"The theme of the books sitting around the kitchen table and the stories that come from that," said Thompson, who teaches the classes through the Metropolitan Adult Education Program. "There's food involved."

Several Memories and Recipes authors whipped up the dishes they included in the book for a Dec. 10 release party at San Jose's Cypress Senior Center. But Willow Glen resident Burt Corsen, whose story is "Glenna's Lasagna Tradition," had his wife make the pasta in question.

"I don't cook," Corsen simply said.

The story recalls the first time the Corsens shared lasagna with Glenna's family in Oregon.

"[A] conversation between my wife and her sister on one of our visits to Glenna's hometown led to a trip to the local Safeway store, " Corsen wrote. "There, after much searching, we finally found the noodles. Evidently, lasagna wasn't a staple of the diets in Milton-Freewater, Ore."

"They'd never heard of lasagna," Corsen told the willow Glen Resident. "Every year after that when we went up there, they had to have Glenna's lasagna."

For her Memories and Recipes story, Marjorie Harding went back to her childhood.

"It's a story about my grandpa, who had problems with false teeth that didn't fit very well," said the Willow Glen resident. "He left them at work one Christmas Eve, so it's the story of how he got his teeth home for Christmas."

Harding included the recipe for date candy, which she helped her grandma make each Christmas. She served up these holiday treats at the book-release party.

"This is one Christmas treat that I was able to help Grandma make every year," she wrote in the book. "We didn't have pitted dates. We did it all ourselves and it got really sticky."

Neither Corsen nor Harding had done much writing before enrolling in the MAEP class. Corsen, 79, said this is his first writing experience since he worked for his high school newspaper. He has been taking the memoir-writing class at the Willows Senior Center for 10 years.

"It's a habit," he said. "Glenna said it's a social event, and it sort of is."

Because students write often about highly personal events, Corsen said, class members tend to form tight bonds.

"We probably know more about each other than many of our family members do," he adds.

Compared to Corsen, Harding is a newcomer to this form of writing, having been a member of the memoir-writing class at the Willows for only two years. The San Jose native first enrolled at the urging of her daughter, who told her, "Your grandkids aren't going to know what it was like unless you write it down."

So far, though, Harding isn't sure that her grandchildren have even taken an interest in her memoir.

"I don't know if they'll ever read it," she said. "I'm doing it for me right now."

Harding, however, does finds a more willing audience among her classmates.

"I love hearing everyone's stories," she said. "It's the highlight of my week."

Students write one story each week. Harding, 59, said most of hers have focused on her childhood.

"Everyone has different areas they feel comfortable in," she added. "I've never really written anything other than letters since I was in school."

Harding did write some stories for a family history about 15 years ago. She said the adult education class has helped her refine her writing style.

"I sure see the difference in my stories then and now," she said. "Thank goodness they're better."

For Corsen, an interest in recording his family history and personal experiences stem back to watching the Miniseries Roots, which aired on television in January 1977. The program triggered a desire to trace his

family's genealogy.

"My grandfather emigrated from Germany when he was 19," Corsen said. "We didn't know anything about our German family."

While the genealogy was good for names and dates , Corsen said, it was pretty dry reading.

"It didn't tell me anything about the people," he notes.

That's where the adult education class has come in handy.

"It's kind of fun because we trigger each other's memories," Corsen said. "We're sharing information and getting ideas from other people."

Corsen said his classmates at the Willows represent a myriad of experiences and backgrounds. At age 79, he adds, "I'm not the oldest one in the class."

"There are people from all over the United States and from other countries," he said. "All their stories give you a different perspective."

Corsen has self-published his memoirs in the hopes that they'll give his family some perspective on where they heritage came from.

"The kids keep looking forward to my stories, so they must be worthwhile to somebody," he said.

For information about purchasing "Memories and Recipes," contact Ann Thompson at 408.947.2300, ext. 3316.