Nellie Sosami Vereecken Lillibridge Wadsworth
In the last few years I've inherited a few of my grandmothers cookbooks. When my parents were out here for Noah's birth they brought me two more. The first thing that I've noticed about my grandmothers cookbooks is how much they wrote in them. If they tried a recipe they noted if they liked it. If they altered a recipe they noted it. It has been fun to see their thoughts on things. There is something about seeing someones handwrititng to help you feel like you know someone...something that our digital society is missing. I've decided to write in my cookbooks more.
The most recent cookbook I got was a typical Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. It is the cookbook that seems to be a staple in cookbook cupboards all over the country. I have it in my cupboard...do you? This simple standard cookbook was bulging at the seems and falling apart from use and reference. Pages were falling out and others were reinforced by tape and white round stickers. My first thought was "Man this is falling apart. Why didn't she just get a new one?" I guess regardless of my frugal tenancies I remain a product of my throw away generation. I'm sure the thought never crossed her mind to get a new one when she could salvage the one she had. But also she had written so much in this one. It had become hers in every way. She would loose that if she got a new one. It was shocking to see mine next to hers. I was embarrassed that I'd used mine so little when she'd wasted and worn out hers in creating for her family.
As I thumbed through the cookbook looking at her notes and loose handwritten recipe cards within the pages. Some of the recipe cards contained recipes from relatives living and passed on and others written numerous times to ensure a handy copy when she needed it. Others that I'd called her to get from her and that she spent so much time with me on the phone telling me different tricks and tips for the perfect whatever. These are the kinds of things she wrote in her cookbooks. I thought about how cooking is something that most women do and how it connects us as women to each other, the common daily experience. The family history, connecting generations bells were ringing. I thought "How cool would it be to do a Julie and Julia thing by making all the recipes in my grandmothers cookbook that she wrote on and recipes that she made numerous copies of and blog about them? Come to know my grandmothers better by cooking the same recipes they did." But my next immediate thought was "Where will find the time to do that with a newborn?" and dismissed it. But the thought just wouldn't let me go. I found myself at the store buying things that the recipes I'd seen in the cookbook called for. So here's my thought. I know that my sisters at least have gotten cookbooks as well and perhaps some of my cousins have too so I thought that I could start a blog and then invite my sisters and cousins ( and aunts and mom?) to contribute to it as they do the same with their cookbooks. If they choose not to then it will be a blog that will have posts that will be few and far between. So here we go. A journey to familiarity with my family through food. ( I also kept thinking of catchy (ok ok...corny) little titles for my blog)
Pauline Violet Williams Streeter
Here we go!!!
2 comments:
Nikki said...
Love it. Can't wait to see what you make.
Autumn said...
How cool! I will be adding that blog to my stalking list. :)