Nothing to do with soup, really

Inspired by Terri’s party, I started poking around in some of my own “period” cookbooks today. I was looking for an easy recipe to make for tomorrow’s TIF talk  —  it seems like a fair number of people may turn out and I started to think we might need some backup soup. I wasn’t about to essay Tuna and Tomato Bisque again, but thought the pages of “The Sunset Cook Book of Soups and Stews” (1967) might yield some inspiration. 

Instead I found this, tucked inside a copy of “Thoughts For Buffets” (1958). It’s a note to my grandma from her friend Helen, and it moved me to, if not tears, at least a moment of quiet.

I don’t exactly know how this book came into my possession. My beloved grandma died in 2003, at 93, and I guess I must have picked it up when we were cleaning out her apartment. It’s been sitting there on top of the fridge ever since. Just waiting to body slam me back to a time when people typed up little notes on index cards to warn the recipient off the Squash Ring.

“Thoughts for Buffets” did not, unfortunately, give rise to any thoughts about soup (though I am intrigued by some of the cocktails … ). Any requests?