1893 House History

My name is Cathy Beltz. I decided to take a big step to follow my passion

for food and entertaining by establishing a business making

homemade sweets in my 1893 House. To follow this passion, I left a 28-

year business career in non-profit financial management.

What a wonderful change and challenging adventure this has been! My

love of cooking started when I was a little girl. My parents are from a

small town in southwest Ohio that was settled by a number of French

families in the 19th century. My cooking tradition has been strongly

influenced by the culture they developed.

In fact, one of my earliest cooking memories is “helping” to make Pecan

Sensations with my mother. She gave them to friends and relatives as

gifts, and we always enjoyed them around the house, especially at

holiday seasons.

I loved making the sweets; I loved the sweet aroma; and I loved the

sweet spirit they evoked around our home. But, I especially loved

sampling them. My mother knew better than to trust me to make them

myself because there would be none left for gifts!

The inspiration for Turtle Twists came from a Presbyterian Church

cookbook. Presbyterians are great cooks. They take their food seriously,

and they take every opportunity to share and enjoy wonderful food. I took

the basic recipe and modified it to make it my own.

When I create a recipe, I use classic taste combinations, but make the

sweets with my signature style. It’s important that they look good, but

even more important that they taste great. I used those principles to

create Raspberry Decadence and Coconut Ménage

What a pleasure it is for me to create new taste sensations for people to

enjoy! I make every one of my sweets by hand so, just like snowflakes,

no two look alike. But each one carries on a great tradition that started in

my mother’s kitchen years ago.

Cathy Beltz

Proprietor

1893house@fuse.net