Some of our best memories revolve around holiday food. That special Thanksgiving cornbread stuffing? Fabulous. Christmas cookies drizzled with icing? Yum!
Somehow or other, I wound up with Box #2 of our old family recipes – Box #1 resides with another sibling, I think. My own treasured wooden box contains alphabetized recipe cards from J to Z, plus an extra tab at the back for “Menus.” (Some family tippler added “Cocktail ideas” to that last tab. . . a legacy from the ’50s, I suspect!)
This small wooden recipe box is one of my warmest childhood memories; it occupied a place of honor on my mother’s stove for as long as I can remember.
Under “T” is a staple from our family holiday traditions: a striped taffy candy recipe. That once-pristine white card is now more café-au-lait. But there in my mother’s careful printing is a precious memory: the step-by-step directions for the holiday treat we used to join her in making every winter. The candy was sweet; the time we spent together sweeter still.
Even the handwriting on each card brings back memories. My dad, a meat-lover, saved a recipe for “Ziti with Sausage Sauce.” My mom, charged with party fare, snipped out directions for “Sizzling Parmesan Puffs.” My adventuresome sister tucked away clippings for “Shrimp Capri” and “Scallops Amandine.” One recipe harks back to my folks’ newly-wed days: a “Victory Vegetable Plate,” featuring potato pancakes and fried apple rings, a high-calorie, low-budget meal suggestion from the friendly folks at Crisco.
A little digging revealed few decidedly-unhappy culinary memories buried in that box, too. Under “L,” for example, were not one but two recipes for the infamous “Liver Loaf.” And for some reason that escapes me now, that’s my penmanship on a recipe for “Tuna Biscuit Ring.” (You’ll be happy to know I won’t be sharing any of those.)
But here, with my holiday best wishes, is that fabulous recipe for striped taffy candy. May your memoir be filled with many happy holiday food memories, and may your kitchen be filled with love!
