old recipes

I woke up last night thinking about old friends and cooking.. recipes.. for some reason I woke up thinking about all the recipes in my cookbooks that have spent time with family and friends at dinners and lunches, breakfasts and afternoons of appetizers and wine..

I like recipes ...and cookbooks...my family knows this and I have a lot of them... Mario, Lydia, Giada De Laurentiis, Rocco Dispirto (sigh ..what a cutie) and a huge Italian cookbook from a sweet friend at work The Silver Spoon (the Italian bible according to Barnes and Noble).... there is a theme here.. interrupted by one British guy (Jamie Oliver) but only because it is a book about Italy and Italian cooking.. I especially like cookbooks with beautiful colored photos of what the food is supposed to look like when you follow the recipe..

I have realized though that as much as I love to look at those cookbooks and try a recipe or two.. I always fall back on old favorites.. hidden away in a binder/notebook that has pages with compartments in which I have shoved bits and pieces, pictures and magazine pages.. This binder/notebook was designed by my youngest granddaughter for me.. with an abstract kind of penguin on the front that she drew.. it is one of my favorite things and holds all kinds of family favorites.. smudged with flour and worn out but still readable...

I realized today that I am kind of like that with my friends as well.. tucked away.. favorites.. . you pick up where you left off.. you know the ingredients almost by heart.. you always go back to them and enjoy the memories that they bring..the stories they tell....friends for years no matter how far apart the conversations...no matter how smudged with flour and worn out.. still readable.. this is how it is supposed to be when you follow the recipe..