Cookbook

2/26/2016

There was a time when it was popular and nearly mandatory for women to have a recipe box.  The 3x5 recipe cards inside, were written out by hand.  My mother's recipe box was made of tin, with a red top and a yellow bottom.  When my mother passed away, my sister and I went through her recipes.  I had, over the years, already copied most of her recipes.  I told my sister that all I wanted was one or two recipes in my mother's handwriting.  She could have the rest.

When Jeff and I were married in 1974 (boy that was a few years ago), my mother-in-law gave me a cookbook "The Joy of Cooking".  This cookbook is filled with plenty of wonderful recipes.  One recipe in particular is for a barbecue sauce.  This sauce is what we use when we cook ribs, and it's delicious.

After my mother-in-law passed away, Jeff and his siblings had to deal with her belongings.  I noticed a very worn copy of "The Joy of Cooking", and knew immediately that I had to have that cookbook.  The copyright date is 1946, with the original copyright date in 1931.  The back of the cookbook is missing and the pages are yellowed with age.  It also has a musty old book smell, which for some strange reason, I like.  

On page 359 of this old cookbook is the recipe for the barbecue sauce.  This particular page is stained with food spills.  Pages 332 and 333 look like she used the recipes on those pages quite a bit too.  My mother-in-law was a good cook and meals at her house were always excellent.

Pressed between the pages of the cookbook are handwritten recipes for tea cookies, another one for oatmeal cookies.  At the back of the book, are two postcards with recipes for fried diamond twists and medallions.  Why do I keep this nearly worn out cookbook?  Memories mostly.  I am too sentimental some of my friends say.  I make no apologies for being this way.  At the end of each day, the one constant you have are memories.  I prefer to keep my memories close by, because for the most part, they are good memories and make me happy.

By the way, you can buy this vintage cookbook on Etsy for $35.00!