Gathering the Favorites

I sent my two sisters an email asking for their favorite childhood recipes from our family. They responded with a whole new list of dishes that I had completely forgotten about. Considering the fact that my sisters are 10 and 13 years older than me, they have more cooking history to remember and have dishes in their heads that my mother probably let fall by the wayside by the time I came around. When I was growing up in the 70s, my mom was learning new, healthful ways to cook, and decided to never again make her famous fried chicken (mainly because of the mess, but also because of it's high fat content.) This was also around the time that she was trying her hand at Weight Watchers...so my childhood dinners were much different from those served in our household pre-1971.

I also made contact with my mother to ask for a handful of recipes to update my collection. She offered to type up the handful I requested and email them over. But when I added about 10 more to the list after receiving my sisters' emails, she said I should just take her handwritten cookbook and make copies. Bingo! So this weekend, when we go to celebrate her 83rd birthday, the treasure trove will be in my possession. And so the project will begin!