It's been awhile. I've been away. My fingers have been idle... at least in the literary sense. Sure, I've been cooking. Almost every night, in fact, and now I have an even bigger table to feed. The only problem is, I haven't really felt... inspired. Inspired to try something new, something different, something fresh. To unearth and savor old family recipes that have long been forgotten. And, you know, write about it.
But inspiration attacked me this weekend in the form of a warped, battered navy cookbook from the 1940s -- my great-grandmother Vae's copy of The Household Searchlight Recipe Book.* Modestly sized, virtually free of photography and sepia-toned, the book is a treasure trove of the delicious (cheese soup, butter cake) and the bizarre (Baked Heart, Prune Whip). But the most precious thing it contains is several recipes in Vae's scrolling, perfect cursive.
My Nanny still loves her handwriting so much it makes her a bit misty, and I can't deny the emotional pull of seeing the words she labored over sixty years ago. There are so many delightfully old-fashioned phrases... "sweet milk" to distinguish from buttermilk, "oleo" instead of butter or margarine, "a 25-cent box of Vanilla Wafers" instead of, well, I have NO idea what size that'd be today.
Sure, it's cheesy and dorky and smacks of sentimentality, but I just can't help it. I can't wait to try Vae's toffee bars and sand tarts and her sister Grace's recipe for pecan pie... I can't wait to feel like I'm connecting with a woman I've only ever known through stories, getting to know her in the place where she must have churned away hours by herself, a place where she expressed herself and created beautiful things. When I make her recipes, it's like I get a little slice of time in the kitchen, right next to her. Are these recipes precious to me? Beyond words.
And I can't wait to try every one!
*Where did those wonderfully sturdy cookbook names run off to? Now cookbook titles are all fancy-schmancy... "From Vines to Wines," "Earth to Table," "Harvest for Hope"... huh?
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