Guess what I found at my dad’s house the other day? My mother’s old recipe box. What a treasure! See, my mom died eight and a half years ago and it was a very, very difficult time for me. I wasn’t able to help my dad sort through a lot of her things because it was just too painful. Now, of course, I’m sorry that I didn’t make more of an effort to help out because my dad threw away things I would have wanted to keep. So, when I found this recipe box it was like a gift from my mom.
The recipes are old and yellowed. Many of them are stained from being used so frequently. Of course, that’s how I know they’re good! And it’s not so much about the recipes themselves as I have most of them anyway. It’s having the recipes in my mother’s handwriting that really makes it special.
Like her grapenut pudding recipe.
Not a lot to go on there for directions, eh? And didn’t my mom have beautiful handwriting?
And this recipe is signed “Mother S” and that was my grandmother on my dad’s side. So neat to see her handwriting again and remember all the delicious Swedish foods she prepared.
The recipe for “soured” cream coffee cake comes from my mother’s best friend, Miriam. And this is one recipe I didn’t have and let me just tell you, it’s the best coffee cake I’ve ever had. I’m really excited to be able to make this myself now! Miriam’s recipe for Kugel is also in the box and we used to have that every year on Christmas.
I still miss my mom very much. But finding her recipe box brought back some wonderful memories of times spent together cooking, laughing and eating. You can bet that I’m going to treasure this recipe box for the true family heirloom that it is.
A true treasure and an heirloom you can pass along to future generations 🙂
I used to bake Christmas cookies with my Grandmother every year when I was a little girl. I now have the cookie cutters that we used. I made the same cookies with my girls when they were growing up. When Grandma died I was given her recipe boxes. The recipes are all written out by hand. There are coupons and magazine articles that she cut out. It is a priceless treasure. How wonderful for you. I really like the photos.
That is an absolutely priceless find! My gosh – that’s wonderful – what a great collection with so much history attached!
That’s wonderful that you found it! Smell and taste are such memory triggers. I’ve still got my much-spotted recipe for chocolate frosted brownies. Such an innocuous name for such an eeevil food.
What a treasure! A dear friend of mine lost her mom more than 20 years ago, but has told me more than once that one of her most prized possessions are the recipe cards written in her mother’s hand. It makes me wonder about what I’ll leave my kids…my recipes are almost all typed on the computer!
Those Momlooms are quite precious. Strange how something as simple as her handwriting strikes such chords. I know how you feel.
That’s so lovely you found your mother’s recipe. Really a treasure! I’m so happy for you.
What a wonderful thing to have found. You must really feel your mother’s presence (not in a supernatural way, just in an emotional way) when you read her well-worn recipes and see her handwriting. I’m really glad for you that you found that.