For the past month or so, I've been working on putting together a recipe book. A book that contains only the recipes that I use and love on a regular basis. The recipes that I love because either, I make them all the time, or because they were special recipes from my childhood.
I know that both my mother and my grandmother have their own personal recipe books that they turn to for those basic favorites that they would be lost without and I recently realized that I really needed to start the process of creating my own personal recipe book. My binder o' magazine clippings and mysterious ingredient lists written on sticky notes* was just getting to be more of a nuisance than a useful resource for cooking. I also came to the conclusion that I need to start weeding through all the information that I've saved; I need to throw out the recipes that either I or Matthew wouldn't even touch with a ten foot pole and then attempt to make the ones that I still think sound appetizing.
So, after almost two months, off and on with this project and one full week of weird dinners (Matthew only protested mildly), I desperately need to put pen to paper and write the first recipe in my new, precious book. The problem is that so far I haven't written a single recipe in this book. Now that I've finally started to compile the recipes that I want to include in the book, I'm second and triple guessing each recipe and whether or not it is actually worthy of inclusion. Is it truly important to me? Is it something that I'll regret putting in later? Would it be better to just keep the fragile little magazine clipping that I've kept for years at this point?
Now, I have a personal recipe book that's full of blank pages. Not a thing written in it yet and the longer I wait the harder it is to start. I suppose that one of these days I'll just give in and put the first recipe into my book but until then I just keep sifting through my pile of clippings and half written recipes on sticky notes and sighing because, as usual, I can't make up my mind.
* Many of these mystery sticky notes had to be tossed due to the fact that I wrote the ingredients down and assumed I'd somehow remember the name of the recipe, the type of recipe and the process for turning those ingredients into something meaningful. Rather silly of me!
4 comments:
Here's an idea. When you use one of the recipes, write it in the book or glue it in on a blank page. That way you don't have to add them all at once but bit by bit.
I need to go through my recipes and cull out the unused ones, but alas, that would take time. Argghh.
You are right, I shouldn't try to make a giant pile of recipes to add. It's just too overwhelming.
Oh, is your recipe binder getting too full as well? I basically took out any recipes that matthew wouldn't like, things with walnuts or pasta or chicken. that cut down lots of them =)
That's too pretty of a book to leave blank Lynnea!
Hi Kirk! Thanks :) it is really pretty, isn't it? I can't actually take much credit since it was my mother who bought it for me. I'll fill it up one of these days, it just might be a little while. :)
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