The demise of cookbooks

January 23, 2017February 17, 2017 / Apple Hill Cottage / 19 Comments

I got my first cookbook at age 10 — Betty Crocker’s Cookbook for Girls and Boys. Can you believe it’s still available? Everywhere! With the same cover, even. Ah, the joy of retro….

In 1970 the cookbook to buy was the new and updated Betty Crocker with the red cover. I got one the year I finished senior Home Economics (which I took instead of physics) 😅 In this class we learned sewing, knitting, cooking, and kitchen design — skills I have used throughout my life. Physics would never have been so practical. Not to mention that I would have never gotten a A in physics.

The copy of “Betty Crocker” lasted until 1988. When my mom died, hers was in better shape than mine, so I got hers. That one lasted until 1995 or so when my kids found a new/used edition and got it for me for Christmas. This is my third copy of this cookbook and you can see what good shape it’s in…

It is not that this is the best cookbook in the world. By far…. but it’s comfortable. Joy of Cooking is austere, though I use it in a pinch; other favorites — The Hay Day Country Market Cookbook and Moosewood Cookbook are lovely and artistic but just don’t have the range of recipes.

When we moved two years ago I went through all my cookbooks and discarded some, but I still have 33 cookbooks — including one that is a notebook of recipes written in my grandmother’s hand. I have no idea — is 33 cookbooks a lot? How many cookbooks are on your shelves? At least half of these I’ve gotten at library book sales for just a dollar or so. The other half have been gifts to me. Yes. I can always use and love a cookbook.

But my point in all this is to say that I — who love cookbooks — just don’t use them much anymore. I can go to the internet, type in my ingredients, and Voilá — there is the recipe for dinner. And if it turns out swell, then I bookmark it. My online recipe bookmarks are neatly organized into Breakfasts; Breads; Desserts and Sweet Snacks; Jams, Pickles, Snacks & Condiments; Main Dishes; and Vegetables, Salads & Soups. My physical cookbooks are not so well arranged.

They are jammed full of recipes written on slips of paper, index cards, or torn from magazines — that fall out when I open the covers. Mostly I know what recipe I’m going for when I reach for one. Moosewood Cookbook has the best cornbread recipe ever; Hay Day has the best homemade barbecue sauce; The Apple Lover’s Cookbook has that intriguing Marlborough Pie; and Ina Garten’s Make-It-Ahead has the best biscuits I’ve ever made…

The Apple Lover's Cookbook by Amy Traverso

But when I want something new, do I open a cookbook and browse? No. I browse my favorite food blogs: Foodie with Family; The Clever Carrot; Pioneer Woman; The Catholic Table; or just browse Yummly for what looks the best.

No matter; when I die, I will still have lots of cookbooks. And my kids can take the ones they want. Or give them to the library book sale.

I can’t write a post about cookbooks without including one of my favorite recipes :

Delicious (the best ever) Cornbread

(credit to Mollie Katzen, author of Moosewood Cookbook)

1/4 cup honey
1 cup buttermilk (or a mixture of yogurt and coconut/almond milk)
1 egg
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup unbleached white flour
3 T. melted butter or coconut oil
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt

Beat together egg, buttermilk and honey.
Mix all dry ingredients together.
Combine all ingredients, including melted butter/oil and mix.
Spread into a well-oiled 8-inch cast iron skillet.*
Bake at 425 for 20 minutes.

*The cast iron skillet is my addition, but it is non-negotiable. It makes all the difference. Plus then you can cut the cornbread in cool wedges instead of boring old squares. You’re welcome.

Mudroom Again…

January 17, 2017January 16, 2017 / Apple Hill Cottage / 9 Comments

I’ve written about the mudroom in our little cottage before. And before. And before.

It’s been two years since we’ve worked on it, because work stopped dead on the ceiling when we discovered a leak in the roof by the chimney. So nothing could be done until we had a new roof.

This summer we put on the new roof. But still nothing could be done about the ceiling because. Money. Time. Or lack thereof. You know, LIFE.

So the entrance to the cottage had an insulation ceiling and one wall that wasn’t finished. And a door and window that never got trimmed out because of inertia. Or lack thereof.

The wall you see when you walk into the cottage looks like this:

Not so impressive. Even though the kitchen has been 100% gutted and redone and is now gorgeous. Even though the living room and dining room were 98% gutted and redone. (We kept the pine flooring that was under carpet, padding, and a layer of battleship linoleum.) But the first impression is bad.

But now — Now we have a white beadboard ceiling that matches the kitchen. We have trim around the door and window. And we have a real ceiling light, not this one:

and a lovely new light too.

Which light do you prefer?

Did I mention we now have real trim around the door and window?

This door has been in place since October 2, 2012 when the outside of the house was still blue… It’s been so long since it’s been in that we have ~~lost~~ misplaced the little plugs that go around the small windows. We’re sure they are around somewhere, but it’s low on the priority list to spend hours looking for them. Maybe when This Old House calls us….

And just in case you’ve forgotten (I had) this is an early shot of the original demolition in the mudroom, ca. 2013.

Before

tile installed and window trimmed

In the meantime, we’re working on the 4th wall…

Finished and Unfinished...On the left is the finished kitchen....On the right is the only unfinished wall of the mudroom.

Finished vs. Unfinished…On the left is the finished kitchen….On the right is the only unfinished wall left in the mudroom. Those wires will be hidden soon…and there will be one last post on the mudroom.

On Organizing One’s World

December 28, 2016December 27, 2016 / Apple Hill Cottage / 17 Comments

Slipshod or Precise?

Messy or Neat?

Planned or Random?

Just what DOES your dining room table look like? Yes, I know, the only excuse for a messy dining room table is tax time… and ahem, yes, it’s soon upon us.

messy table Yes this is what the dining room table usually looks like. I thought about cleaning it off just for this photo shoot. But that would be putting a better face on me and my organizational skills than I deserve, and it might put undue pressure on you, the reader, to look around at your own house and wonder why you don’t measure up.

We usually eat at this table so (except at tax time) it can’t be too filled with junk. But I do admit that some evenings I have shoved stuff to the side just to make room for two plates. Sighs loudly.

So I confess to being a disorderly, organized person. An ex-librarian for goodness sakes, and now a secretary! Files must be in alphabetical order, but the desk is often messy. I go in fits and starts. Stuff collects until I can’t stand it and then I go on a binge of organizing and throwing away, shredding, filing… Last year as we took tax stuff to our new accountant, I was rather nervous that in one of those binges, I had shredded important documents that she would need.

Indexing! said the librarian. Organization!

And so, in an effort to start 2017 in good form and Organize My World (starting with paperwork) I’ve cleaned and re-organized the kitchen cabinet, my clothes closet, my nightstand, and I am seriously working on my own attitude toward busy-ness. I’m reading Ordering Your Private World by Gordon MacDonald (which has been on my unread bookshelf for four years now…) and it is speaking to me loud and clear.

MacDonald’s book is definitely about one’s private world, which is the heart of our moral compass, our self-esteem, our values, our conversations with God, our souls. Yet I can’t help but think if our outer worlds are messy, it must, in part, reflect our inner world.

“For me the appropriate metaphor for the inner spiritual center is a garden, a place of potential peace and tranquility. This garden is a place where the Spirit of God comes to make self-disclosure, to share wisdom, to give affirmation or rebuke, to provide encouragement, and to give direction and guidance. When this garden is in proper order, it is a quiet place, and there is an absence of busyness, of defiling noise, of confusion.

The inner garden is a delicate place, and if not properly maintained it will be quickly overrun by intrusive undergrowth. God does not often walk in disordered gardens…”

garden statue
And in the next chapter, he continues the garden metaphor…

“Few of us can appreciate the terrible conspiracy of noise there is about us, noise that denies us the silence and solitude we need for this cultivation of the inner garden. It would not be hard to believe that the archenemy of God has conspired to surround us at every conceivable point in our lives with the interfering noises of civilization that, when left unmuffled, usually drown out the voice of God. Those who walk with God will tell you plainly, God does not ordinarily shout to make Himself heard.”

(My copy of this book was published in 1985 — way before the electronic revolution changed the type and amount of noise in our lives).

I long for simplicity — an end to clutter — both in my outer and inner worlds. I long to get rid of paper, unnecessary choices that complicate life, and I long to be the type of person who puts everything away in the correct place when I’m finished with it… Or, at least remember where I put it so I don’t have to spend twenty minutes searching for it.

“God does not ordinarily shout to make Himself heard…” That bears repeating, doesn’t it? And the still small voice is hard to hear when distraction, busy-ness, and clutter fill your heart, your mind, and your life.

Clean your house — and while you are cleaning, pray.

Weed your garden — and while you are weeding, listen to the birdsong.

Read your bible — and while you are reading, think on who He is and how to best honor Him in your life.

And for goodness sakes, clean off that dining room table — and while you are organizing, sing.