By Staff
Suzanne Langcuster
Spending time with my nose in a recipe book is a favorite past time of mine. Occasionally, you run up on a recipe that is special and you feel like you have found a buried treasure.
Older recipes interest me most. When I read these old recipes they jog my memory. They take me back to the days when I was growing up and the house often smelled of pot roast, pound cake and cobbler pie. Sure, there were other cooking smells but these were my favorite.
We often watched Mother share ideas about how she prepared certain dishes. There were some special tastes she put in her fabulous pot roast, and she often shared that with others when they bragged on her as they set around the dinner table.
Recipes were often shared over the phone.
I remember when you picked up your phone and the operator said, "Number please," and you gave her the number.
Ours was 173.
"Tell me what you put in that delicious pie you brought to the church supper," callers would ask my Mother.
A special treat was when a club, church, school or other organization gathered an assortment of recipes and made cookbooks.
We always rushed to purchase one.
When we tested all the recipes from the book we were anxious to share them.
When we were asked what we put in our recipe we only had to say, "I got the recipe out of the new cookbook I bought from the church."
Recipe parties were often given for brides-to-be. I had one many years ago and was proud to have some recipes to get me started.
A lot of cooks search constantly for new recipes and new ideas. Cooks enjoy Southern Living magazine because of the delicious down-home recipes.
I've even received chain letters that asked you to send out a certain number of recipes in order to get many more in return. It's fun but has never worked for me.
Sharing is something we learn in the early grades. Let it continue to enrich your lives. Share a recipe with someone you love, or you might make a new friend by giving them a recipe.
I've made a lot of new friends this way and I consider each of you one of them.