I write IN books!

I write in books. That’s a confession. Several years ago, I figured out if I want to write in MY books, I can! And you should, too. I know, I know, we’ve been so ingrained since childhood—parents, teachers, librarians…never, never write in books! Why not? Wouldn’t you like to have a previous reader point out the good parts? To highlight good recipes or correct confusing or misleading directions? I actually started with my cookbooks. When they are handed down or handed off, the next cook will know what are good recipes, favorites, or adjustments that made my special recipe special! I think it started when I noticed a few typos or omissions in my favorite cookbooks…like salt! Or sugar! When you’re reading the recipe (that’s not just the list of ingredients), and it says when to mix in the salt…that wasn’t mentioned in the list of ingredients…that could be crucial! Or the one where the list calls for two tablespoons of cinnamon, but only teaspoons in the directions? Critical information, right? But it’s more than that. It’s communications, sometimes across generations and it’s your legacy. I love community cookbooks, where you see a great recipe and it’s submitted by a dear friend or just an acquaintance, or maybe it tells a few key facts about the cook who submitted it. That’s communication, preserving something special that that person thought enough of to submit for a fundraiser. It becomes part of who they are or were. My grandmother never thought of writing down her stories, or certainly not a whole memoir of her life. But the fact that she submitted a Mock Apple Pie recipe ( made with Ritz crackers) to her Grange cookbook reminds me of her ways, of the hard life she had. Who in these times of excess would think of a need for a “mock apple pie?” Yet she made it and apparently liked it. I love the part where the recipe calls for “a piece of butter”…..that’s not a teaspoon or a tablespoon, but a piece! If any of your ancestors submitted favorite recipes to a community fundraiser cookbook, I’ll bet you have a copy or your parents do. It reminds us of the times we shared that recipe, sat around the table or the back porch sharing family stories and good times. This is not advice to submit to community cookbooks, but a recommendation to leave your legacy with your things. Notes with your appliance instruction books, of how or why a special technique worked; in your cookbooks, when you changed a recipe or served it to special people or for events. My family has a quiche recipe we use every year for Christmas. It’s call “Christmas Quiche” by us, not necessarily the rest of the world. If you loved Gone with the Wind or a book of poems, why not say so inside the book cover or over a special passage. Many people highlight their favorite passages in their Bible. It tells a story of who we are, and in the case of later years, of who we were. You may not be a scrapbook-er, or a family historian. You may never write a whole memoir, but you can leave a legacy with the things you use or enjoyed every day. They could be simply notes to you for now, of how or why something works better a certain way, but it will tell your descendants of the person you were and how you lived.