Wednesday, February 23, 2011

family recipes

isn't this the sweetest idea? it's a recipe scrapbook with old, handwritten recipe cards and notes and family photos to correspond. i've long had the idea of putting together something like this with the help of my grandmother, mother and sister and i think this image just put me over the edge.


while martha's version involves the original cards, the creation of slots and probably more DIY skill than i have, my idea is to create multiples of the book i make using great images of the originals. by doing it this way, we'll still get the original handwriting and the color of the weathered paper and ink, but we can make several books and give one to each home in the family. of course, the originals will be kept safely where time won't hurt them.

i don't know if there could be something more special in the kitchen of any home than a carefully bound curation of the recipes and meals that have traced the history of a family, in handwriting generations old, on paper that has seen other centuries.

3 comments:

  1. i'm in!!! let's please do this!

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  2. When my mom (such a great cook)passed away I took her bulging recipe file and photocopied all the handwritten and clipped out recipes and made them into a books for both of my brothers. We never were able to find her awesome meatball recipe, but most of the other family treasures are in there. At the time the task really helped me from dwelling on the sadness because I knew the joy that the completed books would bring to the rest of my family.

    As a note - if there's a dish that someone close to you makes be sure to ask them for the recipe sooner rather than later - don't assume that they'll always be around. If you don't that recipe could be lost forever.

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  3. you're so right poppy. and so many of the recipes we all grew up with aren't written anywhere - they're in someone's head and they even change from time to time.

    thanks, as always, for sharing your lovely comments!

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