My First Post!!!

Hi, everyone! My name is Kathy, aka Lemonchick. I've never done anything like this.  I am not a writer, I just was inspired to create this blog after I inherited a cookbook which had belonged to one of my great-grandmothers. My aunt knows I collect cookbooks, that I am a very sentimental person and that I would cherish it.  And I do.  It hits several marks.  It is a church recipe book (a church my great-grandfather was minister of, but I'm not sure if he was, when this book was made) in which member ladies submitted recipes; it belonged to a relative; it is old, it has handwritten notes; it has different types of clipped recipes in it, the first page is separate from the binding and it has taped pages and cooking stains.  

I decided that it would be fun to make all of the recipes in the book.  Like, author Julie Powell did with Julia Childs' cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The difference for me, is that I will not be making any recipes which have shellfish (I have an allergy) or organ meats and I'm not setting a time limit to accomplish this goal.  There's also a recipe which was noted to have been a specialty dish of the lady's "mammy". I wasn't sure I wanted to do that one (can't recall which recipe it is off-hand), but as I started to type this I decided I would.  This cookbook is in the 1940s - 1960s era. At the time it was not unusual to see something like that, but it shocked me. When I get to it, I will specially dedicate this recipe to all the African American women who have cooked and cared for so many families in our history. We owe a great debt to these women. 

 

A little about myself, I am 49 years old and I live with my small herd of little dogs (6) near Dallas, Texas. One of my favorite things, is my collection of cookbooks.  I have hundreds, ranging from pamphlets, booklets, the church/community fundraiser type, brand/food/type/dessert specific, soft cover, hard cover, old and new.  My favorites are the old cookbooks I've purchased at either estate sales or flea markets and that were obviously used.  They'll have stains, bent/torn pages, check marks, handwritten notes (Did they like it or not?  Was it too salty? Was it better with an adjustment), scotch taped pages or recipe adjustments and sometimes they have dates a recipe was tried. Sometimes they'll have recipes cut out from newspapers or magazines. Sometimes they'll have clippings from store circulars or handouts.  

So, I have no idea how long this adventure will take.  I am currently still making a list of the recipes in my great-grandmother's book and didn't want to start until I had finished, but I will play that by ear. I am not going to place a time limit on this, because I have enough stress in my life (like we all do, especially right now). I will work my way through the book and when I am done, I plan to randomly try recipes.  My hope is that I will also share stories of what is going on in my life, providing a little bit of entertainment, escape from the daily wear and tear and sharing with and learning from you all also. Be gentle with your comments, as I am totally stepping outside of my comfort zone. 

I'm not sure I'm ready, but the best way to start is at the beginning.....