Revisiting old recipes

We moved recently, and unearthed a box of old cookbooks I haven't seen in some time. One was stuffed with hand-written recipes from old friends, chefs I've profiled, generous readers. Many of these gems are yellowed and torn, splattered with batter.

There's Melanie's verde sauce, Nell's wine cake, Nana's Peanut Butter cookies, Laurie's microwave peanut brittle. I have a recipe for polenta stars that were featured on "Northern Exposure" from Dahlia Lounge from the early '90s. Back when polenta was wildly exotic and Tom Douglas was just another chef. Found a really old recipe for buttery pound cake passed on with the recommendation I keep an eye out for recipes from Paula Deen.

From that same era, I have a recipe from Marian Burros for fish tacos. When nobody dreamed of sticking seafood in a tortilla. It reminded me how far we've come in our food savvy-ness. These days, I continue to learn something new every day. But, a cold fact I find hard to swallow: Nobody writes out recipes on cards and shares them anymore. Or do they? Love to bring back that tradition!