Sugar stains and grease marks.

Hard to read measurements.   Disappearing directions.  Scrawled cursive writing.   Faded, yellowing, paper. All these things I absolutely love about my “Grammie’s”  recipes.   These handwritten treasures are a link to her for me.   Doesn’t it work that way with things handwritten.   Dusting off or finding anything that was written in the past can evoke all sorts of memories.   It surprises me every time when I look at these recipes and the things I remember:  * her aprons * the left hand  cupboard where the always full cookie tins hid * her yellow pickle relish * amazing gravy * running downstairs to the basement to find more always full cookie tins * homemade rolls (no bread machine in her house) and the list of memories go on forever.   How I cherish these recipes.

And so I begin to wonder with many of my own recipes found in files on my Ipad or on Epicurious what  will be shared with my own kids and on down through the generations.    To keep my Grammie’s recipes safely out of harms way in my own kitchen (it would appear that I share the same genetic predisposition for grease marks and sugar stains) I was inspired by a dear cousin to frame them in a “shadow-box.”  OK, wait a second,  let’s be real here.  I blatantly stole and copied her idea completely! Ha!  Anyway, the shadow box allows multiple items to be pinned and the depth of the box allows for other things to be included creating a 3D effect.    For you crafting types I am sure you can make your own, but since I don’t fall into that category I bought mine.   You can find some here.

And so you might ask,  can’t email or electronic recipes carry the same sentiments?  Well, perhaps they can and do for you, but for me nothing can come close to looking at handwritten versions.  I am of the mind that a handwritten recipe is much more “individual”.  Anyone can pound it out on a keyboard and we wouldn’t be able to tell who did it.  But, as I am sure handwriting experts would agree, you can tell so much from a piece (in this case a recipe) that is handwritten.   Here are some things I observe about my Grammie from her recipes:

* she was neat.  her recipes are all in cursive with closed letters and way more legible than mine

* rarely did she include directions in the recipes.  most often it is just the list of ingredients.  yeah, you can imagine how some of these work out for me! perhaps this says she was up for adventure every time or that she was just so competent in the kitchen she didn’t need to bother with the directions.

* she would some times provide a critique of the recipe so I always try the ones where she wrote “real good”.    not afraid to make mistakes in experimenting with different recipes until she found a good one?

*any piece of paper would do to copy out the recipe – envelopes were used often.  thrifty?  waste not want not? busy?  click here for some ideas on how to organize your recipes.

* clearly Grammie liked to stick  to her “tried and true” recipes as the stains and blotch marks attest to.

*  I think that breads, cookies, and anything sweet were her favourites (again I have inherited that sweet tooth) as that is the bulk of what her recipes are for.

* she was famous for  molasses cookies and homemade bread.  Nothing beats the smell of baking bread!

All this to say is that the treasure of these handwritten recipes is like having a little piece of Grammie always with me in my kitchen.  Whenever I need her.   Whenever I want her.

P.S.   “Grammie” was also known as Myrtle Levina Hicks Brittain.  She was born in Nova Scotia,Canada and lived most of her adult life in Ontario, Canada.   She had 3 sons and 7 grandchildren of which I am the eldest.   I am the one in the picture with my finger in my mouth.  Perhaps I have just snuck some of her icing and got caught by the camera lens?