Cook Up An Heirloom

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This is such a great article
with a fabulous idea that we
just had to share it with you....

Cook Up An Heirloom
A keepsake book of family recipes
is a creative way to preserve your
clan's traditions and memories.

By Ann Hackworth
The Roanoke Times
Friday, November 05, 2004
http://www.roanoke.com/extra%5C13369.html


No one hates to rush the holiday season more than we on the Extra Homestyle staff, who shake our heads at the shelf of Christmas tinsel in the Towers CVS - two days before Halloween. But here's a creative idea for December gift-giving, and like all good gifts, some assembly is required. Call this a heads up.

Consider creating a homemade cookbook of your family's treasured recipes. A keepsake cookbook becomes more than a collection of recipes if it includes family photographs and vignettes and helpful hints for a new generation of cooks. It becomes a history of your family told through memories of favorite foods - and it's an instant heirloom.

What better time to pass down remembrances of Grandma's turkey stuffing or her decadent Lane cake than the holidays, when these things are eaten?

All you need is a small photo album, some favorite recipes and recollections - and your imagination.

Tammy Keith of Cloverdale, who teaches scrapbooking techniques at Scrapbooks Galore & More on Orange Avenue, is creating a cookbook for her stepdaughter, Carissa, a freshman at Liberty University.

"She just recently developed an interest in cooking," says Tammy, a cook of renown in her blended family that includes seven children. She encouraged Carissa's early pursuits in the kitchen, and she says the cookbook will be a symbol of their shared hobbies (the other, of course, is scrapbooking).

Tammy says that Carissa's cookbook will focus on family favorites, especially those of herdad, Kip Keith. For years, Tammy scribbled down recipes from family, friends and church gatherings in a spiral notebook - now spattered and stained and full of notes. The notebook is the source for 90 percent of the recipes in Carissa's cookbook, she says.

The recipes and the commentary will be an eclectic mix. Tammy's mom, Dottie Flinchum, contributed her Greek salad dressing. Beneath the recipe, Tammy writes: "Carissa, This is one of your Dad's favorite dinners. Every time I make it, he says, 'The dressing is better this time than ever.'"

Tammy also saves room for family cornball humor. Kip Keith's contribution: "Grandaddy's Banjo Salad (great on a summer afternoon). 1 head of lettuce; 1 jar olives (8 oz.); 2 boiled eggs; 1 sweet onion; 1 5-string banjo. ..."

Each recipe is typed in large, capital letters; the handwritten commentary is conversational.

At Scrapbooks Galore, Tammy demonstrates the seemingly endless range of design possibilities - including fonts and decorative papers, borders and stickers, laminating machines and die cutters.

"There are really no rules," she says. "Everybody has a different style."

"There is no right or wrong way to do this," agrees Kathy Steligo, author of "Meals and Memories: How to Create Keepsake Cookbooks." The content of the book will dictate the physical style of the keepsake, so the starting point is to determine what kind of book you want, she says.

Do you want your cookbook to be functional (with, say, laminated recipe cards) or simply a narrative history? Will the recipes have a theme - desserts, outdoor grilling or vegetarian meals? Will the book cover your extended family, or will it focus on your parents and siblings while you were growing up? Will you include chapters and an index?

"The most important thing you can do is plan this before you begin it," Steligo told The Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal. "These days with e-mail, it's easier than you think" to gather recipes from far-flung family members.

The effort, time and expense are up to you.

Photo albums and memory books come in all price ranges. In addition to family photos, free computer clip art and scrapbooking decorations can dress up pages. One good source of cookbook art is greeting cards, says Steligo. Photographs or drawings of birthday cakes, cocktails or holiday icons can be cut out and used to brighten recipe pages.

So, early November is not too soon to begin rounding up your information.

- The Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal contributed information to this story.

For more information

• Scrapbooks Galore & More, 3422 Orange Ave., Roanoke, holds regular scrapbooking classes. 981-2767.

• Kathy Steligo's how-to book is available by mail from Book Clearing House for $19.45 or $21.45, depending on the speed of delivery preference. (800) 431-1579.

• The November issue of Creating Keepsakes, available at Scrapbooks Galore & More, features a how-to article on keepsake cookbooks as well as a story on creating digital scrapbooking pages. Also see www.creatingkeepsakes.com.

On the Net: www.mccormick.com/keepsakes has free holiday and recipe page ideas, fonts, borders and clip art.

Tips for making a keepsake cookbook

• Record memories of a family recipe on a festive tag and tuck it behind a photo.

• Display your family's favorite meals in mouth-watering photos. Share the ingredients and tell about the memory behind each dish.

• Show step by step how to make a family favorite. Family and friends now and in the future will thank you.

• Describe a recipe's appeal and the skill and time needed for delicious results.

• Tell the story of a tasty family treat.

• Show the recipe, you with the results and the lucky recipient.

• Quote family members' descriptions of the dish.

• Describe the family traditions surrounding a recipe.

-From Creating Keepsakes magazine and McCormick & Co.

Handwritten or high-tech?

While a handwritten cookbook can be charming, your recipes and stories will be easier to read and will fit better on the page if they are typed. Here are some additional advantages of using a computer:

• Duplicates standard recipe formats and page layouts in a snap.

• Makes it easy to make changes (you never need to erase).

• Adds a professional look to your cookbook.

• Provides access to hundreds of lettering styles, sizes and designs.

• Maintains an expanding archive of recipes that can be easily updated and reduced (just print out another copy) without creating a huge demand for storage.

• Places additional desktop publishing capabilities squarely onto your desktop by use of peripheral devices such as scanners, CD-ROMs, and color printers.

• Provides access via disks, compact discs and the Internet to thousands of recipes, fonts, clip art, photographs, cartoons, quotations and other potential materials for your cookbook.

- "Meals and Memories: How to Create Keepsake Cookbooks."

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