Alexis wrote:

> I've been meaning to post about this since April, but one thing and
> another and I kept forgetting :-)
>
> Shortly before school let out, I went to check my "mailbox" in the
> teachers' lounge and found a spiral notebook, the cover decorated with
> cutout pictures of cooking implements and food (yeah, it sounds tacky
> and fourth-grade collage-ish, but stick with me for a few moments
> more). I quickly glanced at the other mailboxes and realized that
> there was a spiral notebook in each one (about 50 staff members in
> all).
>
> So, I opened the notebook and read the first page. I'll paraphrase the
> letter that was included inside the front cover, but essentially it
> said, "my mother is 87 years old this year, and she lives on a small
> farm in Idaho. For years, she's been collecting interesting looking
> recipes from the local newspaper, church bulletins, and magazines, but
> given her age and that she lives alone, she no longer does very much
> cooking. About 15 years ago, she began creating these 'cookbooks' to
> give to friends and neighbors. They're created in such a way that the
> recipes can easily be removed if you find you don't care for one, and
> there is always plenty of space to add more. All of the people in her
> community now have one of Grandma's books, so she's begun making them
> for my friends and colleagues. Please accept this as her gift to you."
>
> I began to look through the book and discovered that she'd created a
> blank index on the first few pages, then she'd numbered the pages in
> the rest of the book. The first 50 pages of the book were full (4-6
> recipes on each page) of recipes cut from, as the initial letter
> mentioned, newspapers and magazines and cookbooks and various other
> sources. Each one was tacked on the page with small pieces of tape at
> the corners so that it was secure, but could easily be removed if so
> desired. The recipes were generally different and fun -- there were
> very, very few "ordinary" recipes that you'd find on the back of, say,
> a soup can.
>
> We'd never met the woman who made these, and it took us a full day to
> figure out who her daughter was (it turns out that she'd substituted in
> our building twice early in the year and had enjoyed her time with us).
>
What a very neat gift!!!!! I love it!

--
Jean B.