Cookbook Oddesy

I know it’s silly, but back in 1971, as a newly wed, new mother, and brand new military wife, I moved back in with my folks while my (now ex) hubby was in Basic Training and AIT. While there, my parents took off for a two-week vacation, and myself and a girlfriend – also a new mom whose hubby was on tour in Vietnam – decided to raise a bit of “walking around money.”

We started baking homemade bread – white, whole wheat, raisin, and a wonderful, chewy, sesame-seeded Vienna Egg Bread. She’d come by my house every morning and we’d bake all day. We put a make-shift sign out by my driveway on a busy street proclaiming “Homemade Bread,” and the magic began. People came, saw our stuff, and bought it – just like that. It was wonderful! After repaying ourselves for the ingredients, we even made a profit to divide! It was a miracle. Didn’t amount to all that much, but to us it was a huge satisfaction, not to mention the house smelled devine!

Then, my parents came home, and our “bakery” was closed forever.

I haven’t thought about those two weeks in years and years. But, when I first remembered it about a month ago, a desire to taste the Vienna Egg Braid again was overwhelming. Just couldn’t remember where the darned recipe was!

You have to realize that I probably have about 400 (literally) cookbooks. Even stumbled across the 10th Anniversary Edition of the Pillsbury Bakeoff booklet! Thank goodness not many of those 400 go back as far as 1971, though! Today, I sat on the floor in front of the cookbook stash and started hunting. Big, hardbound books first. Nowhere could it be found! Then I started thumbing through all my Pillsbury Bakeoff and other pamphlets.

Found the recipe book that goes with my Waring Blender that broke about 1985 when my son tried to make fresh bread crumbs by stuffing the bread down with his fingers (yeah – very yucky injury and ruined the blender). Found the recipe booklet that goes with my waffle maker – that developed a short about 1980 and instead of making waffles, it bakes them then rips them apart while keeping both sides firmly attached to the griddle. Found the recipe booklet that went with my original ice cream machine – that was purchased in the mid-1970s. Found the cookie recipes for the Mirro Cooky-Pastry Press. And the recipe for the Norwegian Krumkake Iron I got as a newlywed.

Then – finally found Pillsbury’s Time Saver Cookbook, originally published in 1967, and mine is the second edition. That’s where the recipe was! I am overjoyed! Seems silly that something so small can bring so much pleasure!