This week is all about reading...and a little bit of writing. Before I had to quit my job, I taught freshman writing at the University of Kentucky. I used an overall theme of food to give our class something to read, discuss, and write about that we all could relate to. Since I had to quit teaching, I am keeping myself busy doing some writing of my own and reading a lot. Not surprisingly, I am drawn to essays by women. Lately, I've been excited to see so many moms writing about food such as Emily Franklin in Too Many Cooks. I just started two collections of award winning food writing looking for more varied perspectives on food and I'm doing some writing myself about my relationship to food and having cancer. (Stay tuned for more on tapping into our creative writing selves in the coming months). Right now, I'm writing about donuts--for me, writing about food can be anything from humorous to critical, but always, always nostalgic. My own mama has a blog showcasing all of her wonderful baked goods, but of course, her posts often turn from recipes to memories like this one.
Oh, I am nostalgic this week. All of this reading and writing has made me wish I was back in high school sharing a cinnamon bun with my sister and mom. I had to take out my old recipe boxes and spend some time going through the worn, handwritten cards and torn out magazine recipes. I really don't know how I got a hold of these collections--that's my childhood crayon box below, but why is it holding recipes torn out by my mom and handwritten by my grandmother Helen--or maybe they're written by her mother?
If my computer was cooperating, you'd see that I couldn't just put these recipes away (Jellied Tomato Soup anyone?)! I took a handful of my favorite and color copied them onto cardstock. I then cut them out and simply glued them onto contrasting scrap cardstock, adding some simple embellishments like ribbon and buttons. Now, I have bookmarks that inspire me as I read and write and remind me of meals from the past and the women in my family that I love so much.
This is precious. I have my Aunt Dot's recipes and I have more than one recipe book you have made me :) It is amazing what treasures hand written recipes are. I need to write more down and stop copying them from the internet. The book mark idea is pure genius!
ReplyDeleteThis is really beautiful Kelly, I enjoy your mom's blog (because of her creativity) and her connection she shares through stories to past generations and memories. It reminds me of my own memories of childhood. My mom has a whole handwritten cookbook from my nana, it is so beautiful to see her handwritten old fashioned recipes. I seem to just prop my laptop up and copy a recipe as I make it from online these days, recipes that I know and love I write into a journal.... I love your idea of keeping recipes and adding beauty to them!
ReplyDeleteNicole--thank you so much for your comments. I was just feeling a little sad about how I print so many recipes from the web--thank you for your journal idea! I guess I'm also feeling sad about the kind of recipes I'm looking for lately. It's just not the same to pass down a vegan, gluten-free, sugar-free recipe. Ari likes Grammy's sugar cookies--not mommy's ground nut agave bars! Oh well, he'll have a little of both (and I will too).
ReplyDeleteYou should check out The Normal School literary journal for a potential place to publish some stuff about those recipes in that crayon box. From the submission page "RECIPES, and OTHER MISCELLANEOUS CONTENT: We gladly consider unsolicited annotated recipes. Boy, are we ever pining for some great annotated recipes, compelling correspondence, found texts, and story-ish charts and graphs." Oz Spies has something on there right now: http://thenormalschool.com/recipes.html Steven Church is one of the editors.
ReplyDeleteKel...that's definitely my zucchini pickle recipe. I even remember making them after having a "ton" of zucchini one summer and trying something new. They tasted like Bread-&-Butter pckles and I loved them...but I think I was the ony one! I'm pretty sure the Bar B Q recipe is from your Aunt Barbara. It's her hand writing and there was a time when I loved making Bar B Q and she gave me her favorite way to make it. I can't wait to see some others you have in your treasure box. I know I've loved coming across recipes from my Mom and just tracing her handwriting with my finger somehow brings me close to her again. Thank you for sharing, Mom
ReplyDeleteIt is lovely to have handwritten recipes full of history and memories. I wanted to say thank you for the lovely bath salts. They smell so tempting. I am going to enjoy a long soak in a deep bath tonight. Thank you again.
ReplyDeleteSorry - guest is me, Lucy from England who was part of the Valentine swap Nicole organised.
ReplyDelete