COOKING WITH THE PAST

I love and collect old cookbooks. But, the ones I have that I treasure the most are the ones that belonged to my mom and aunt.

I love looking through them and turning to the pages that are stained with drops of their cooking from years ago. I think the pages that are most stained are the recipes they enjoyed the most.

It's always a special treat when I am flipping through the books and I happen across a recipe that is hand written or torn out of a magazine or news paper.

I know these were the special ones that were made over and over. The ones to good to throw away.

I adore the recipe box jammed full of different flavors and dishes that my mom used to enjoy. The recipes handed down from her mom, sisters and friends.

I like to dream about the times my mom or my aunt would spend in the kitchen cooking for hours.

They didn't have microwaves back then and frozen food was just starting to become popular. So, most of the meals were made from scratch.

They didn't have Food Network back then so recipe books were well treasured. Full of ideas for something new to try and from getting to tired of eating the same things over and over again.

Yes, those old cookbooks, with pages turning yellow are full of memories. Full of dishes that were made for special nights. Maybe a first date, a birthday or anniversary meal. Perhaps a dish that was given to a neighbor who just came home from the hospital with a new baby.

As much as I love these old books and recipes it's not often that I will pull them out and cook anything from them. I used to think it was best to just leave the recipes in the past with my wonderful memories.

Though now, I have a desire to bring them out more and start cooking with them so I can treasures the same dishes they did. Enjoying the good old family recipes once again.

How about you? Do you have old cookbooks? If you do, do you cook using those recipes?