When I first started compiling Grandma’s recipes, I didn’t quite imagine that it would turn out to be like this. It was going to be a simple collection of recipes, nothing particularly fancy, but somehow my vision shifted and I am grateful that it did. It would become a book that wasn’t only recipes, but memories and beautiful paintings that would remind us of our amazing grandma.
When I started looking through Grandma’s recipe box she was here to help me. I spent over an hour one night talking about recipes with her while she lay in a hospital bed recovering from a broken hip. It was a memorable time for me, and one that I will never forget. In the days and months that followed, I thought about this little recipe book often, and talked with both my grandma and mom consistently about the recipes that would be included, and so many of the memories associated with them. I never realized that putting recipes together and typing them up would take so much work, but it was worth it.
After the recipes were typed and ready to go it was time for me to design the book. Should I make some of Grandma’s recipes and take pictures of them? I debated what I should do and soon realized that I wanted my cousin to paint the pictures that would go in the book. She understood the importance of Grandma’s food, and her talent is just what this recipe book needed. Instead of pictures of food, I went into Grandma’s kitchen and took pictures of everything that was nostalgic, and sent them to Tiffany. Little pictures that had hung on the wall for years, the bread box that we had always seen since we were young, and the kettle that had sat on her stove for as long as I could remember.
Grandma’s kitchen was a place that her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren loved. I wanted to capture that love - her love - in this little recipe book. As I sent Tiffany pictures, and she began to complete the paintings, my excitement grew and the book reached near completion.
Although I didn’t have it completed before my Grandma passed away, I rushed to complete the recipe book before her funeral. Along with pictures and other reminders of her talents and the things she loved, it stood as a symbol of all the years she spent making good food for everyone to enjoy. I am grateful that she was here to help me with gathering the recipes, the most important part of the process, and that my family and I have this book that will always remind us of her and the hundreds of cherished memories spent with her.
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