Potluck

Throughout your travels, you may find interesting postcards and note paper with recipes. These are fun to send to friends and relatives who enjoy cooking and collecting recipes. You also may want to accumulate them yourself.

When I tour various areas of the country, I often look for post cards with regional recipes on them. Some are tasty and others are "far out." Some cards I add to my collection; others I send to friends who want to try new recipes.

I've found interesting recipe postcards in Florida, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Michigan, South Dakota, Utah, Arizona, Georgia and other states at gift stores, airports and hotels.  The recipes on them generally reflect the uniqueness of the food in that region.

Auntie's Note Cards

My aunt, who loved cooking and recipe collecting, often seemed to find stationery and note paper with recipes and pictures of food. Years ago, when my husband was an Air Force pilot and we lived far from the area where I'd grown up, my aunt wrote me frequently.

So...many of her notes contained these pictures of food, cooking utensils, and recipes. "I've tried this one, " she might add. "It's good." These were just like the notes I later found in the margins of her cooking notebook I acquired.

Recipes and Booklets, Too

In addition to cards and note paper, you may find yourself looking for regional cookbooks, with recipes typical of that area. I often discover these and add to my collection or give as gifts to those who enjoy such items.

Each area of the country has its unique foods and cultural customs. As you travel, check out the postcards with regional foods and recipes or note cards and stationery with a culinary theme. Sometimes by combining these with a jar of jelly, cookie cutter, or special tea cup you'll create a thoughtful gift for someone in your life.

Ingredients for Auntie's recipe Credit sxc.hu Mark Butler

One of Auntie's Recipes - Chocolate Marshmallow Squares

(These are nice to prepare for the holidays.)

Cut 1 pound milk chocolate fine or use 1 pound milk chocolate bits.  Melt over lukewarm water.  Cut 3 dozen marshmallows into small pieces.  Arrange half the marshmallows in well buttered 9 x 9-inch tin.  Sprinkle with 1/2 cup chopped walnuts and cover with half the melted chocolate.  Top with the remaining marshmallows and another 1/2 cup nuts.  Cover with remaining chocolate.  When hardened, cut into squares. 

(You can add cut up maraschino cherries on top before chocolate hardens.)

(c) Mary Emma Allen

(As I wrote this column, I began to ponder the possibilities of establishing a recipe card business and wrote about this idea for my Home Biz News blog at www.homebiznews.com .  Scroll down until you find the Dec. 6 entry.  E-mail: me.allen@juno.com )

(Mary Emma Allen has been researching and writing about food and food history for more than 40 years.  She also writes for children and conducts writing workshops for children and adults. For more about her workshops and children's stories, e-mail: me.allen@juno.com. )