Archive for the ‘Cookbooks’ Category

As many of you know, I LOVE vintage cookbooks. Unfortunately, when we closed my mother’s house last year, her cookbooks were among the things that were not kept.

On the upside, her pink 3×5 recipe card box was saved and I brought it back home with me after the Holidays! ;-) I remember this box from my childhood and I am thrilled to have it. There are some great recipes, both from friends and family and some saved from magazines and other commercial sources.

There are several pie recipes that don’t use a traditional crust. I plan to add these to ILoveToBakePies.com later this month.

She also had the recipe for Chocolate Chipmunk Cake that she got from a nice lady while standing in line at the supermarket, and I will be sharing it also.

On Sunday, we spent some time at the local flea market and I got a copy of *The Art of French Cooking*. This is the revised edition from 1962! I also scored a copy of *A Piece of Cake* by Susan G. Purdy. It not only has a lot of yummy recipes, it has a LOT of *Fun Facts to Know and Tell*. It is sitting beside my bed for when I have breathing room later this month!

Tink

*When I dream, I cook and bake like an artist…*

As many of you know, I LOVE vintage cookbooks. I also enjoy vintage cooking magazines. I recently scored a copy of the November 1981 Gourmet Magazine. I was trying to decide how I was going to use the recipes, when I realised that this was the 25 anniversary of its printing.
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OK… I’ll admit it, we are a household of passionate Hellmann’s Lovers. There are only three of us: Jeffrey, Mom and me…and you would think there are a dozen of us, the way we go thru Mayo!

Jeffrey is the primary cook and grocery shopper and he starts to twitch if there are fewer than 3 jars of Mayo, unopened, in the pantry. (Yes, we are lucky enough to live in a 100 year old house with a pantry… it makes up for the fact that the kitchen is a slooow work in process)

Now, due to height constraints, I don’t let him buy the REALLY big jars because they just don’t work well in our refrigerator, so I guess that might account for some of his worry about running out. *VeryBigGrin*

As you may know, I LOVE collecting cookbooks… the more vintage and unique the better. A couple of weeks ago I scored an really interesting 1979 cookbook called *That Amazing Ingredient: Mayonnaise*.

It has quite a bit of history and *fun facts to know and tell* about mayo. It also has some very intriguing recipes.

Here is one that I am dying to try:

I’ll share more from this wonderful little cookbook in later posts… think cookies and cakes!

Tink
*When I dream, I cook and bake like an artist…*

Vintage cookbooks are one of my favorite things. ;-) I can’t get it to scan in the song… but, none the less, it is true!

Jeffrey, Mom, and I just got back from an afternoon roaming the local flea markets and I scored some GREAT finds.

While normally I HATE books that have been written in, I hold cookbooks to a different standard. I love cookbooks that are signed, I like it even more when they have a personal note and were given as a gift. I get REALLY happy when the owner has written comments in the margins… the more the better… and, oh, swoon… if the owner has added her (or his) own recipes in the blank pages… that is the BEST!

Today I hit several good nests of interesting cookbooks in the $1-2 range. I’ll share them in later posts.

One of the great finds this afternoon was a small hardback book entitled: *Herradura Tropical Cookbook*. Herradura is identified as *The American Town in Cuba* and the cookbook was prepared by the Ladies Club of Herradura. Part of the purpose of the book was to help Americans adjust to living in Cuba.

The first pages are titled *Hints on What to Bring to Cuba* and the pages following that identify the various tropical fruits, vegetables, and foods which would be unfamiliar to an AMerican newly arrived on Cuba’s shores. Rest assured, MANY of the items mentioned were unfamiliar to me also!

In the front and back of the book are ads for local businesses. There isn’t a date, but whenever it was printed pre-revolution, it was a pricey $1.50.

While there isn’t a name on the flyleaf, the owner paperclipped several small notes to the pages. One of the cooler ones refers to a Cornmeal Muffin recipe and says *These cornmeal muffins sound easy for quick morning use and worth trying. Save egg for the egg dealer.* Interestingly, the recipe doesn’t use eggs and is prepared the night before, then baked the following morning.

The index is arranged alphabetically by fruits and vegetables… It looks like it will be a fun read! At a quick glance I see: Lemon and Banana Sandwiches, Green Tomato Mince Pie, Battle Creek Vegetarian Roast, and a lot of other fascinating recipes. This was back before cooking temperatures and times were listed, so reproducing them may be quite a challenge… and many of the ingredients look to be well nigh impossible to find in Richmond, KY!

I report on more of my recent cookbook finds in upcoming posts.

Tink
*When I dream, I cook and bake like an artist…*