having a job probably gave you the freedom to get a divorce.
Jan: Yes, there was stigma around divorce in the late 1970’s, but yes it gave me the freedom.
One of the things you’re known for (besides your love of wine) is your baking/cooking. Where did you learn your kitchen skills?
Jan: My mom taught me. The cooking goes back generations! My great grandmother cooked for work camps where they fed the workers lunch. These were work camps where men would be doing things like building buildings. My grandmother was a terrific cook as well. It seems to run in the family. I love to cook, as does Cassie (eldest daughter), as does Kyla (granddaughter).
I started making biscuits when I was training for my job as a Home Ec teacher. Biscuits were the first thing the kids learned to make in Home Ec. I learned how to make them from another Home Ec teacher. The #1 rule is to keep from overmixing them, and no rolling pins! The original recipe has shortening, which makes things more tender than butter does. But my registered and certified dietitian daughter, Cassie, says that butter is more healthy, so I switched. It still tastes great.
Emily: I can attest that Grandma Jan’s biscuits, hot out of the oven and slathered with salty butter and her homemade raspberry or strawberry jam, are AMAZING. They are one of the things I always say yes to, when she makes them.
What is your favorite thing to make?
Jan: I am more of a baker than a cook. And I love to make something that everything loves.
Emily: Note – Baking for others is TOTALLY Jan’s love language, and I see the same thing in her granddaughter, Kyla.
Jan: If I had to pick a favorite, it would be my butterscotch cream pie. You can’t get it at a restaurant, and everyone loves it. The recipe came from my mother. My peach cobbler is another favorite; it came from my grandmother. Both are family traditions.
Everyone knows how to make pudding, and I had taken over making the butterscotch cream pie for the holidays. Then one year my mother showed up for the holidays with her butterscotch cream pie and it was better than mine. I realized my mother was putting salt into the pie. It changed the way I made that pie forever. Salt kicked up the flavor. I use it a lot more when I’m baking, now.
Are you willing to share your butterscotch cream pie recipe?
Jan: Yes! My mother always said that we should share recipes. She considered it cruel and selfish to not share them. But what makes the pie special is my homemade pie crust, so I’ll have to pull the recipe together.
Emily: I love your philosophy about sharing recipes. That’s lovely.
Jan: Sometimes it backfires, when I show up to an event with something like my famous deviled eggs, and one of my friends shows up with the SAME EGGS.
You know what else? I think I deal with stress (or boredom) by cooking and baking. When a friend had a family emergency, I cooked for two days and then took over the meal. If you ever have a family or friend who is bereaved or struggling, ham dinners are the absolute best. They can use the ham diced up in scrambled eggs, have ham sandwiches for lunch, and ham and mashed potatoes for dinner. It’s so versatile and helpful.
Emily: When my mother died, I was grateful that I lived in an area where DoorDash existed, and that I had the means to have food delivered in. And a friend sent me a bottle of good whiskey, which was amazing. A ham would have been great!