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I received several nice things this year, but the best (other than the opportunity to spend time with family and friends which was deeply, deeply wonderful--I'm still on a little bit of a New Year's high if you can't tell) was a project put together by my aunt with help from my other aunt and mother.
It's a Family Recipe Collection Book, one of those commercially available fill it in yourself ones, and myself, my sister, and our two cousins each received one.
What makes it wonderful is it isn't just recipes from my mother and my aunts. They went back into my grandmother's and great-grandmother's boxes and including originals and photocopies of recipes in their own handwriting. And they wrote stories about the different recipes, and included whose handwriting it is in and who submitted it (eg this was from your grandmother's recipe box so probably in her handwriting although it says it was her mother's recipe (her mother was Mural M), it was submitted by your Aunt Beth). And it's not just food, there's the instructions for the play dough that my grandmother made for my youngest aunt to play with that my mom and older aunt remember, etc.
And then the best part:
They collected recipes from all corners of our family. Not just my mother's side, but my father's too, so I have that grandmother's and aunt's recipes, and from my cousins in-laws, and my uncle's side of the family. There are even a couple things from my new brother-in-law's mother and sister! She attached pictures and descriptions of who everyone was too. So I don't think I've met Hazel Gammon, but according to the book she's Alton's mother, and Lee's grandmother (Lee is my cousin Heather's husband so not related by blood). And I have a picture of Hazel so a recipe that Lee grew up eating and has memories of. The originals are divided up by family so I have photocopies of Hazel's recipe (presumably Lee and Heather have the original in their book) and I have the originals from some of my aunts on my dad's side for example. It's really neat to see the geographic diversity (New England, v. midwest, v. Croatia, and now we have some southern things too thanks to the new BIL). There's an entire sub-section on jello-based salads. :)
So amazingly cool!!!!
Now D. and I just have to translate my mother-in-law's recipes for everyone. They're included, but in her handwriting in Croatian. They included stamped and addressed envelopes so we can send them so everyone has a complete record. There are also a few pictures missing that we are told will arrive so we have images of everyone.
My family aren't big cooks but this is just so special, something we will treasure and add to and hopefully pass along. (I don't know how much sauerkraut pie I'll be making though) If you're looking for a really special family gift I would highly recommend it (especially with everyone's handwriting, different recipe cards, and pictures of them).
It's a Family Recipe Collection Book, one of those commercially available fill it in yourself ones, and myself, my sister, and our two cousins each received one.
What makes it wonderful is it isn't just recipes from my mother and my aunts. They went back into my grandmother's and great-grandmother's boxes and including originals and photocopies of recipes in their own handwriting. And they wrote stories about the different recipes, and included whose handwriting it is in and who submitted it (eg this was from your grandmother's recipe box so probably in her handwriting although it says it was her mother's recipe (her mother was Mural M), it was submitted by your Aunt Beth). And it's not just food, there's the instructions for the play dough that my grandmother made for my youngest aunt to play with that my mom and older aunt remember, etc.
And then the best part:
They collected recipes from all corners of our family. Not just my mother's side, but my father's too, so I have that grandmother's and aunt's recipes, and from my cousins in-laws, and my uncle's side of the family. There are even a couple things from my new brother-in-law's mother and sister! She attached pictures and descriptions of who everyone was too. So I don't think I've met Hazel Gammon, but according to the book she's Alton's mother, and Lee's grandmother (Lee is my cousin Heather's husband so not related by blood). And I have a picture of Hazel so a recipe that Lee grew up eating and has memories of. The originals are divided up by family so I have photocopies of Hazel's recipe (presumably Lee and Heather have the original in their book) and I have the originals from some of my aunts on my dad's side for example. It's really neat to see the geographic diversity (New England, v. midwest, v. Croatia, and now we have some southern things too thanks to the new BIL). There's an entire sub-section on jello-based salads. :)
So amazingly cool!!!!
Now D. and I just have to translate my mother-in-law's recipes for everyone. They're included, but in her handwriting in Croatian. They included stamped and addressed envelopes so we can send them so everyone has a complete record. There are also a few pictures missing that we are told will arrive so we have images of everyone.
My family aren't big cooks but this is just so special, something we will treasure and add to and hopefully pass along. (I don't know how much sauerkraut pie I'll be making though) If you're looking for a really special family gift I would highly recommend it (especially with everyone's handwriting, different recipe cards, and pictures of them).
