Joy of Cookbooking

I just wanted to write and tell you how much I enjoyed reading the article by Judy O’Brien Goldman entitled “The Joy of Remembering” (July 5). My husband’s grandmother passed away last August, at the age of 94, and among our most treasured keepsakes is her 1943 copy of “The Joy of Cooking.” It is the one thing I would grab in case of a fire. It, too, is crammed full of little bits of paper marking recipes she had enjoyed, along with recipe clippings from newspapers, etc. She made it such a personal history of her adventures in cooking that I have not discarded or changed a single notation. I have had the most fun tracking her searches for recipes.

She and Grandfather were avid travelers, and I remember in particular her account of a memorable meal in Austria in 1937 where they enjoyed Salzburger nockerl so much that she spent the next 20 years hunting for a recipe for it. In her joy there are countless notes with comments of “this is it,” followed by comments of “not it,” finally ending with a note dated 1957 saying “found recipe” marking page 486.

SUSAN D. STAPLES, Los Angeles