During my end of the year blogging hiatus, my paternal grandmother passed away after several years of failing health. Since then the family has gathered several times for the somewhat awkward meeting of what to do with her belongings. Perhaps this is not strange for everyone, but for some reason this exercise always makes my stomach churn.

So, upon being asked what I would like of Grandmother’s things, I said, “I would really like a cookbook that she wrote in.”

My dad looked at me like I was a bit crazy and then replied, “Oh, there are a lot of those, what else would you like?” We went on with the day and I brought home some precious treasures that I will cherish for the rest of my life and I am sure they will end up at the home of one of my children or grandchildren some day.

Last Friday, I returned to Enid. We stopped by Grandma’s house. While most of her belongings were gone or stashed in boxes, he cookbooks were right where she left them. Dad gestured to the shelf and said, “Go ahead and pick out the one you want.” I pulled out of few and gently flipped through the pages. There was not a lot of writing in most of them. Finally, I spotted one that had duct tape up its spine. I smiled and picked it up. It was Irma Rombauer’s Joy of Cooking. My mind instantly went to the movie Julie and Julia and the less than flattering role Rombauer played in the film. **If you haven’t seen it, watch it.** When you do you will find out that supposedly she paid for her first edition to come out and she “did not even test all of the recipes.” My thoughts on the issue are as follows….the Joy of Cooking I remember is the cookbook that was always laying around my grandmother’s kitchen and it did bring her much joy.

This being said, I picked it up, flipped through the pages, found countless recipes scrawled in the front and back and I knew this was the one.  I took one more quick glance at the shelf and a few books down I found the cover with even more recipes in my grandmother’s familiar handwriting.

I held the book in my arms as my dad gave me a very strange look as if I just dug through a dumpster and pulled out the most disgusting piece I could find, but he didn’t say a word….he has learned that sometimes I know what I am doing.

Fast forward to this morning….I was flipping through a few blogs and I found a reference to the 1964 edition of the Joy of Cooking.  It made note of the Opossum recipe that is in the O section of the index.  I jumped up, found my copy and sure enough….it is the 1964 edition and right there on page 454 is the recipe for how to prepare opossum, bear, raccoon, muskrat, woodchuck and wild boar.  I am assuming these are some of the recipes Ms. Rombauer did not try, but I am just tickled to start my week with such a discovery.  This cookbook will be added to my collection of treasured cookbooks for sure.  And, no worries, I am sure The Joy will pop up in many more blog posts in the future.  Who knows, maybe I will prepare opossum for my next dinner party.