Friday, August 15, 2008

In Praise of Old Recipes





I love old recipes! One of my favorite personal possessions is a pair of recipe file boxes full of recipes given to me by my mother, grandmother, aunts, cousins, friends over the years. So many happy memories -- and so much fun to cook these favorite dishes again.

I love to find file boxes full of vintage recipes. While I enjoy looking at them myself (I love food history), I also love to share them with other people who will enjoy them as well.


I have 5 of these treasures listed right now. They were from a local estate sale and they contain recipes from the 1940s to present, both handwritten and clipped from magazines and newspapers. I was with my estate sale friend and we went into a basement sale. Everything had to go -- and there were boxes and boxes of vintage cookbooks, handwritten notebooks, and recipe file boxes. I felt like I had discovered treasure! (And yes, I bought many boxes from the sale -- they will appear in my auctions in the next few weeks.)


Some diverse and interesting finds here! A few of my favorite recipe titles in these boxes include: Hundred Dollar Cake, Amish Bread, and Hershey Chocolate Pie (Polly's). As you can see, I like to bake!



Favorite of the Week - Hawaiiana! - Pohaku Kiln Figurine



I've never been to Hawaii, but I would love to visit there someday. I love the beach, and beautiful outdoor settings (especially warm weather ones!). This is my first time to list some vintage Hawaiiana and I am looking forward to seeing what happens.





I found this charming little Pohaku Kiln figurine at a local estate sale. I would date this as 1940s to 1950s. It's a white glazed clam shell, open to show a little hula dancer and ukulele player inside, surrounded by coral and seashells. I love it! What a fun little mid-century souvenir.

Sold on eBay - $8.00 - to a collector of Vintage Hawaiiana.