The Spice of Life
Some came from yard sales, others were borrowed from family members, yet to be returned, some were gifts that kept adding up.
But I never set out to start a collection; it just kind of happened.
When the holidays roll around, and it’s time to start digging out all my favorite family recipes, I am always surprised to discover all the cook books I have gathered through the years.
What started as a way for me to learn some much-needed kitchen skills, slowly “simmered up” a collection I didn’t even know I had.
I am pretty sure it started when Kevin’s aunt Sue loaned me her “Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book.”
The well-worn pages and side notes give clear indication that I have put that book to good use. I still use that loaned copy and have high hopes that I don’t have to give it back.
I have always loved flipping through the pages of cookbooks and read I enjoy reading them just like regular books.
Among my favorites are the Paula Deen “Lady and Son’s Savannah Country Cookbook” that Tisha gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago; the “Wallingford Christian Church Ladies Auxiliary,” a gift from Debbie; my copy of “Celebrating 200 Years of Fleming County Cooking” that the Extension Homemakers released, the one from the Sugar Grove Christian Church in Owingsville that my niece Stacy gave me; and last but not least, “Homemade Candy” put out by the editors of Farm Journal.
My newest addition to the shelf is a collection of family recipes,” Celebrating the Life of Dixie Marie Blair Helphinstine at Christmas Time” and was given to me by Ginny Reeves.
A very fragile book about housekeeping from the early 1900s that Grandma Kenner gave me is tucked away for safe keeping.
You never know when you need a resource for cleaning and mending hoop skirts or a recipe for lye soap or boiling up some laundry in an iron kettle.
“
A Book of Favorite Recipes” compiled by the Flemingsburg Evening Homemakers Club in 1962 is my most cherished cook book of all. It is this book that so many handwritten side notes fill its well-worn pages.
To Mrs. Jolly from Marie is written across the top of the front page and stands as a reminder of how Kevin’s grandmother came to be the first owner of this family treasure.
Tattered pages from years of turning to favorite recipes are stained with vanilla or some other ingredients fill my mind with visions of favored treats, recipes that our family continues to turn to during the holidays or for any family gathering.
With a family of fantastic cooks, I am especially partial to all the extra, handwritten recipes that have been added to the pages like Ginny’s Corn Pudding, the recipe that Betty uses for the best-ever Mexican Cornbread and the little notes that say “this one” with an arrow pointing to the recipe.
A jam cake recipe that has been used by the Jolly sisters time and time again is written down in Mrs. Jolly’s handwriting with a side note that the recipe is the one Ginny always uses.
Every year at Thanksgiving time I would borrow the treasured cookbook so I could create the same tasty foods for my family.
When Mrs. Jolly passed away a few years ago, the heirloom cookbook became mine, and I guard it with the fierceness of a new mama cat.
To see those handwritten recipes makes me think of special family gatherings, the food and the laughter, loved ones who are no longer with us and how their recipes will always keep their memory alive.
I think of my own girls and wonder if they too will lovingly pour over the pages of cherished family recipes I have collected and if they will feel such a collection is a gift worthy enough to pass on to their children.
For me, the gathering of handed-down recipes and cookbooks have become the “spice of life” among my collections.
