OT: Old recipe file is better than an old photo album

[Guest guest]

I don't usually go OT. But this one really touched me

and I wanted to share with recipe buddies.

Chupa

 

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Old recipe file is better than an old photo album

 

Whenever I'm feeling nostalgic, I start thumbing

through an old recipe card file that I've had since I

was first married many years ago.

 

For most folks, a stroll down memory lane means

grabbing the photo album and flipping through pages of

bad fashion and embarrassing hair styles.

 

But I like to fix a cup of tea and get cozy on the

couch and grab my recipe file. I find so many more

delicious memories on the stained and tattered cards

that I've crammed into the 4-by-6-inch file than any

photo album could hold. Most of the recipes are

written in my precious school-girl script, some

magazine cutouts are yellowed from use as they became

my family's favorites, and then there are recipes that

my mother lovingly wrote down for me.

 

Creating her dishes of tomato casserole, peanut butter

fudge and veal Marengo, which I followed scrupulously

to the letter, takes me back to her kitchen and her

amazing ability to be inventive and still manage to

feed a hungry family of six.

 

The other day, my husband reminisced about a quick

cassoulet that I would fix on snowy nights and serve

piping hot with squares of cornbread dripping with

butter. This almost instant-gratification version of

the classic French dish doesn't require duck confit or

fancy sausage, and you don't even have to soak the

beans. I remembered I had it in the card file, so I

pulled it out and re-created it for him in just a few

minutes.

 

And while it was baking I went through my file again,

savoring each wonderfully delicious memory.

 

 

Kate Lawson, Detroit News, 12.13.07

 

 

 

 

 

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