Old Stories on Hand-Written Cards

Do you write recipes down on an actual recipe card? Maybe all you have now are printed out sheets of recipes or cook books that you peruse or maybe, you look on the internet to find your recipe and never save the actual recipe. I would love to hear what you do with your recipes.

Me? I do a little of all of the above. I have told you before that I print off recipes and then slip them into plastic sleeves so that they don't get all gooey when I cook. I think I am kind of a messy cook and the sleeves protect and keep the recipes nicey-nice.

Recently I found some old recipes that told me stories about me and my life and days gone by.

And who doesn't love a good story? I spy the loopy writing and think of the gal who penned the dessert recipe. The spidery, cursive writing reflects the woman who carefully and beautifully wrote down the secrets to her special dish or pie.

Some people don't give their recipes to others. Or if they do, they might leave out a key ingredient or measurement so the recipient can not duplicate her perfect pie or special sauce. I have never been know to do this, never fear.

A recipe written on a torn out piece of paper, penned on the back of an ad, or hurriedly scrawled on a tear-off pad from a business long gone tell stories. Weathered and brown, stained and torn, these recipes are missives, telling me all about the time and the people who wrote them.

*Plain index cards or cute retro designs.

*From the kitchen of __________________at the top and the cook's name printed or calligraphed in the blank.

Oh, the memories these tell of people gone on to be with the Lord or who have drifted out of my life.

But, the handwriting or the actual recipe and its familiar ingredients, bring their faces right up in my mind and their stories to my memory.

I can't throw these letters from the past away. I save them and feel I am connecting to the woman who wrote down her words long ago.

The cards and papers also speak of celebrating birthdays with special cakes like the Italian Cream Cake- three layers of heaven- that I often requested for my birthday or the homemade, not from a box, Angel Food Cake, or the famous Lemon Cake the boys loved.

Or the cards remind me of special seasonal celebrations, like when we stopped in Nocona on the way home from the mountains and there in the trifle dish, was the many-layered concoction of vanilla wafers, bananas and creamy custard and whipped cream; the top dusted with crushed 'nilla wafers. Oh, the delight of a serving of that goodness. The recipe card brings all the memories home.

When cleaning out the pantry at G-mom's house, I came across all of these wonderful cards and papers. I was so excited to find Shirley's famous Coconut Pie recipe. Yikes! I never knew that I loved coconut pie until I tried hers when we went to Nocona one spring. I was hooked! And now I have her recipe written in her handwriting, with extra notes and tips in the margin. Priceless.

Cleaning out my own recipes recently, I found the stash of recipe cards from a lovely shower my teacher friends gave me when I got married. A Salad Shower-

Each guest brought a recipe beautifully lettered in their handwriting, not a typed or printed recipe to be seen. Each card festooned with the famous from the Kitchen of ___________.

The guests each brought their prepared salad which we all shared at the luncheon and the wrapped accouterments to prepare or serve the salad for my gift, the new Bride-to-Be.

Best Shower Ever.

You actually got to taste the recipe and see if it was a keeper, and I started out my life of married hospitality with a passel full of wonderful recipes. Let me just say that Nobody brings their worst recipe to this kind of party- you bring your finest; The Salad you always bring to the luncheon or party. Your special dish ! The one you are known for or is eventually named after you. Ahhh....who doesn't want a recipe named after them.

When I look over these handwritten recipe cards, I am taken back to my 24 year old self, and I remember details and broad brush strokes of each teacher friend as I see their name and their handwriting. Sweet friends who mentored this young, naive teacher who looked like a high school senior when she started in the classroom. These cards bring back all the memories of that first teaching job and that first year of marriage.

So, do you save recipes and tear them out of newspapers or magazines? I have been known to rip them out of a magazine in a doctor's office, is that wrong?

I print recipes out. I hand write them. I ask for others to hand write the recipe for their special dish, and then I slide them all in plastic sleeves and file in binders.

I often wonder what someone will do with all the recipes that I save. Now I only save the winners, and if I haven't made it since I saved it, I cull it out and move on. The dish might have looked good - that rice and beans and cornbread party with the how- to's for the perfect beans, but hey, now I have a real gal in my life from Slidell who can teach me how to make red beans and rice like the real deal! Toss that old Southern Living recipe.

I would love to have a cookbook full of recipes from friends and family, but only their go-to's or their, I'm Famous for This Recipe, someday . There would be no duds or "oopsy, why do I have that?" in the book. Only the tried and true dishes. The ones to last. I might even include some recipes in the cook's handwriting. Hmmm. I think I have a great idea here. Might need to go start on that book, right after I start my supper.

xoxo