vintage box of memories

This vintage recipe box holds memories of 3 generations of women - a great aunt, a grandmother, my mother, and me.

My mom passed this recipe box down to me a short while ago, including it's contents. I hadn't spent much time in reading the enclosed recipes until this weekend. I guess you could say I took the time this weekend in honor of Mother's Day.

I love the old paper -- it's torn and wrinkled from much use and stained with oil and other ingredients, an indication of a favorite recipe.  Better yet is the fact that there are many recipe cards in my mom's handwriting.

The recipes in the picture above are for baked goods. A chocolate sheet cake my mother made regularly, hence the stains on the paper; a recipe for Lacy Sugar Cookies in my elementary school day handwriting, a recipe for Grandma Griffin's Cocoa Frosting that appeared in her local newspaper.

Going through these recipes this weekend make me want to try several of them soon.  A recipe for Hamburger Chowder which I think may be the soup my oldest daughter fondly remembers eating at Grandma's house as a little girl; a bar cookie recipe that uses a cake mix, peanut butter and chocolate chips; and Tropical Chicken which includes orange marmalade in the list of ingredients. 

I think it is quite obvious that my mother instilled in me a love for good food and the pleasure of cooking and baking. Mom, thank you. I know I wasn't always a willing participant in the kitchen but now I see how fortunate I am to have had you to teach me. I hope my girls will be able to say the same thing in years to come.