I consider myself a mild-foodie. My noticing food with more than a passing glance started around 2004 when my kids showed me a documentary they'd seen in school called "Food, Inc.". It radically changed the way I thought about food and purchased food. I became a fan of "clean eating"...or at least cleaner eating. I've always enjoyed cooking but I started making more of my own food and eating out less. I learned more than I already knew about food labeling and am very particular about the type of meat I buy. In the fall of 2011 I got a job planning menus for the local school district. That further expanded my food knowledge and now I am a faithful reader of the local paper's "Taste" section every Sunday.
When my mom passed away in 2013 I wanted two things specifically from her possessions - everything else was negotiable. I wanted her Bible and her recipes. I got both and haven't used either! In December of 2018 my grown-daughter asked me for a copy of my mom's cookie recipe. I knew where the recipe cards were, the cookie one was on top of the pile, so I promptly sent her a copy to which she said, "that's not it." Soon after she found her copy with a slight difference. In December of 2019 she again asked me for the recipe, having lost hers in a move. I again went to the recipe cards, still in the same place. Again she said that wasn't the right version. So I actually took off the rubber-band and flipped through the entire stack. I had over 60 cards and had never really looked at any of them. (No additional versions of the cookie recipe though.)
So - I thought, I should really make an effort to enjoy these. I weeded out the duplicates and put the rubber band back on, with a vow to use one a week in 2020. Some are dinner, some are dessert. Some the people in my home will like, others will need a different audience. I decided to blog about it because: a) I haven't done a blog in a while and since I fancy myself a writer I think it's wise to actively write something (if not the novel I've been working on for over a decade) b) I've been wanting to create a cookbook of family recipes to pass down to my daughter. I started a file in Word once and kept up with it for a while - but this blog will serve as an electronic version. Once I finish my mom's cards maybe I'll add some of my own favorites. And if only my children read it I've left a legacy for them and that's really my only goal.
I'm not a perfectionist by any means. I'm more of a "good-enough" person. So I will not stage any photos. You will see all the crap that is on my counters in the background of my pictures.
When my mom passed away in 2013 I wanted two things specifically from her possessions - everything else was negotiable. I wanted her Bible and her recipes. I got both and haven't used either! In December of 2018 my grown-daughter asked me for a copy of my mom's cookie recipe. I knew where the recipe cards were, the cookie one was on top of the pile, so I promptly sent her a copy to which she said, "that's not it." Soon after she found her copy with a slight difference. In December of 2019 she again asked me for the recipe, having lost hers in a move. I again went to the recipe cards, still in the same place. Again she said that wasn't the right version. So I actually took off the rubber-band and flipped through the entire stack. I had over 60 cards and had never really looked at any of them. (No additional versions of the cookie recipe though.)
So - I thought, I should really make an effort to enjoy these. I weeded out the duplicates and put the rubber band back on, with a vow to use one a week in 2020. Some are dinner, some are dessert. Some the people in my home will like, others will need a different audience. I decided to blog about it because: a) I haven't done a blog in a while and since I fancy myself a writer I think it's wise to actively write something (if not the novel I've been working on for over a decade) b) I've been wanting to create a cookbook of family recipes to pass down to my daughter. I started a file in Word once and kept up with it for a while - but this blog will serve as an electronic version. Once I finish my mom's cards maybe I'll add some of my own favorites. And if only my children read it I've left a legacy for them and that's really my only goal.
I'm not a perfectionist by any means. I'm more of a "good-enough" person. So I will not stage any photos. You will see all the crap that is on my counters in the background of my pictures.
By the sixth recipe I'm starting to wonder if this was her "discard" pile. I have not been super-impressed by anything. Maybe this was the pile that she used when she got a chain letter asking her to send recipes to others in return for receiving seven-times as many recipes back.
Notes:
I decided I will document all recipes I make however recipes in the "favorites" category are recipes that I would make again. The ones without the "favorite" I will be tossing out if the recipe just doesn't wow me or is too much trouble for the outcome.
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