The Recipe Box

Sometimes I just want to write "I miss my mom". Just that. Nothing else. Recently I mentioned it to a friend and she said I can do that. Stay tuned for that riveting blog post in the future.

There are many things that remind me of my mom. Butterflies. Books. Lilacs. Molasses Crinkle cookies. Gardening - I think the reason I'm so bad at it is because stubbornly I don't want to do it without my mom's help. She was so good at it and happy to spend all day in the yard followed by reading an entire book in her favorite chair, or sometimes 2 books and staying up way past bedtime. My most favorite thing, though, is her recipe box! Honestly, there aren't any super secret family recipes in it but it's full of index cards with recipes in her handwriting. It's almost like I can hear her reading the recipe to me when I see her writing. When she passed away I didn't have a great way to save her voice but I can still hear it in my head. The closest thing was her voice on the answering machine which we all heard while we were at our parents house going through her things to help my dad. It was a tough moment. I should have saved the answering machine.

The recipe box is so old and dirty. Well used. She painted, or probably stenciled, the design on it. It's organized with little tabs that say things like "Breads and Biscuits", "Casseroles" and "Outdoor Cooking". It has some basics in it along with some strange recipes. For instance, Orange Cow under the "Beverages" tab. Huh? Or how about Broiled Crab Buns. Yikes. The "Foreign Foods" section is empty but there is the famous American Chop Suey recipe in there! This recipe box was a staple in our kitchen when I was growing up. According to my sisters my mom wasn't the best cook and as you know if you've read previous blog posts I didn't eat most of what she cooked so I wouldn't know. But she could bake! When she had a home daycare she baked the afternoon snacks from scratch. She would get out one of those index cards and bake delicious cookies, brownies and bars. I definitely ate all those things! The house would smell so good when I would get home from school. During the summer months when the kids were out of school and in her care all day she even made hot lunches like tomato soup bar, sloppy joes and, of course my favorite, macaroni & cheese! Not Kraft but some generic brand that Costco sold. I remember some of the daycare parents asking her what kind of macaroni and cheese she served because they couldn't get their kids to eat it at home. What a tragedy, lol! It just tasted better because Patty made it.

One year my mom made all of us girls our own recipe boxes with a few of her favorite recipes in it. I'm sure she had high hopes of us adding our own recipes to these boxes and one day sharing them with our kids. I did add a few recipes to mine but after she passed away I claimed hers. We all still use it; my sisters will text me asking for a recipe and I'll find it and send a picture of it to them. I just got it out a couple days ago after being gifted some fresh zucchini because I knew she had the best zucchini bread recipe in there. It was actually a recipe from her best friend which makes it extra special. Check out the 2 cards that are obviously getting the most use in my pictures below. The chowder recipe is in my dad's handwriting!

Losing parents is difficult. There are so many times I still reach for the phone to call one of them for advice, have a good cry or to share exciting news. Maybe ask for a recipe from the recipe box. Some days are harder than others. Today was one of those days. After having a small meltdown and talking to a friend about it I was reminded to think about the happy times which brought my attention to the recipe box since it's still sitting out. I'm happy I can still see her handwriting in it. Happy I got to eat all those baked goods after school. Happy I made some delicious zucchini bread and didn't eat it all myself. ;-)