Monday, April 19, 2021

Recipes and Memories

 

Recipes and Memories


You may have noticed my recipe box in the background of some of my posts.  Over the years it has held many great recipes...and in the past few years I have been printing more recipes from blogs, websites, and copying from magazines - and those recipes don't fit on cute 3x5 recipe cards.  All of those are in a recipe binder, but this recipe box will always hold a special place in my kitchen.
In 1976 I was student teaching in my final year as a Library Science student at Kutztown State College in PA.  I had completed my Elementary School session and moved on to Governor Mifflin High School for my secondary experience.  It was a crazy time...John and I were engaged in the summer of 1976 and had planned a wedding for the summer of 1977...a month or so after my graduation from college.  My last semester of college was scheduled to be all electives...no Library Science courses...but courses that interested me and would be useful in whatever kind of library position I would have in the future.  With student teaching work behind me, I hoped to have lots of time to plan our wedding.  Sadly, halfway through the fall of 1976 my future mother-in-law became seriously ill.  We decided to move our wedding date up to January 1977...on the two weeks of semester break.  So, it was a busy and stressful time at student teaching.  I loved working in the high school.  The librarian who was my cooperating teacher was wonderful and taught me so much.  The students were fun to work with, faculty made me feel welcome, I joined in pep rally time, and the group of student library aides were so sweet and friendly.  The librarian and the aides knew that my wedding was approaching and on my last day of student teaching they surprised me with a little bridal shower.  
The gift was this beautiful recipe box from the librarian, and each of the library aides wrote out a favorite recipe and enclosed it in the box.  I was thrilled!
Over the years the box was filled with recipes from family, friends, and copied from magazines and books.  That recipe for Strega Nona's Magic Pasta is from a book called The Fairy Tale Cookbook that was in the library of the first school where I worked.  I think it is now out of print and I am so glad I have that recipe based on Tomie DePaola's book about the grandmother witch and her magic pasta pot.  You can find the recipe here  - Magic Pasta


Some recipes were cut out of magazines and taped or glued to index cards, some were handwritten by friends and shared with me after wonderful dinner parties...


The salad recipe was copied from a Parents Magazine back in the early 1980's - Bow Ties with Apples and Oranges
Lemon Poppy Seed Bread was shared by the Home Economics teacher at the school where I spent most of my career.  I would always catch the smell of this baking and drifting into the library.  The students loved to share their creations and I now make this recipe all the time.  My neighbors love it!
Not pictured is a card for Easy Apple Crisp - back in the early 1980's Bisquick sent out recipe cards to your address and this recipe is one I kept and use often - 

But, it's time to edit and weed this beloved recipe file.  And to make better copies of some of the recipes before they fade away.  This is my mother's cut out Sugar Cookie recipe.  She received this recipe from a woman she did housework for in the 1930's.  The woman, and I think her name was Mrs. Kushki, was the Penn State Extension Home Economist and my mom helped out at her house as an after school job.  We make these cookies every year and they are, in my opinion, THE BEST! Here is the recipe - 

This recipe was handwritten by my Aunt Mamie when she was in her 90's.  It is her recipe for Slovak Kolachi...or nut roll.  I need to copy this onto a card and put this someplace safe so it does not get stained.  You can see from my other recipe cards that I am not the neatest cook!  This is a treasure to have her handwriting and a keepsake to have forever.
Once I finish with this project of saving and weeding out recipes I no longer make it will be onto the recipe binder.  There are so many in there I make over and over...and some I have never made.  Watch for that in a future post. And until then...
How do you organize and save your recipes ?  Do you still have a Recipe Box?   Have you gone digital and saved recipes on 
your computer?  Please share your ideas and leave a comment.  I am linking up today with Between Naps On The Porch  
for Metamorphosis Monday!Thank you so much for stopping by
 Our New Vista.

Monday, April 12, 2021

This, That, and Other Things

 This, That, and Other Things



Lots of little projects going on at Our New Vista.  We are so happy to be "fully vaccinated" - but still being careful about going out.  We ate at a restaurant (in an outdoor area) for the first time in over a year this week.  We took a ride to nearby Lititiz, PA for our monthly anniversary date.  On our 40th anniversary my sweet husband decided that since you never know how many anniversaries you will be able to celebrate it would be a good idea to celebrate our anniversary each month.  So, on the 8th of every month we do something...take a ride to a new place, have lunch or dinner out, go to a play or movie - though Covid put an end to that for awhile.  So, this month we decided to try eating outside since we were vaccinated. I have to admit I was a little nervous, the the place we chose had a lovely covered patio, well spaced tables, and the staff was all masked.  

There was a limited lunch menu and I chose the special of the day - Blackened Spicy Shrimp Tacos.  They were amazing...and once I took off my mask and started to eat it felt like life was finally getting back to normal.  Sadly, the number of Covid cases in our are is rising...and all the amenities here at our community are still not available.  But, this first venture to eat at a restaurant has started us on the path to venturing out more often...
If you ever get a chance to visit Lititiz, PA....do it!  Here is a link to check out one of the coolest small towns in America -https://lititzpa.com/ It is such a cute little town with tons of great places to eat and shop.  Here is my honey in a favorite shop called Zest.  Filled with cooking items and lots of fun things means I never leave without buying something.  This time is was a brown sugar keeper ( I recently purchased these containers for my flour and sugar and love them...ProKeeper brand) - and I could not resist this Eiffel Tower cookie cutter.  It is the perfect size. You can also check out Zest online - https://zestchef.com/
Along with great chocolate, tea, gifts, and clothing - Aaron's Bookstore is a great place to browse.  I admit to not buying books very often as I am a HUGE library patron.  But, I wanted to support Aarons as they are a big part of the author luncheons sponsored by the library here.  I found this book - and I just love WWII historical fiction - so it followed me home.  You can check out Aaron's bookstore here - https://www.aaronsbooks.com/


Next up was this little project!  I cannot take credit for this - Niky at The House On Silverado posted this idea a few days ago and I thought it was adorable.  
This metal plant container is from Dollar Tree.  I noticed them before but never thought of any way I could use one...then Niky shared her idea and I rushed to Dollar Tree to get started on this project.
I needed something for the base and found these "doll heads" at Michael's.   


I had some white craft paint on hand and used that to cover the wooden pieces...

I used a small screwdriver inserted in the little hole at the bottom of the "head" to hold it while I painted it...


First coat....

Second coat and let it dry thoroughly...
Used some super glue adhesive (also from Dollar Tree) 

I added a good amount to each piece....
Then evenly spaced them on the bottom of the planter...
Then I found the heaviest book in my house and placed it on top to make sure things stay glued...
All this hand washing was talking it's toll on our hands.  We were using the dish soap and that was drying us out.  I bought these two, but did not like the look of the bottles on the counter - I have my dish soap in a nice dispenser on one side of the sink - and wanted to do something with these -
This worked out great...it contains the hand soap and hand lotion and just looks cute!
I added a new faux plant I found at HomeGoods in front of the faucet and now I love how everything looks.
Thanks to Niky for this great idea...
And since Dollar Tree also had this one in French I will be working on another one for our Paris guest bath!
Thanks so much for stopping by Our New Vista today - you can leave a comment below and let me know if you tried this idea, share any ideas you have been working on, or just say hello.  I have added a subscribe by email to the top of the blog if you would like to be notified of new posts.  While it is cool and rainy outside we know that better days are ahead.
Make it a great day wherever you are!




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