I've got laundry to do today. It's also kind of a "pick-up and put-up" day. With all the things I've been doing outside the inside slowly but surely starts to go by the wayside. Things need dusting and stuff needs put away. It's really not what one would call dirty. It's just that when you're coming and going you lay something down, forget it's there and over a period of time it grows into clutter. I HATE CLUTTER!!!
I see the garden growing by leaps and bounds and I don't want to be caught without enough jars, lids, sugar, vinegar, salt, etc. and I don't want to have to be working in a kitchen where everything is not in its place. Today I need to be sure all my recipes are in one spot, and most of them are; but I am looking for an old recipe that was given to me by a lady in the very first church my husband and I used to go to in Kentucky. It was a strawberry jam recipe that she cooked up and let sit for 24 hours and then put in jars and canned. It took no pectin and was really easy. Flora was her first name but she was Ms. Shelton to me and she sure could cook. I've never seen anything like it. It was just her and Mr. Shelton. She would spend every Saturday cooking for Sunday, because as she reminded me often, you're not supposed to work on Sunday. If you ever went to visit her at dinner time you would nearly have a heart attack. The table would be filled, and I do mean filled, not only with several different meats and loads of vegetables but with a major assortment of jams, jellies, sauces, pickles and chutneys. She was amazing!! Anyway, I've got to find that recipe today!!
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FOUND THE RECIPE!!! I'll put it on my Recipes page. So cool, it's in her own handwriting and dated May 30, 1980. Do you have an old recipe that you would like to share? Many of these type recipes and relationships are being lost due to the very fact that we have the internet and all the recipes we want at our fingertips. We no longer go to our neighbor or church social and gasp in delight and then ask ever-so-politely, "Would you mind sharing that with me?" I have many old recipes from friends and neighbors who no longer walk this earth and the smile it brings to my lips when I see their handwriting and actually prepare their dishes is tremendously soothing to my heart. The memories are real, they mean something and they are worth their weight in gold. This has become a part of my heritage and someday when I pass the stories to my grandchildren they will become theirs. So . . . if you decide to share a recipe with me, I would be honored to hear the story that makes it so special for you.