You know how there are certain staples in everybody's home? Things that never change, except to become more loved over time, things that are used daily, or at least weekly, and have their own subtle part in shaping the fabric of a home?
Our Better Homes and Garden cookbook is one of those dear, essential things.
Every time I see its honest cover, red-checked and worn, with little nicks and tears and stains, I feel comforted. And hungry. My! Some of those recipes just make you want to fall on your knees and give thanks for the blessing of cooking.
(Or they might make you want to throw up. Potato-Beet salad, anyone? How about some delicious Sparkling Beet Cups? Or jellied chicken salad? Gross.)
It was given to Mama about a year and a half after she got married, as a thank you gift for letting someone stay with them in Germany. It's been a go-to for all of us ever since... I've learned to make pie crust following its recipe, (which has been used so many times that particular page has loosened all together and now has to be folded carefully in after each use,) I've seen it out on the counter, open to one spot or another, almost every time we're expecting guests, and all of my married siblings own a copy of it.
My point being, it's so much more than a tattered cookbook.
It's a tradition, a little tangible piece of our family's day-to-day life.
I love little pieces like that. They make me fall in love with common, simple things we all take for granted, but influence us more than we guess. And most of all, they cause me to dream of having such bits and pieces woven through my own home's tapestry some day.
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2 comments:
my mama's Bell's Best is like that. I have one of my own plus handwritten copies of favourite recipes, but I still really miss the icing spots on hummingbird cake and the greasy butter stains on buttermilk pie.
Your blog has such a way of filling me with nostalgia. I think it's my favouritest blog in the whole wide worldwideweb. except my family's.
I, too, have a Better Homes and Garden cookbook, that I got as a wedding present...it has a gold cover, but I used it a LOT for years. It has great nostalgia for me, but I don't use it very often anymore since I don't cook much.Thanks for bringing back some great thoughts about it and all it means to your family.
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