My mother, Marie Teresa Caroselli Smith (known to her friends as Terre), was born and raised in Jersey City. Upon her marriage to Dad, Hubert Gary Smith (Hugh or Smitty, but I call him Fluffy), in 1954, she began an interesting life of living many places, including three years in France. Fluffy was an officer in the United States Army. So they did this while raising my sister, Leslie Alexandra (now Abuso), and me, Tracy Victoria (now Grant).
When Fluffy retired from the army, he worked as a test pilot for Piper Aircraft in Vero Beach, Florida. That is when Mom started developing her recipes for one in the microwave. When Fluffy was promoted to chief test pilot, they moved to Lakeland, Florida. Mom said, “All the houses we lived in over the years provided me with an opportunity to live a different lifestyle. I finally built the house for the lifestyle I wanted to live.” It was in that house with the well-organized kitchen, that she completed Microwave Cooking for One. (It is where the picture for the cover of the book was taken. I was there that day. While the desserts were prepared ahead of time, she actually cooked all those meals that morning for the photograph. And what a feast we had that evening! The photographer and his assistants dined well too.) In all, she dedicated 10 years to developing and testing all the recipes, and another two years finding a publisher.
Mom passed away in November 1987, just two years after the publication of her book. I was stunned by the many people who went out of their way to come and tell me about all the wonderful things Mom had done for them or helped them in some way. That’s the way she was, always helping people. I simply had no idea how much she actually did. For instance, I knew she volunteered for a Displaced Homemakers program here in Lakeland. She invited these women into her home and gave them a free all-day class on how to cook in the microwave, which included 30 recipes.
Although she is no longer with us, she continues to help many to learn to cook appetizing meals from scratch through her book, Microwave Cooking for One. I have developed this website in her memory in hopes that you too will find her efforts in creating Microwave Cooking for One helpful to your need to be able to cook healthy, appetizing meals while saving time, money and effort.
The reviews and articles that follow were written soon after Microwave Cooking for One was published. I think they will help you to know my mother a little better while showing how microwave cooking can make your life easier. Mom believed that we were becoming a society of single-family households and busy, working households with less time to spend in the kitchen. These insights are true today more than when her book was first published.
– Tracy V. Grant