Adrian Garson
By Adrian Garson
I can remember growing up and looking through boxes of recipe cards with my grandmother. I was fascinated with seeing the handwriting of women in my family on those 4×6 cards that were weathered by time and lots of flour. As I grew older and had a kitchen of my own, it was really important to me to have those recipes be a part of family gatherings.
Once I had my own daughter, it became even more important to me for her to inherit those recipe cards, not only from my family, but my husband’s as well. I wanted her to see the handwriting of women in our family that she would never get the chance to meet. I always felt like those women would live on in our family if we cooked with their beloved recipes as much as possible.
I felt so passionate about those index cards that I even had them framed and they all hang in my home, on a wall in my kitchen. I can see my great-grandmother’s handwritten pot roast recipe, and my mother-in-law’s famous chicken salad hanging up every day in my home. I even have my grandmother’s world renowned “green stuff” recipe hanging right in the middle. If you’re from Georgia like me, then you know what I’m talking about.
It occurred to me that maybe I’m not the only one out there who shares this fascination with not only the recipes, but seeing the handwriting of those who came before us. So, since I’m a publisher after all, why not collect a book full of heirloom recipes that we can share with each other? Wouldn’t it be amazing to see your mom’s hashbrown casserole recipe card in a book that will live on long after we are gone? I’d love to see page after page of those 4×6 cards and a photo of the mastermind behind that recipe side by side in a hardbound book that I can share with my family for years to come.
If you are as sentimental as I am and want to share your family’s heirloom recipes with the rest of us, scan your recipe card and photo, as well as a typed version of the recipe in case the card has become less legible over time, so we can print them in our new book, “Our Shared Kitchen.” Send those scanned files over to me, adrian@cmgweekly.com. Or, if you would prefer we do the scanning, then we can schedule a time for you to come to our office and we will take care of that for you.
I am really excited about “Our Shared Kitchen,” and it will be available for purchase this winter.
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