- July 12, 2025
After her first husband, David, died 32 years ago of colon cancer, Patti Comeau-Simonson’s life journey took a turn. She became a volunteer for hospice care which led her to becoming a bereavement assistant, earning a certificate in thanatology, becoming a peer-grief specialist and developing a peer-grief training program.
Now, she has written a book, “Recipes for Healing, Working Through Grief One Plate at a Time (Just Not Lasagna!).”
It’s a teaching memoir chronically her experiences coping with grief along with 40 comfort-food recipes.
“I’ve always wanted to write a cookbook,” said Comeau-Simonson who has lived in Palm Coast for eight years. “I love to cook. During my husband’s illness I was cooking like crazy. After he died, I wasn’t interested in anything like that. This is my story about working through grief and finding joy again.”
At first, she didn’t want to cook at all. Her husband’s death followed the deaths of her brother-in-law and her mother — all in a three-year span. During mourning, friends and family would bring by food.
“We were inundated with lasagna. After David’s loss I was so filled with anxiety, and whenever I thought of lasagna, all I thought of was the little tin-foil wrapped containers in the freezer,” she said.
Eventually, she regained her love for cooking after she joined a support group with some older women who had gotten through their grief by cooking for their grandkids and families.
“Very slowly, I got back into wanting to cook for me,” she said.
Each recipe has a story. Some of the recipes are her own, some are from her mother, some from her two mothers-in-law. Comeau-Simonson is from Massachusetts, so some of the recipes, such as her mother’s New England clam chowder, originated from that region. While the recipes are in the back of the book, food is talked about throughout one way or another, she said.
“Recipes for Healing,” published by Balboa Press, took her two-and-a-half years to write. It has been out since May 1 and is available on amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. She will have a book signing on July 13, 2-4 p.m., at Cimarrone Golf Club in St. Johns County.
