I collect cookbooks even though I don’t cook that much or so well. Owning these books is a pleasure. I like to look through them, flip their pages, peeking at recipes and pictures. My favorites are the old ones, with their smell, stains, worn out pages and stories.
My mother on the other hand had a collection of recipes written down in notebooks and binders filled with detachable sheets, for she has always been a very busy and practical woman, with no spare time to waist. Her recipes binders were as practical as her frantic routine required. She had no time to go through books. Her recipes were collected from family traditional cooking and exchanged among friends, and were assured to work.
I loved to flip through her notebooks and binders. The pages were stained and smelled like my childhood home. Also, I liked to read my mother’s interesting handwriting, which showed her personality - a busy woman, with no time or patience for long hours in the kitchen, but who was still interested in having a collection of recipes.
When I bought my first personal computer in 1987, my enthusiasm for the electronic typewriter made me start a daring project of rewriting all my mom’s notebooks and recipes sheets. What a nerve! I could start giving many explanations for the reasons why the project failed, but honestly I need to say that the most important of these reasons was my lack of typing skills, which made the writing process slower than a tortoise trotting. Secondly, the amount of recipes was substantial and it ended up looking like an endless job. And finally, my mother’s recipes were so appealing and delicious, that I had to run in despair to the kitchen looking for something to eat every time I finished typing one of them.
One of those recipes, though, made me laugh vigorously and loud. My mother has always been a hard worker woman. She retired from her regular office job in 1982, and has continuied working as a freelancer since then. It is never too much to emphasize that she was, and still is, a very active, busy and practical woman, to whom going straight to the point was a matter of saving time.
Thus, this is the wonderful recipe, which made me laugh and was never forgotten:
Sausages with Sauerkraut [from Maria José]
Buy the sauerkraut ready to eat at any deli and serve with the sausages.