TORONTO — Mark Beil, who lives with his grandmother, Bassia Guterman, lovingly complains that she’s making him fat.

Bassia Guterman still makes her own sour cream buns. [Carolyn Blackman photo]

It’s not an unusual complaint, except that Guterman recently celebrated her 104th birthday.

Biel said that his grandmother prepares seven meals a week for the two of them and often for company, and she bakes such goodies as sour cream buns, cinnamon walnut cake and banana cake.

In an interview in her Downsview home, Guterman describes a new recipe that she developed because she wanted to use up ingredients she had in the house.

“I put skinless, boneless chicken breasts in a baking dish, and added dried cranberries and peeled, diced apples. I then baked it until the chicken was ready. It was delicious.”

The recipes are all in her head, she said. “I make them so often, I don’t need them written down. Sometimes I worry I that I didn’t add enough sugar, but they’re always fine.”

Born in Harbin, China, in 1907, she has one daughter, Dolly Beil – Mark’s mother – one other granddaughter, and four great-grandchildren. Her husband Alexander, who she met and married in China, died in 1970. They immigrated to Canada in 1952.

Guterman’s grandfather had arrived in China from Russia in 1898 because he supplied ties for the Trans-Siberian Railway. He prospered, there, and eventually built the Grand Hotel, where Guterman lived when she was born.

She didn’t cook in China, she said, but learned a lot from watching her chef, who prepared European food.

“I had to learn here, but when I started, the memories came back to me. I remember that he had to stick his arm in the oven to see if it was hot enough. Even if it was 100 degrees outside, he’d cook in that coal stove.”

She hasn’t returned to China – her daughter went in 2004 – “because I want to remember it like it was.”

Dolly Beil said that her mother has always been a “home person. She was happy to be with her family. She is very artistic, and until recently did needlework, embroidery and applique. Whatever she decided to do, she would do an excellent job.”

Beil, who is writing a book about her family, said she calls her mother when she needs a detail filled in. “She thinks and feels young. She wears a hearing aid, but she  walks unaided – no cane or walking stick.”

Guterman celebrated her birthday with 12 people at a Chinese restaurant, “and the next table cheered for me.”

What is it like to be 104? “I didn’t really realize it until I looked in the mirror. I don’t feel any different than I did 60 years ago.”