23, 40, 66, 72, 77, 84

Earlier this year, I came to own a duplicate set of my grandmother's recipe cards. My cousin had them, and I asked to make copies. Spending an hour at the self-serve copier was a good chance to scan over this treasure trove as I waited to feed in the next cards.

Each card is written in my grandma's neat script, and many have notations in the corners, things like "from Grandma Manchester" or "very good." In fact, I noticed there are a lot of "very good" recipes, which befits my grandmother's tactful style. (Though it does make me think she was saying volumes about the quality of the recipes not labeled with this assessment.) There also are recipes clipped from magazines -- including a few obviously cut out of ads for Crisco or Borden condensed milk.

As I stood there, I thought, wouldn't it be cool to cook a recipe from Grandma once a week and blog about it? (before Amy Adams went and made this idea so yesterday). Well, that was January, so you see how far that idea got. But I was reminded of them again this week and thought I really should try some of her recipes.

That brings me to the numbers, because, of course, she numbered her cards. With the numbers you've given me (between this spot and my duplicate blog over at livejournal), you've helped select the first recipes to try.

And they are:

23 Cherry Dessert

40 Peanut Brittle

66 Lemon Pie

72 Loaf Cookies

77 Bar-b-que Sauce

84 Frozen Fruit Salad

Shit, people, I'm sorta trying to diet here and the first four are all desserts!? Well, please know that I won't be doing them in order, and to any co-workers reading this, get ready for leftovers.

So, if you haven't suggested a number and want to, or want to try another, go ahead. Though I hearby reserve the right to not make anything that just sounds too, well, yucky. (I'm lookin' at you, Poor Man's Chop Suey!)

Though I hear the Cherry Dessert is very good...