Ten years ago I decided to develop a family
cookbook. I typed recipes from index cards and scraps of paper of my mother and grandmother's recipes. I then added my own favorites and those shared by
my husband’s family and our friends. Along the way, I put these recipes into
categories, developed a table of contents for each category, and then made an
index. This compilation was put into a pretty 3-ring binder. Over the years, I
have clipped more recipes that I thought looked interesting at the time, and
popped them into the divider sleeves.
I’ve decided it is time to pull all the
categories together and have the cookbook permanently bound. I’m lucky that
most of the recipes have been typed, and the index developed. I went through
the sleeves and threw out most of my clippings. I do have a small pile sitting
next to my keyboard that need to be included. Typing recipes is not fun!
Since many of the recipes came from loved
ones, I decided to give this book a genealogy flavor. I will have a contributor
page in the front matter that will have the name of the person, a photo when I
have one, and a short bio/genealogy of that person. The sample below is what I
will include for my grandmother’s brother, Kenneth Hardenbrook. I’m sure as I work on this I will come up with more ideas to make this publication even
more personal and fun.
Kenneth Hardenbrook (shown above with his mother Laura Hardenbrook)
was the son of Enos and Laura
(Wortman) Hardenbrook. He was born
10 May 1909. He and his sister, Maude Emma were raised in Jacksonville, New
York. In 1936 Kenneth was proprietor of Ken’s Lunch located at 212 South Cayuga
Street in Ithaca, New York and then in 1941 Kenneth co-owed R&H Diners with
L. Gerald Rich. They were proprietors of the Cayuga Diner located at 235 South
Cayuga Street, and the Sterling Diner located at 333 East State Street, in
Ithaca. Kenneth’s father, Enos, worked as assistant chef at the Sterling Diner.
Kenneth married Mildred Elston. Kenneth was a born chef, and his Ken’s Meatballs
recipe can be found on page ___.
