Cookbooks not relevant?? Really?

Well it is fall and I am back to cooking in the crockpot or the stove.. so I brought out some cookbooks to get the recipes.

(What happened?? I was typing along and puff most of it disappeared..wow! Must be the ghosts?I am getting ahead of myself, again.)

Anyway, Eric got his own apartment this year. ( Yes, I know, my baby sharing an apartment with 3 other guys and paying rent and utilities etc. Scary!) Back to the story, he called and asked for some thing that didn't fit in the CRV when I brought him downstate. Girl friend's parents were going there and could bring them. ( Yes, same gf since freshman in high school)

Anyway, I packed what he wanted, sort of, he asked for spices and I texted him a link to penzeys.com. Much better than I could do, but not free. But I packed him a cookbook. It was a basic Betty Crocker's  cookbook that my mother owned. I thought he would find it useful and after all it was his grandma's.

I have a cookbook from my grandma, a settlement cookbook - do they make these anymore? Somethings are funny,  how times have changed and some are useful. But it was my grandma's book and has her handwriting in it, and in between the pages are letters to my mom with recipes. Yep, she wrote and sent her recipes. My mother was a new bride at Ft Leonard wood, MO, and her mother and my Dad's mom sent her recipes. Didn't email, text, send her a link but wrote letters with news from home and sent recipes. ( Sigh)

I still have the book and at times just look at it, hold it in my hands and read it to feel close to her.


So I thought ( silly me) that Eric would like a cookbook from his grandma. But no!
He was polite and said the right things but the end result was that he could get anything he needed from the Internet.
I realized he was in kindergarten when my mom had a stroke, which brought on Parkinson's  and never cooked again. So he didn't have the same feeling I do..but still.

 Every Thanksgiving I make her recipe for Strawberry Jello Mold. It makes me feel good, but I think my kids think of it as mine not hers. Yet she was the one that won a contest with that mold. When she was still alive, she would smile as I brought it out and my Dad would have seconds or third and take some home. My sister associates my mom with the jello mold too.

I realized that I just belong to another generation. Books are special!

I have cookbooks, some can say I collect cookbooks. I just look at the pretty pictures, read the recipes, and thought about making some, actually tried some over the years. Some recipes were good and I make them again and others not so much once was enough. But some cookbooks I have used over and over again. For example, my Beard on Bread..( I know most have never heard of it, much less used it. Except me and Norene. ) anyway, it has spills and crumbs and dogeared pages. It falls open to banana bread..I used it just yesterday to make apple bread. Yes, gluten free apple bread with Jules all purpose flour. It was beautiful .. it was supposed to sit for 24 hours to get the apple flavor meshed in it, but no, it was gone in less than 24 minutes by Geoff and Scott and me. It was good and it has been so hot all summer, I haven't baked.
Wonder if I can gluten free bake on the Weber?

 Thankfully the weather has turned a bit cooler so I can bake again.

Back to the story, I always thought that I would hand my cookbooks to my kids to use but now I realize that they will look at them and say "nice, pitch them or give them away". I thought about my nephew's wife but I think not! She has her own cookbooks. Anyone have a daughter that may want them?


So what could I do?? Well,  I went to Barnes and Nobles and bought another cookbook!