My grandma is 85 now, in 2026. She moved to Kharkiv from Georgia as a student and, by her own account, couldn't cook at all. A friend who shared her dorm room taught her. She only got really good at it as an adult, and honestly, she was never an amazing cook and never loved cooking that much.
But everything my grandma does, she does well, because she's a straight-A student. So all her food was tasty, and some of her recipes are perfectly balanced, tried and polished over the years.
She's the one who taught me to cook. My mom doesn't have much of a knack for it and never hides it (though she has her own signature dishes, of course). Grandma and I spent a lot of time together, and mom says she has never loved anyone the way she loves me.
At some point grandma started writing her recipes down just for me. In her flat we found several notebooks filled with all kinds of dishes, everything I love.
These days grandma forgets a lot. Sometimes she can't remember my name, or who exactly I am to her. But she always loves me just as much and is proud of me. She keeps saying so, even when she no longer quite remembers what she's proud of.
On her better days she might ask me if I remember how we made Napoleon cake together, and how we pickled cucumbers.
And I remember.
I remember, and I'm endlessly grateful. For teaching me to ferment cabbage, bake medovyk and khachapuri, light a gas oven, polish a wardrobe, plant tomato seedlings.
For teaching me to be honest and simple, welcoming, and able to love without limits and without asking for anything back.
She taught me to crack walnuts and dry calendula. To make satsivi and pit cherries with a hairpin.
I don't want to lose the recipes grandma so carefully wrote out in her notebooks, so of course I'll keep them safe. I want this section to be a digital library. I haven't cooked everything here myself, and some dishes I've never even tasted. It will take me a long time to try them all.
But like my grandma, I want to share. Not just the recipes, but the love that went into them.
I want a piece of grandma's memory to stay somewhere forever. And I don't mean the internet. Her memory will live in me, and I want to pass some of it on to you.
Maybe one day you'll like one of grandma's recipes, one from here or one from my main page. And when you cook it at home, a piece of this story will travel on.
You'll keep carrying grandma's love around the world.
Because she has endless love. There's enough for everyone.
Sasha