August 15th, 2011
Her Recipes
My paternal grandmother was a tough lady, and her name was Pearl. When she was a little girl, she was the first one on horses who hadn’t been broken and would ride the wild ones into haystacks to stop them. She was incredibly beautiful and went to Hollywood when she was young to be in movies, and eventually came home to the prairies and raised her family. She passed away when I was very young so we didn’t get to know each other well, but in the few memories I have of her she was teaching me to sew or cook at her house. It’s fitting that the one thing of hers I have is a box of recipes.
When I got my first apartment I started slowly exploring the recipes. Some are definitely from a different era and not to my taste (She wasn’t into vegan baking! Who knew!) but being guided by notes from the 1950’s and 1960’s has been a lovely way to learn. I’m still a much better baker than I am a cook- but I like that while she’s not part of my life in the normal way, my grandma was still there with me in the kitchen, teaching me how to make high bush cranberry jelly and her special kind of chocolate cake.
so jealous that you have something so wonderful as a legacy from her…Such a fantastic thing to pass down from generation to generation…
What a beautiful reminder of where you come from. I recently found a recipe book of an old Hungarian lady while thrifting, with my background being Hungarian and my grandmother being sick my whole life. It was a nice look into the past of how things where for immigrants new to Canada. I must take some photos of this find of mine.
Beautiful post Kyla! Hope you have a wonderful weekend full of sunshine and laughter.
Much Love,
Crystal
amazing. my hearts skipped a beat reading this. so lovely, kyla.
What a beautiful recioe box! And such a great way to remember your grandmother…
How special to have something like this! I don’t think either of my grandmothers kept a recipe box quite like this, and I just know you will do it justice. :) Happy baking!
That’s such a wonderful thing to have of hers. I have fond and happy memories of my mother’s recipe box as a kid. I loved looking through the recipes and begging her to make me German Chocolate Cake.
I LOVE this. Some of my most treasured belongings are handwritten notes from now passed away family members. I have a habit of tucking them into my most beloved books.
I can’t imagine having such a beautiful keepsake as yours. Lovely. Thank you for sharing!
How sweet! Grandma stories are my favorite because I’m so close to my own. I think grandmothers are definitely special and I’m glad that you have something that will always remind you of her.
Everything about this post is so sweet from the pictures to your story of your sweet Grandma Pearl. I would love to have a recipe box with all the best family recipes. That’s an awesome heirloom!
Such a sweet post! We’re lucky enough to still have my grandmother-in-law around and the recipes she makes really do take you back to another time. I love how recipes can tie us together.
This is so cool! what an awesome thing to have.
http://breatheandhush.blogspot.com/
gorgeous! the photos and the actual paper… so pretty. a treasure!
also, i’ll be e-mailing you a big one this week! can’t wait to catch up. I’ve been thinking about you lots. XO
What a treasure. My mother-in-law took all the family recipes and put them in a book for the whole family. It’s such a great legacy.
Kacie
http://www.acollectionofpassions.com/
That’s an incredible treasure to have! :)
I have my grandmother’s recipe box and I swear they have the same recipes, including that newspaper cut out! Guess it was all the rage in 1964.
That is awesome! My aunt has gone through alot of my grandma’s recipes and she has started a website to compile all of them as their family si so big (8 kids), she figured this was the best way fo reveryone to have adccess. She said some of the notes are hilarious – or the vagueness of recipes. LIke it will say ‘flour’. Not how much. Just ‘flour’. :)
Your grandmother sounds like she was one AMAZING lady… I absolutely love stories like this. :)
I think its incredibly fitting that you have her recipes. Isn’t so amazingly special to have her handwriting?
This is a beautiful story, thank you for sharing! Some of my favorite recipes are handwritten from my grandmother, such a special thing to share! It inspires me to write my favorite recipes and keep them in my own box, rather then keep them stored on the internet. Thanks again for the special post!
Oh Kyla, I just loved this story! Recipes are so important, they are little pieces of history handed down to us. What an amazing life your grandmother led! Some of my favourite recipes are ones that are tatty, old, smudged, stained but written in either my mom’s or grandmother’s handwriting, I think cooking from them, just makes the food taste better! Jennifer x
i love that you posted this! a week ago i got in my head that for x-mas i was gonna make a recipe book of my grandmothers recipes. for some families food is the heart of the family and for us that is it. i think adding pictures of the family and making it something more then just a recipe book would be really great, i can’t wait to get started <3
xo,
cb
This is so cool and I love the photos!
I don’t know what’s going on with my eyes, but on that first picture I read “my grandmother’s recipe HOSE” and then I was like “woops, i’m a dummy”, and then in the second sentence you mention ‘horses’, which i read as “hoses”. What the..???
Your grandma sounds amazing. I love stories of older people…before they were old. You know?
Your grandma sounds like one sassy lady :) What an awesome keepsake. Even the box is lovely!
I love that there’s an entire section for pickles-relishes. You’re super lucky to have inherited a gem like that.
I love looking through my grandmas old recipes. I love that your grandma has beautiful handwriting that you get to read. She did the same thing my grandma did, clipped newpaper recipes or magazines. Makes me want to bake something
This is the sweetest thing ever! My grandmother was full-blooded Japanese and I remember her cooking constantly as a child. She died when I was fairly young but nothing will replace the memories I have of going to the Japanese markets, trying the candy, the constant cooker full of rice, helping her make spring rolls by hand, and her curry (which has never been matched to this day). I wish she would’ve left some tricks of the trade! That recipe box really is special! <3
this is so cool and beautiful.
i have a binder with all my grandmothers recipes photo copied from a book she gave to my mother in her own handwriting.
i treasure it.
Hi Kyla! I’ve been enjoying your blog for a while now and I this post is especially sweet. I cherish my grandmothers’ recipes as well, as much for the history and handwriting as for the baking know-how. There’s so much personality in those cursive letters. Thanks for sharing!
That is awesome Kyla! What a great memory to remind you of your grandmother!
Awesome!
This is inspiring for me today – I’m in my hometown and about to go visit my grandma & grandpa. I should take a pic of her recipe box too :)
i know she already wants me to photograph her garden!
I loved going through my grandma’s recipes. Sadly, I don’t have posession of her recipes or her cookbooks with notes, but I was ableto typesome up, so I have those.
These handwritten recipes are beautiful! And such a neat order with the dividers!
When my grandma passed away I got her recipe book too. I had difficulty deciphering the handwriting, but then I found a recipe dated with my birthday, only about 65 years before my actual birthday. Not to mention I was in tears.
What a beautiful thing to have, I love the handwritten notes/recipes. I guess there are lots of useful information in there!
That is so cute! It’s like a little time capsule from the 50’s how lovely!!
Ah, vintage recipe files are just my favorite! So many good recipes for pie crust.
Your ‘Nam’ would be very proud of you, Ky! I am especially thankful when I get to sample some of your very authentic ‘Nam Cake’. It’s beyond wistful!
How sweet! Some of my favorite recipes were found in my Gammy’s recipe box. :)
What a beautiful memento! Your grandmother sounds amazing.