Thursday, May 13, 2010

A collection of life's recipes.

My lovely mother is retiring this year so as a gift I made her a cookbook. I collected recipes from her friends, family, and colleagues to fill up the pages. One day when she was out with my dad, I secretly took photographs of her kitchen and dining room to serve as the photos in the cookbook. I also photographed food to put with the recipes as well. It was a true labor of love and I proudly presented it to her yesterday at her retirement party. I've recently discovered that I really am at my best when I am being creative. Working on this project over the last two weeks has been a pleasure for me. I thought that I would share with y'all some of the photos that I took to be included in the cookbook that I entitled...

Retire to the Table.


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She LOVED it and I was so proud to give it to her.
I know that it's something that our family will treasure for years to come.
If you are interested in seeing the cookbook
in it's entirety you can view it here.

Be sure to hit the "full screen" button on the top right
of the image of the cookbook if you want to get a better look.

If you are interested in any of the recipes I can e-mail them to you!

21 comments:

heather@actingbalanced.com said...

beautiful work - would love the oatmeal recipe - heather at actingbalanced dot com...

if it tastes as good as it looks, I'll use it for a MMMmonday and feature the blog and cookbook in the next few weeks :)

Unknown said...

love the pictures and the book overall...what a great gift for your mom!

June said...

That is just lovely Leigh. What beautiful pictures to go with the recipes.

Sara said...

What a beautiful book!! You have a true talent. My mother would be so jealous!!

Caroline said...

This is the best gift idea I have ever seen and the pictures are super gorgeous. I clicked on the link and flipped through the cookbook. It's incredible.

Congratulations to your Mom and best wishes for a happy retirement!

Katherine said...

What a beautiful gift! It's a fabulous idea.

Secret Mom Thoughts said...

Awesome idea. The photos are great.

LisaDay said...

What a beautiful cookbook. Well done. How did you print it?

LisaDay

Teddy Started It said...

That's a really lovely book and your photos are fantastic. My favorite is the silverware shot. So, did you bring her to tears? Because it choked me all up. What a thoughtful gift.

R Montalban said...

That is such a nice gift. I started making a cookbook for my son all of his favourite foods so that when he is big enough, he can make them for himself.

My mum was truly a wonderful and unintentionally funny Mother (I hope I take after her), but cooking was really not one of her strongest points! Although she did make the odd few things that were great and her fried eggs and generally breakfast making skills were second to none. Gosh, I am now remembering the first Christmas Eve Anders (my husband!) came and she cooked it! It was a packet soup (the irony being Anders parents owned at the time a small hotel which had a great kitchen and we all knew it and found the whole thing so funny and sweet!). My sister and I asked her (not in front of Anders of course) if it was but she insisted it wasn't with the glint in her eye that we knew she wasn't being truthful. The main course actually made both Anders and my sister sick and both of them made their way to the bathroom discretely! That said, it was one of the most memorable Christmases, and still makes me laugh at the thought. I miss her as she was so funny.

Anyway, I do like cooking, must be genes handed down from the grandparents as it wasn't either my Mum or Dad (God bless both their souls), and I would love the Marmalade French Toast Casserole recipe if you really don't mind doing that?

Thank you also for the great laugh yesterday, I was inspired and looked up old videos of records that I loved when I used to go out clubbing, some of which I posted on my blog in tribute to you! I had a ball last night, literally!! So thank you for yesterday and in advance for the recipe... Joanna

R Montalban said...

Oh, gosh, suddenly realised, I wasn't in any way trying to say my making a cookbook for my son was anything on par with what you have produced, trust me it isn't. I just wrote them down in a notebook. This one is really, really lovely, and I am so impressed, but then again, your blog is great hence why I keep reading it, starting to feel like a stalker!!! Joanna

w said...

i love the cookbook!

and um. everything in your mom's kitchen. gimme! those roosters are awesome! everything is awesome! gimme.

Susan Anderson said...

This book is not only a thoughtful gift, but it looks WONDERFUL! I love the cover and the light fixture that graces it. I did wish I could have read the page called "A Memory," but I couldn't quite make it out.

The photographs accompanying each recipe were perfect. I'll bet she loves that book like no other!

=)

Kearsie said...

You're amazing, you are. I wish we were neighbors. We'd sit around and do creativy things all the time and complain over laundry. Which I'm behind in. Again.

vanilla said...

Nicely and lovingly done!

Ally said...

These images are lovely. You truly are very creative - it shows!

I wish I gave my mom a gift when she retired. I didn't even think of that. You're such a darling.

FourthGradeNothing.com

Karen Mortensen said...

I love this Leigh. So cleaver, creative and just wonderful.

Unknown said...

Leigh, you blow me away. My mom will never get something like this from me. But I guess I can blame her b/c she lacks the creativity gene, too. hehehehehehe

Anonymous said...

You are so creative and what a great idea!

sanjeet said...

That is just lovely Leigh. What beautiful pictures to go with the recipes.
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Jocelyn Christensen said...

Retire to the table! I love it!!! Great shots!