Joy of Cookbooking

I just wanted to write and tell you how much I enjoyed reading the article by Judy O’Brien Goldman entitled “The Joy of Remembering� (July 5). My husband’s grandmother passed away last August, at the age of 94, and among our most treasured keepsakes is her 1943 copy of “The Joy of Cooking.� It is the one thing I would grab in case of a fire. It, too, is crammed full of little bits of paper marking recipes she had enjoyed, along with recipe clippings from newspapers, etc. She made it such a personal history of her adventures in cooking that I have not discarded or changed a single notation. I have had the most fun tracking her searches for recipes.

She and Grandfather were avid travelers, and I remember in particular her account of a memorable meal in Austria in 1937 where they enjoyed Salzburger nockerl so much that she spent the next 20 years hunting for a recipe for it. In her joy there are countless notes with comments of “this is it,� followed by comments of “not it,� finally ending with a note dated 1957 saying “found recipe� marking page 486.

SUSAN D. STAPLES, Los Angeles