It probably all started when she was about 20 years old and thinking of getting married. So she bought this cookbook.
It remained in her kitchen her whole life. I remember consulting it every once in a while. I really like the book because of its tabs for each chapter.
After my mom died, we had a Celebration of Life for her. We made this little recipe book to hand out as a remembrance. And we served all of her favorite dishes at the celebration.
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| The book contained all her best recipes |
Her best ever recipe was for Lemon Meringue pie. It was even better than Marie Callenders.
You can tell she made it a lot because of all the stains on her recipe card.
Here's the recipe for the meringue. You can't have the pie without that.
I sure miss my mom's cooking. But it's nice that I still have her recipe book and all her recipe cards. They're a wonderful reminder of her.
C'mon over to Sepia Saturday if you smell something good coming from there and want to read other stories about kitchens, cooking and food.
This is so touching and thoughtful....what an tribute to your Mom!!
ReplyDeleteWhata wonderful idea to give out recipe books as a keepsake. It seems a very celebratory thing to do and I’m sure everyone appreciated it. The best cookbooks have stains and fingerprints to show how much they’re loved.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to make that pie! What a great idea to share her recipes this way. I bet it's treasured by all.
ReplyDeleteNancy, what a wonderful idea and way to remember your Mom and her cooking!
ReplyDeleteKathy M.
I have some old recipe cards that my mother made for me with my favorite casseroles. My mother had her mother's handwritten recipe book which she treasured, though I don't think she used the recipes.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's sometimes hard to use those old recipes since they were probably not too specific. Grandmothers seemed to cook by instinct rather than by the book. But isn't it nice to have the recipes in their handwriting?
DeleteNancy
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DeleteI loved my mom, but she was not the best cook. In fact, she overcooked things for fear of undercooking. But I liked MOST of her food. I love your mom's tabbed cookbook -- that IS a good idea! The collection of her recipes as a gift at her funeral is the most loving tribute I've ever heard of. Wonderful post!
ReplyDeleteOur posts will be very alike today : kitchens, mothers, home cooking. I wish I had thought to search out some of her old recipe books. Such fond memories.
ReplyDeleteI love lemon meringue pie!
ReplyDeleteWe have piles of recipes and notebooks used by my wife's mother and what's more they still get used regularly. Some have become so fragile that I've had to reproduce them on my computer.And yes a lemon meringue pie is among them.
ReplyDeleteOkay, but my mother was too! Ha! Ha! ...and my daddy's Mother too! Even my boys have inherted their cooking charms! I really like the photo of your mom, so stunning our mother's were in the kitchen! No matter where they went, right! Our family speciality pie is exchange that lemon for chocolate! Oh yes, quite yummy !!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice tribute to your mom on Mother's Day weekend. The lemon meringue pie looks delicious. Don't you just love having old recipes written in a family member's handwriting? I'm in the process of collecting handwriting samples for my ancestors and old recipes are my favorites.
ReplyDeleteWith all the books I've designed I have never done a cookbook, but when and if I do I will have to remember how much you liked the tabs.
ReplyDeleteWhat A Wonderful Memorial.A Splendid Way To Celebrate A Person's Life.
ReplyDeleteI like your post very much about your mother being the best cook and a celebration of her life. Wonderful, I like cooking very much, and I leave little notes in my cookbooks for my daughters and granddaughters. We all like to cook even my son in law! I have left you a reply about the Tagine. T.
ReplyDeleteVery lovely tribute to your mother on Mothers Day weekend - love the idea of giving out her best recipes! Wonderful idea! You can tell the cookbook was well used and still cherished.
ReplyDeleteNo, my mom was NOT the best cook in the world, far from it!! But she could do "a few" things nonetheless. My dad was the real cook. She would venture occasionally in the kitchen and do something, simple by all means, but something that spelled "home". You know that feeling!! Certain [legal!!]herbs, something sweet perhaps, something when you came home that told you that you were indeed "Home"... If your mom could do a decent lemon meringue pie, she would have been my very best friend!! But my own BFF makes the most delicious macaroons!! She gave me the recipe but I always wait for her to make them. She got that touch!!
ReplyDeleteThanx 4 sharing!!
:)~
HUGZ
I know what you mean by that something special thing spelled "home". Even if your mom was not the best cook, she still provided that feeling.
DeleteGood thing your dad was a cook!
Nancy
A matter of survival:
Deletehe was a big eater!!!
:D~
HUGZ