Memory Lane

Women have always shared their favorite recipes and today I took a wonderful trip down memory lane, devouring the pages of my nan's old scrapbooks in search of one of her's.

Within these books are hundreds of magazine and newspaper clippings, hand written recipes from my nan, my great grandmother, my great great grandmother, some great great aunts, neighbours, friends, my mother and a couple of (adolescent written) ones from me.

My nan grew up in a coal mining town (Cornwall) on the east coast of Tasmania, with her parents, her sister and her grandmother. She moved two hours away,to the "big smoke" of Launceston to live with her aunts and to find employment, which was were she met and fell in love with, my pop. She corresponded on a regular basis with her mum, in news filled letters and this was also how they swapped recipes and shared household tips.

It was how my nan learned to cook and to tend to her own young family. Letters were mailed back and forth for decades and I remember watching my nan with her pen and notebook, writing recipes down from TV shows or from magazines, to send to her mum (my great grandma rarely watched TV). She would also copy them, to give to my mum and the other women in her street.

There is so much history within these pages and looking through them, it has filled me with wonderful memories of family celebrations and beautiful food. It also made me realise just how times have changed and how lucky we are in today's society. We are offered an array of recipes books, can share our favorites on our blogs, turn our TV's on and be inspired to cook with a plethora of cooking shows or text our friends and grab their recipes.
My love of cooking definitely comes from being surrounded by gorgeous food, prepared in busy, wonderful smelling kitchens by these amazing women: