Last week while on a thrifting jaunt, I came upon one of my favorite finds, an old recipe file. Whenever I see one of these, my first reaction is excitement but soon a bit of sadness creeps in when I think how someone didn't realize that in this discarded treasure box, were pieces of this cooks life, a diary of sorts. There is also history hidden on some of the news clippings as you can see here in the photo below.
I'm happy to find recipes from magazine pages and newspapers. Sometimes the dates are found on the bottom or top of the pages but other times I must put on my detective cap if the era of the box is to be found. This one had none of the above but on the back a recipe for Roquefort French dressing was an article with the photo of the soon to be released postage stamp in 1959, so I know that it is at least that old. I also try to find out about how long the person added to the box and so we look for the latest date, in this case it was necessary to dig a bit deeper. The food article above for the Shrimp Curry, was by Alyce Hazeltine and she wrote of a recent visit to Hawaii and the Governor's mansion where Mrs. John A. Burns, the first lady of Hawaii serves this curry. So after a quick search on Bing.com I found Gov. Burns served from 1962 - 1974. Not an exact date but close enough to get the era.
After all of the investigative work and delicious recipes gone through, I decided there was only one thing left to do.....choose one and give it a try. Molasses sugar cookies, they are good in any era!
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Have you come across any of these 'treasure boxes', perhaps one of your relatives?
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I have more baking to do today, I think it will have to be Pumpkin Bars with that declicous creme cheese frosting, I can taste it now!
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Have a great day! xo
