So here's a confession: after about twenty years of not doing much in the kitchen as far as cakes are concerned, I've been baking again. A good friend who heard about this from an email I sent her, offered to send me an easy recipe for a berry cake. Which she did. Kind of. She sent me the online link.
Ah yes, as the mother of a friend of mine discovered, you can find any and every recipe you can dream up or name on the internet.
But me? Truth to tell I was kind of disappointed. And you know why? Because I get a kick out of using my old, hand-written (although sometimes also typed-out) recipes in my special 'cooking clips' file. Somehow this brings a connection to the person who originally gave me the recipe. There's my mother's one for scones, another from her mother called 'Nannie's sweet scones'. And yet another, recalling early childhood days: 'Sunshine's pancakes'. There's my sister-in-law's 'Penny's Lemon Loaf' as well as 'Plain cake', a wonderful standby when I want something without icing that will last for a few days if not a week.
My favourite chocolate cake to bake for birthdays and other special occasions came from a long-ago acquaintance called Barbara. I wonder what became of her. Then there's Joan's Granola, which I make all the time. This came from my recently-deceased aunt, my mom's youngest sister, who insisted on giving it to me even though I declared I would never get around to using the recipe!!
Lastly, I have a hastily-scrawled recipe from an old friend I got to know because our first-born daughters were six weeks apart in age. When more babies came along, we were kept pretty busy; and so the recipe for a quick chocolate cake from Delia begins:
'Into your mixing bowl, hurl two eggs...'
Hmm. I don't think you'd find anything like that on the internet. ;-)
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I have a tin filled with hand written recipes, and they've got a lot of memories attached, but truth to tell, I've made them so often they've become old hat. I'll never get rid of them because of the sentimental attachment I have towards them. There are only a few internets sites that I trust enough to try their recipes. It's the variety that appeals to me. I think there's room for both types of recipes. Can't you just print off that berry cake recipe and write 'from Nancy with love'?
ReplyDeleteNancy ducks her head.
Now that's a good idea. And an interesting comment which carries a lot of truth. I tend to stick to the tried and true, which means I miss out on new ideas and ways. Guess I'm not as adventurous as I used to be. And that doesn't only apply to cooking!
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