Seduced by Oreos

Living Simply, Living Fully
January 19, 2018
A New Way of Observing Lent
February 16, 2018
Living Simply, Living Fully
January 19, 2018
A New Way of Observing Lent
February 16, 2018

By Sister Judith Ann Zielinski, OSF 

Christmas is over, but a few cookies, remnants of my December baking marathon, still rest in Tupperware at the back of my freezer. The annual frenzy of flour, sugar and sheet pans is once again another year away.

Loretta Zielinski, my mother, was a terrific baker. I cannot remember a time in my childhood when I didn’t see her, several times a week, pulling breads, cookies, cakes and pies out of the oven in her impossibly small kitchen. Most of these fed our family of six, but many went to church-related events: countless bake sales at SS Peter & Paul School in west Detroit; others to Altar-Rosary Society meetings; still others to the Sylvania Franciscan Sisters down the street.

Loretta was justifiably proud of her baking, always done from scratch—not from– God forbid– box mixes. Nor were goodies ever purchased from a bakery. (Polish pumpernickel and rye breads were the only exception.)  We grew up on homemade oatmeal raisin cookies; peach and cherry pies full of backyard fruit we had picked and pitted; birthday cakes decorated with flowers and borders after she mastered several cake-decorating courses.

Accustomed to this culinary “embarrassment of riches,” I still yearned foolishly for the forbidden fruit of store-bought cookies: Oreos! They looked so impossibly perfect, lined up in their cellophane sleeves, each one nestled exactly, perfectly, against its neighbor. Homemade cookies never looked like that. They were irregular in size, shape, and circumference. I was seduced by the commercial perfection of those interlopers on the shelves. I can remember begging in vain for a package of Oreos. “No. You have much better than that at home,” Loretta would sniff.

I now bake year-round for family, friends, neighbors, and the poor and homeless community at the Catholic Worker. But it’s at Christmas that I try to honor mom’s legacy. She started her Christmas baking soon after Thanksgiving, creating multiple dozens of cookies varying in style, color, and ingredients. They were incredible. I wonder how I could have ever longed for factory-stamped-out, sugar-laden “zombie cookies” — over her Polish nut rolls and “angel wings,” her powdered-sugar rolled snowballs, the buttery shortbreads and soft macaroons, her apricot and raspberry-filled kolaczki?

It’s easy to be attracted to and tempted by whatever is “shiny and bright.” Only with age have I found the wisdom (most of the time!) to recognize the false from the true, the cheap from the valuable, the real from the fake. Mass-produced perfection never beats homemade from the heart. I now try to manage not to be “seduced by Oreos” (of any stripe) when I am so gifted with the Real Thing in this enchanted universe: God’s infinite presence, love and unconditional forgiveness. We, like cookies, are imperfect and uniquely-shaped gifts to and for each other. Mom’s words are as true now as they were back then: “You have much better than that at home.” 

Sister Judith Ann Zielinski

Sr. Ann Marie Emon

Sister Judith Ann Zielinski has found a ministry telling stories, in which she communicates how others contribute to the greater good. She serves as the Director of Faith & Values Programming at NewGroup Media, in South Bend, Indiana, a position she has held since 2002.

She is a writer and producer of multiple broadcast and non-broadcast programs, that have taken place nationally as well as internationally.

In 2018, Sr. Judy celebrates her 50th Jubilee as a Sylvania Franciscan.

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. W wow. Take care
6 years ago

Judy, Thank you so much for sharing your special talent of writing. I really could connect with both of your articles. My sister-in-law, Rosie, baked all those good Polish cookies candies and other Polish wonders. This is kind of interesting I just got this new iPhone and since my handshake I found out I can just talk and it will write it down for me. W wow. Take care

Sister Irenaeus
6 years ago

Sister Judy, thank you for your “cookie” story. As I read your thoughts about your dear mom and her love for baking, you brought forth so many memories of my own mom who was a super baker too. We never had bought bread or sweets. Mom baked 6 loves of bread every 2 days for us 6 kids and dad, all of our lunches included the most delicious sandwiches ever–made with home made bread. Mom’s sweets, very much the same as what your mom made–that special “Polish” gift our mom’s had, flicked pictures in my mind of those yummy treats… Read more »

Sister Maria Pacelli
6 years ago

Loved your Oreo story. My nephew when he was very young thought his family was very poor because he had homemade cookies and the other kids had store-bought cookies. Little did he realize that he was the rich one – rich in the love of a mother who baked for him. We too are rich in God’s good gifts to us. No need to wish for Oreos.

Ann Marie Emon
6 years ago

Thank you, Judy, for your “delicious cookies” that allow me to be grateful for all the gifts God gives us daily.

Sr. Ann Lorette
6 years ago

Your rich Polish heritage shines through once again, Judy. I love the comparison of the Oreos to the richness of each of us in God’s universe. Thank you for reminding me of this.

Sister Shannon Schrein
6 years ago

What a great story, Judy and a wonderful lesson of what is truly important in our lives. I could smell the cookies as I read your words and I savored every word. If you bake like you write–your life is indeed very rich.

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