New Ideas for Old Recipes

I am the sort of cook that tends to never write anything down or stick with a recipe, IF i follow one. I have a vague idea of what I'm making, but I sort of cook off the cuff, so to speak. My mother has an array of delicious dishes that I grew up with, and I tend to long for those homemade favorites, especially when the weather is colder. I guess I get more nostalgic in a colder climate, because I have been nagging my mother to get me her notebook of recipes. She happily obliged, and she handed over this tattered folder chock full of her family recipes, dating back to who knows when in her family. The notebook has cooking stains, and the pages are starting to turn to yellow, and crinkle a little around the edges from age and use. My mom is old school. So old school, that she rocks a punch key typewriter, Betamax and a turntable with a huge assortment of vintage vinyl. She isn't a hipster, they bit HER style, and if she's the trendsetter in all things retro, you might spy those cool coffee shop jockeys rockin' some cotton stirrup pants, kitten embroidered sweatshirts with a coordinating dickie sewn in. She recently got her very first computer, a mac laptop, and has decided to leave her comfort zone of 19th century technology and blaze headfirst into the 21st century. Since she's becoming a thoroughly modern mother, I thought it might be nice to take all her recipes and put them into a custom printed, modern cookbook for her. Part of me wishes I had thought of this in time for the holidays, but what the heck, I'll throw caution to the wind and get her this little present just because.

Doing what I do, I could easily lay out a fully custom book, have it printed and have it be a one-of-a-kind original. But, I'm busy, and a tad lazy when it comes to typesetting a whole cookbook along with the entire overall design, so, I went to Tastebook and had them lend me a hand. Tastebook is so easy. Ridiculously easy, and I can attest that many online publication services are frustrating and difficult. What's cool about Tastebook, is that they also have recipes you can use from sites like Epicurious and Bon Appetit. They have easy to use templates and provide you with space for a story or introduction, pictures and more. And the result is a real live cookbook! I noticed a few days ago that one of my favorite bloggers, Mac & Cheese, also found Tastebook and wrote about it, which is really cool. Hopefully, Tastebook is a trend that catches on, and helps many of us modern peeps repackage our childhood nostalgia into a professional quality heirloom to pass on to our children, or give back to our parents.