My Project Begins

July 5, 2010.
My mother's recipe book bulges and brims with culinary delights. From the time she received her trusted Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook in 1956 as a wedding shower gift, it was an invaluable tool in her kitchen and became a depository for a lifetime of clipped, scribbled, and typed recipes. Mom passed away 11 years ago. I inherited her cookbook, and it's sat on my kitchen shelf held together by two crumbling rubber bands these long years. It's not that I don't cook. I like to think of myself as an accomplished home cook with loads of my own tried and true recipes. I've peeked inside several times and even thought I'd sort through the recipes saved on scrap paper and check book deposit receipts, but the task as always proved a bit overwhelming and sad.

I miss my mother deeply and I miss the women who shared recipes with her, my grandmothers (Louise and Helen), my beloved Great Aunt Helen, my mother in law (also Helen) and a whole host of female relatives named Tante Inga, Aunt Reba, Aunt Fanny, Aunt Agg, Aunt Micki, Aunt Sara, and many many others. There are also many offerings from family friends, some who I still see regularly, beautiful recipes that graced the tables of many church pot lucks and ladies circles. I've decided to cook through my family recipes as a way to reconnect with my mother and remember the way she thought and laughed and loved. I don't expect to make all of the recipes in her book, just the most important and interesting ones. I don't promise to post all the recipes, but I'll include some in this blog.

If any family or friends would like to share memories or recipes, please post them in the comments section!

I'm excited for and interesting and delicious adventure!