I’ve loved to cook and bake from the time that I was a little girl. It’s both enjoyable and therapeutic for me, quickly dissipating all stress and anxiety. I believe I learned this from my father who loved to experiment in the kitchen. To my delight he would often let me watch and encourage me join in the fun!
Some time before his death in 2002, my father came into posession of his mother’s old wooden recipe box. It was filled with an ecclectic assortment of faded and mostly cryptic chicken scratchings. Some of the recipes I understood; others I had no clue. But they all intrigued me.
When my mother moved out of the house several years after Dad died, I found the box safely tucked away in the back of a spare bedroom closet and took the opportunity to grab it for myself. It may have said “recipes” on the front, but to me it was a treasure chest – a collection of old and faded scraps of paper, not only connecting me to my father, but also a possible link to my heritage. I knew without a doubt that it was valuable to me; I just didn’t know exactly what to do with it. And so I put it away …. again.
The box remained unopened until, about a week ago. As I do every Easter, I was making some cookies from a recipe that came over from Russia with my father’s family in the late 1800′s. I began thinking about Grandma’s box and the recipes that it contained. What kinds of treasures were hidden inside? And then I began to wonder - what might I come away with … What would happen if I tried to make each recipe that the box contained, regardless of how cryptic or vague? Right now at this moment, all I know is this: That’s an adventure I want to be on!!
So I’ll try to make one recipe a week and blog about how it comes out …. whether success or failure. I’m excited about this! Not only because it is an adventure, but also because it will be a journey to re-discover who Grandma Reimer was in a whole new way.
Spoiler: My first recipe? “very nice Cake drops” ….. whatever those are!
Joyce
April 6, 2011 at 12:17 pm
Hali.that is so sweet…I love that idea!I’m sure you’ll make you’re grandma proud…from up there!!!
Irma
April 6, 2011 at 12:24 pm
Hi Hali, I’m putting this into my ‘Favorites’ without ever seeing a recipe posted! (Our Best Bites and The Sisters Cafe are 2 blogs you might want to check out for inspiration!)
Aunt Marlene
April 6, 2011 at 1:56 pm
Hi Hali! What wonderful idea and what a tresure you have to have found the box.
Grandma gave me a recipe box with her recipes hand ritten on index cards when we were first married. I found out I was the only daughter in law to recieve one. Could be because I was the first daughter in law and stay at home mom and I was always asking her for recipes and advice on how to cook. She was a good cook. Or maybe she thought I was the one who needed the most help.
Aunt Marlene
April 6, 2011 at 2:01 pm
I copied her recipes and made little books for all the sisters in law. Your mom should have one. Wonder if they are the same recipes
grandmasoldwoodenrecipebox
April 6, 2011 at 3:06 pm
Yes, she did get one. I remember going through that a couple of years ago. The recipes in this box look like they are the originals – weathererd and worn and VERY interesting!
betty r
April 6, 2011 at 1:57 pm
Congrats Hali, I’m glad you started a blog. I’ll be checking back. And I am looking forward to those ‘very nice cake drops’.
Annette McCarthy
April 6, 2011 at 3:37 pm
Hali, This is a wonderful idea!
Hummm….I’m anxious to see what a cake drop is.
Good Luck.
Janice R
April 6, 2011 at 4:45 pm
What a great idea, Hali! Some of my fondest memories of my Grandma are ones revolving around her cooking too!
Noreen
April 6, 2011 at 5:05 pm
Hi Hali,
That is a cool idea. I have my mother’s black notebook. Many of the recipes don’t even have titles, so I have to guess by the ingredients what they are.
Good luck.
erin k
April 6, 2011 at 6:36 pm
This is a really cool idea for a project and for a blog. I have my Grandma’s cookbooks, but not her written recipes. I also have her sewing kits. When I cook from the books and (especially) when I sew with her pins and thread I feel a real closeness with her.
I’ll be checking back to see your progress!
~btw, this is Erin of “Joel and Erin”
Amy
April 7, 2011 at 7:56 am
way to go hali! sounds like a fun project and a great way to honour your grandma…
Aunt Marlene
April 10, 2011 at 2:58 pm
When the old mennonite recipes call for sweet milk I think it means fresh, non sour milk, non pasterized the way we drank it on the farm. i seem to remember milk being refered to as sweet if it hadn’t sored.
Aunt Marlene
April 10, 2011 at 3:00 pm
Sour is the word. Think I need new glasses.
Always see the spelling error after posting and I double checked !