A long time ago, in this galaxy, my Dad quit his job as a junior exec with an international energy company rather than submit annual reviews of his employees with forced rankings that didn’t match their actual performance (way to go, Dad!).
He found another job within a couple of months (way to go, Dad!), but the fallow, between-jobs period was right before the holidays. Money was tight. So he and my mom started what became a lovely tradition of handmade gifts.
He made several cutting boards with leftover parquet flooring that year: one for my mom, one for his mom, and one for his mother-in-law. I inherited them from both of my grandmothers and keep one at Little House in the Rockies, using the other as my everyday cutting board here at Glover Gardens, 41 years after that meager and yet most wonderful Christmas. You see them in many of my food pictures here in the blog.
Fast-forward to 2015, today. Sitting next to my Dad, I opened the most awesome gift for a cook: another handmade cutting board.
Way to go, Dad!
I look at this beauty that my Dad made and see not just 40+ years ahead of family meals and memories and love, but also a precious heirloom.
Update: here’s a nice post from another blogger about making cutting boards that shows how complex the process is.
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