Marie's Recipes

The fact is, I have a LOT of cookbooks. I'm not going to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records or anything, but still, I'm closing in on 900...And, over the last twenty years, I've sold off a lot and given some away and threw some out accidently in 2001.

And, yet, I'm not jaded. I can still be entranced and seduced into plunking down my credit card or parting with some cash and adding to my collection.

So, at the Wheeler auction last weekend, when I saw two boxes of cookbooks, my first thought was, "You don't need anymore...there's nothing there that you want." Actually, those thoughts became somewhat of a chant...and then, I saw it -- a metal box that clearly held the handwritten recipes of the woman who had lived at this house. And, the box was big and it was STUFFED. I could feel the madness taking hold.















When the second box came up for bid, they placed the metal box of recipes on top and the whole lot was on the block. It was mine for $10. I could have cared less about the books (although there are some interesting tomes in there) for I now own Marie Wheeler's recipes.

What can I say? Marie's recipe box is totally spiff.

I just picked one recipe out for you at random -- A little hand-written scrap titled, "Tuna Supreme":













I know you are dying for the actual recipe, so here goes:
1/2 lb. cubed cheddar cheese
13 oz. tuna fish
5 oz. chopped stuffed green olives
1 cup mayonnaise
8 hamburger buns
6 hard-cooked eggs
1/4 c. chopped green pepper
1/8 c. chopped onions
1 1/2 tsp. salt

Spread in split buns. Place under broiler till cheese is melted.

OK, I can't vouch for whether this tastes any good or not. Actually, with all of those hard boiled eggs, I can't even test it for you because I don't eat eggs like that and SO wouldn't go for the olives either. But, it gives you a little feel for what Marie liked.

What I can tell so far about Marie is that she loved to cook. The box is crammed with little scribbled recipes on all sorts of paper types. You can tell that she must have been the type to go somewhere, taste something and say to the cook, "I have to have this recipe. How did you make it?" and jot it down on the spot. We are figuring that Marie is either deceased or has gone to a nursing home -- in either event, I found some recipes in her collection printed from as recently as a few years ago with her notes -- like one for prime rib that had a note of "perfect" printed out from allrecipes.com in 2006.

The books that came in the box are worth more as collectibles, but I have to rescue things like this. It's my mission.