About Jo Bracken
Daughter of I Hate to Cook Book author Peg Bracken, Johanna Bracken was born in Portland, Oregon, spending her childhood in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California.
Jo graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in communications, and later moved on to start two successful businesses. Now retired, she devotes her time and resources to various charities, helping incarcerated men and women eligible for parole, supporting primate sanctuaries across the country, and chairing the board of her local American Red Cross.
She and her husband are insufferable pet parents who live in Long Beach, California, along with their two dogs and four cats.
1.
Britta Jorstad Piotrowski | July 30, 2010 at 1:08 am
Jo, I am going to buy the cookbook. It is so cool what you did with this project! Lovely to see you and Michael. You have such a great home. Looking forward to the Christmas party!
FYI, I am from the Seattle area so love the NW too!
Britta
2.
Britta Jorstad Piotrowski | July 30, 2010 at 1:16 am
Jo, it’s me again, I just read your Mom’s bio and i am blown away! What a wondrful woman! Would have loved to have known her.It’s so cool that you get to relive her with the re-release of the book.
I may come to get mine signed!
3.
Britta Jorstad Piotrowski | July 30, 2010 at 1:34 am
Jo, I have been sitting here with my vodka tonic reading you bl ogs.. I love it! you are great writer, I love areading about your mom.
4.
HeidiAnn | September 2, 2010 at 10:08 am
I just read your foreword to the 50th Anniversary Edition of “The I Hate To Cook Book”, and it actually brought tears to my eyes. I believe we are the same age, and my mom had all of your mother’s books – in fact, I only recently found them packed away in a box, and was delighted to add them to my own collection. Just wanted to say hello, and to share that with you!
5.
johannabracken | September 3, 2010 at 9:26 am
Heidi. thank you so much for those wonderful thoughts. Mom would be so pleased!
6.
Judith McLeod | October 29, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Making Chicken Curry for an amazingly simple recipe I’ve had for years I wondered if it came from The I Hate to Cook Book. It didn’t, but I was able to spice up my soso recipe after consulting the book. Once my version was bubbling away, I came to the net to see whatever happened to Peg Bracken who has come to my rescue as a single girl on her own and for thirty years of marriage. The search brought me here.
I purchase I Hate to Cook & I Hate to Housekeep in 1966 when I was sixteen. Not a year goes by that I don’t refer to them.
I think my daughter, a newly wed, will get the 50th anniversary edition as one of her Christmas gifts if I can remember about it for that long.
7.
johannabracken | October 31, 2010 at 2:11 pm
Judith, my mother would have been so thrilled to hear your story, and honored to have been part of your life. Thanks for writing!
8.
Jane Silver | May 8, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Something is making me crazy. Both my children and I remember a phrase from one of your mother’s books: something about how most husbands expect their wives to “run down in the basement to make some soap while the bread is rising.” Do you know where we can find it? We can’t find it in the Complete I Hate to Cookbook, and I gave away my original IHTC when I bought the complete version.
When my kids talk about Mom’s home cooking, they are talking about your mom’s home cooking. And we used to read passages out loud to each other for a humor fix.
9.
johannabracken | May 16, 2011 at 1:33 pm
Jane, I looked and can’t find this in any of my mom’s books. But I suspect it’s an old expression; and it sounds like something she would say. Thanks so much for sharing your memories. It means a lot.