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Keepsakes from the Kitchen
by Kathy Steligo - ktstel@pacbell.net

Description: How to create keepsake cookbooks as family mementos.

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A keepsake is an object kept as a memento. It's something that instantly summons the warm fuzzy feeling of a happy memory: your baby's first shoes, Grandfather's gold watch, a shell you found on the beach while on your honeymoon. Or a cookbook.

When you think about it, many of our fondest memories are related to food. The warm aromas of Nana's kitchen, Mom's macaroni-and-cheese, everyday meals around the table, and all the unique ways the family celebrates special occasions.

Start with the Recipes - 

Most people consider recipes as lists of ingredients and instructions for preparing particular foods. But, recipes are much more. Whether your family tastes run to hot dogs or caviar, your treasured recipes are the stuff memories are made of, bringing back the sights, tastes, and smells of everyday meals, special occasions, and memorable outings.  Pulling a loaf of freshly-baked bread from the oven recalls childhood lunches in a sunny kitchen. The recipe for a crispy grilled fish captures the memories of annual trips to the seashore. Frosting batches of Christmas cookies with your children reminds you of your first baking lessons (and spoon-licking) with Aunt Sophia. Record these recipes and you create the most unique cookbook in your kitchen. Add your memories and stories about the recipes and you have a heritage keepsake that provides an important connection between past and future generations.

Add Your Memories - 

Your recipes produce foods that nourish, comfort, and delight. Your stories about the recipes will do the same. Write a few lines, a couple of paragraphs, or a full page. Capture the special memories that surface whenever your remake a favorite recipe. Write about how you always laugh when you recall the time Aunt Sophia burned the casserole and told you it was black potato chips. Explain the origin of the family's holiday fruitcake. Include the recipes and traditions you remember from your childhood: the entire family around the dinner table, Dad's Sunday morning pancakes, or toasting marshmallows in the backyard under the stars.  Alongside Uncle Hugo's recipe for the family's traditional Thanksgiving stuffing, record your recollections of past holiday get-togethers, when the extra leaf was put into the dining room table, the special linen and china made rare appearances, and the soft light of the "good" candles filled the room. Don't worry that you're not John Grisham; just write.

Recipes + Memories = Tradition and Heritage

What happens to history when it is unrecorded? It is lost. Think about it. Without written records, we would be totally unaware of what's gone on before us in the world. Treat your recipes in the same way, because they are an irreplaceable part of your family's history. Sometimes, we pass these recipes and memories from one generation to the next by word of mouth—a process that is well-meaning, but often loses more and more detail with each successive generation. When these family classics are not recorded, our unique foods and related traditions grow dimmer and dimmer with each generation until they are lost altogether, simply because we failed to record them. Wouldn't it be wonderful if every child inherited a family cookbook, complete with generations of recipes, histories, and stories from ancestors and relatives?

Get your kids into the act - 

A keepsake cookbook is a great family project, and summer is a great time to get started. If you're planning a family reunion, so much the better. Ask everyone to contribute their favorite recipes and thoughts, or add a section. Don't forget the kids! Encourage them to talk or write about their favorite foods and describe the preparation. Their answers are often hilarious! Adorn the pages of your keepsake cookbook with their drawings and doodles. While your little ones are still little, keep a pad of paper handy and make a collection of all the unusual and hilarious things they say about food, eating, and family mealtime. Write their observations down, along with the particular recipe. As they grow, encourage your children to add materials to "their" cookbook. This is also a great way to encourage reading, writing, and organization skills. Then when your kids go away to school or move out on their own, they can take with them their own insights and recipes for their favorite childhood foods. Your children will thank you. Hopefully, you'll start a new family tradition—one your children will enjoy, maintain, and repeat with your grandchildren.

 Recipe for a Keepsake Cookbook

•  Start with a generous helping of your favorite recipes 
• Spice with memories, anecdotes, and stories. 
• Fold in photos, drawings, or doodles 
• Pepper with dashes of humor and nostalgia to taste.
• Combine all and blend well. Serve up to yourself, family, and friends.

Kathy Steligo is author of Meals and Memories: How To Create Keepsake Cookbooks. ($18.95 + 3.20 shipping. CA res. please add $1.56 tax. Available from (800) 431-1579 or http://www.amazon.com).