My Mother was an accomplished and creative cook. She loved to cook for family and friends, and frequently entertained. She kept books full of notes from every dinner party and family gathering she gave - who was present, what she cooked, recipes, likes and dislikes. It makes fascinating reading and also shows how tastes and fashions in food changed over the years. One of the ways she kept track of recipes was this little box of recipe-filled index cards, and loose pieces of paper.
In fact, it had contributions from all of us over the years, including recipes we brought home from school. I'm not sure who's writing is on the subject dividers, but it wasn't my Mother's! She died four and a half years ago, and this little box is one thing that would be impossible to divide up fairly between us, so unbeknown to my sisters, I decided to create a 'cook box' for each of them (I've yet to do one for myself). Anyone who reads here regularly will know that I have a passion for paper and card, and using my scalpel and cutting mat, so creating these boxes has been enormous fun, if emotional in places. Each box was made to measure, starting with flat greyboard, cutting the template, and then assembling the box. I've always loved bookcloth, so knew what I would choose for the covers.
I wanted to add some history, and something very personal to my Mother, so I lined each box with pages from her childhood books, along with the inscriptions from her parents (each book I chose was a christmas present from my Grandparents to my Mother in 1944, when she was just eleven years old).
Some of the pages are marked with age, but it adds to the sense of history. In each box I also used pages from the same book to make the subject dividers (mounted on to card, for strength).
Then I copied some of the recipes on to card, and also some of the loose papers with notes.
There are plenty of blank index cards just waiting to be filled with more favourite recipes.
As you can imagine, each familiar recipe, along with my Mother's handwriting, brings back so many childhood memories. I'm really pleased with how this labour of love turned out - and even more delighted that each of my sisters loved the gift. Now I must make my own, and one for each of my nieces, as they've each requested one.