Occasionally a book is released that I just have to have! 'Keepsakes' by Frances Hansen is one of them. Part cook book, part art book and very much a personal scrapbook, it is a joy to devour. Between the recipes are sketches, stickers and miscellany that combine to represent a collection of memories - it is a celebration of DIY, home making and family life. The beauty of 'Keepsakes' is held in its history; Frances has collated a bunch of handwritten, old recipes and preserved them forever - what was once ephemera is now bound in a book with deckled edges. Jodi: Keepsakes began as a present for a loved one. When did it become a book?
Frances: I made the book over three months; Sept, Oct & Nov of last year. The original version was made three years ago, as a wedding gift for my youngest sister, Fleur Wood who is a fashion designer based in Sydney, I really wanted to give her something special and meaningful as a gift. She loves to cook and my sisters and I are often asking each if we remember a particular family recipe, I also thought it would be a great opportunity to compile all our family favourites, some of my own mostly vegetarian inventions as well as family photos, images of my artwork and other quirky images and inspiration for her.
Jodi: How do you think cooking and art are similar?
Frances: Good Question!
They are surprising similar.... my version of a good cook is someone who can create something out of nothing, substitute ingredients if they don't have something in their pantry or a cook who is inventive and creative when it comes to planning a meal.
My art making process is very similar, I recently had an exhibition at Sydneys' First Draft Gallery, the title of the show was Nothing but Something, the accompanying essay was a discussion around the idea of Gleaning, which is traditionally a food / left over crop gathering activity. Currently I am making large paintings of puddings, this is a direct response to publishing a book about food, I am having heaps of fun painting images of large milky puddings such as Blancmange and Junket, I am just planning a painting based on a 1950's dessert called Raspberry fool.
I don't normally make images of food! Although often my work is concerned with the domestic, my most recent exhibition at Snowwhite, a gallery here in Auckland , was entitled Home & Contents. The work included paintings, embroidery on face cloths, found headboards and a grid of stretched nets and aprons, probably a little difficult to visualise, but the work was a celebration of the DIY mentality, something Kiwis excell at.
Jodi: As a mum of two children, how important is cooking in your home?
Frances: Well, I cook dinner most nights!
I have a very productive vegetable garden so that is the challenge for me, whatever is happening in the garden determines what is on the table. We have a new crop of rhubarb, so I'm cooking with that right now, stewed with homemade muesli. Having younger children has been limiting in terms of cooking, not when it comes to creating birthday cakes, but more the typical dinner, as I work full time, I get lazy and make kid food, although I enjoy the challenge of ramping this up into more exciting adult type food with the addition of a few ingredients, secret herbs and spices....
Jodi: Keepsakes has pride of place on my kitchen table at the moment and it seems to easily attract the eyes of neighbours and visitors. How does it feel to have such a personal scrapbook of history and creativity on the kitchen tables of strangers?
Frances: The original version was way more scrappy, rough and personal, particularly with family photographs, so a certain amount of editing went on when I made the new version. Having said that my publisher made the decision to not edit the pages at all so the book has all these spelling mistakes and other grammatical errors, which would be present in the average persons scrapbook of recipes, (at least I like to think this is the case). My favourite mistake is where have written Golden Sydney instead of Golden Syrup, I think I was about 17 when I wrote that one out and had just moved there.
Overall I feel really happy with Keepsakes, my family and friends who contributed are all delighted to be part of it, it was a pleasure to make, one of those moments where everything works out effortlessly. I actually felt sad when I realised I had completed the last page. It is a little strange to see your personal keepsakes published, but I do think many people have similar family keepsakes of their own and can relate to the material easily.
Jodi: What are your hopes for Keepsakes?
That it inspires others to make their own. I inhertited my godmother's recipe book and it is much more than just a recipe book to me, it speaks so strongly of her personality, and brings back fond memories of her. It was so special to make pages centred around her and her recipes.
Jodi: Any plans for another book?
Frances: Absolutely
Can jelly slice be a family recipe?! I hope so because it's all I've got! You won't see me making steak & kidney stew anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous looking book, what a fabulous concept.
My Nonna's homemade potato gnocchi with crispy sage and butter sauce :) Thanks
ReplyDeleteThat book looks sooo good! The only family one I can come up with is potato salad with egg that was Mum's recipe. Thanks :)
ReplyDeleteA lover of collage and the recording of life I have had my eye on this wonderful book since Hardie Grant first mentioned it on their site!
ReplyDeleteMy fave family recipe is a plain tea cake with cinnamon on top! Must have with a warm spot of tea on a rainy day :)
What a beautiful looking book! Our family recipe is 'Pumpkin Cake' - kind of like fruit cake except it also has a cup of mashed pumpkin in it, giving it a moist texture and distinctive buttery yellow colour. The recipe comes from my mother's mother's mother, and has been a family staple ever since I can remember. My grandma used to pack two in her suitcase when she would come and visit, and now she has relinquished the pumpkin cake making responsibility onto my mother. Pumpkin cake and the taste of it remind me of various family celebrations and staying with my grandparents.
ReplyDeleteAs simple as they are to make, my Mum's hamburgers, Lori Burgers, are amazing.
ReplyDeleteMy sisters and brother try to recreate them all the time. Mum insists the secret ingredient is love.
This book looks fantastic!
This book looks oh so lovely!
ReplyDeleteTh recipe which has crossed the most generations in our family would have to be Apple Slimely. (Yes, it is as good as it's name!).
That book is gorgeous ... I have my fingers crossed that it is coming to live at my house.
ReplyDeleteOne of our family recipes is meatballs. It's not that they are the best meatballs in town, although they are very delicious its more that I used to make them with my mum when I was little and now my 3 kids help me make them.
Oh this looks like a delicious book and I would beg, borrow and steal to own it.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite recipe of my grandmother's is her pumpkin soup, which actually has ground macadamia nuts in it. It is amazing and everyone who eats it says so. I cook it when I want to commune with my grandmother. I always feel her standing alongside me when I stir the pot she left to me when she died. Cooking is a great way to evoke memories of those passed away.
How do you know when and if you've won this book?
This book looks beautiful.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite family recipe is my mum's fruit cake.
She cooks it every year for Christmas, and the smell of it just reminds me of the holiday season! I love it.
She usually makes around 15 each year to give away as presents, and they remain wrapped in newspaper and stacked around our kitchen for the weeks leading up to Christmas.
I'd say my mum's coulibiac - she made it every Good Friday I can remember, and even before I liked the taste of the filling (fish, raisins, rice and almonds just seemed weird at the time, and I wouldn't touch the lemon sauce) I loved the fact it was all inside a big pastry fish - and that I was allowed to help cut pastry fins for it.
ReplyDeleteThis book looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteOne family recipe, which almost got lost,is for Pierogi filled with cottage cheese and potato. I'm drooling just thinking about them! Fried in a pan with a hint of butter and fresh herbs I could eat about a million in one sitting!
Wow that book looks amazing!!
ReplyDeleteGosh it's so hard to pick just one family favourite as we were raised on them :)
At a push I would say my dad's paua fritters or raw fish (both kiwi delicacies) or my mum's burnt sugar steamed pudding :)
xx
almond bonket, it is a dutch pastry with a creamy almond paste and served with tea. my grandmother always made it, and then my mama, and now me. it is delicious...sort of like the looks of this book.
ReplyDeleteSuch a beautiful looking book. I'm dying to flip through it.
ReplyDeleteThe first recipe that sprung to mind was damper with 'cocky's joy' (a.k.a golden Sydney, or golden syrup!)....What a funny coincidence that Frances then mentioned this in your interview!
oh what a gorgeous looking book!
ReplyDeletenothing beats mum's homemade pizza. always brings back such happy memories :)
Oh.... What a gorgeous book! Very inspiring!
ReplyDeleteOne of my favourite (and often revisited) family recipes is my Nanna's Impossible Pie. It's a sweet cocconutty, custard-ish pie with no pastry (thats the mystery!)... kind of hard to describe, but taste's delish.... and has that old school Nanna vibe that I love. x
Hi Jodi, this book looks fantastic! I love recipe books (not that I follow recipes much but more take ideas from them and read them like novels!). My nan and mum used to make Ambrosia every Christmas. It is a delicious concoction of marshmallows, flaked almonds, tinned mandarin slices and a yummy sour cream dressing. Weird combination that works!!
ReplyDeleteBy far and away the favourite meal in my house is Spanish Potato Soup. A recipe my beautiful mother in law gave me. She speaks love in her recipes, as do I and over food we have connected. Her son, my hubby, loves my interpretations of her recipes but the soup is the deadset winner with both the 15 mth old and 2.75 yo devouring it. Great interview, awesome looking book! xxx Fi
ReplyDeleteOh I love the look of that book. So perfect. Hmm family recipe ... my dad loves to make what he calls 'cook's best bits' which is really just sausages cut up into little bits and smothered with salt. We munch on these while the actual bbq cooks. They don't sound that good but everyone who tries them wants to know what he does to them ... little do they know. x
ReplyDeleteThat book is simply stunning! So clever.
ReplyDeleteMy mum makes delicious'Satay Chicken Burgers', which we have on turkish bread with a satay/yaghurt dressing. Simple, yet devine!
Only occasionally Jodi? ;) My mums lemon delicious pudding is by far the best dessert ever made. Both firm and sloppy and served with cream. I'll bring you a bowl xox
ReplyDeletethe light in your photos is so beautiful at the moment.
ReplyDeletewe have a recipe for lemon butter that has been handed down from my maternal great grandmother. when my gran makes a jar, we all fight over it. cousins, aunts, uncles, mums and dads, great grandkids. we were all raised on the stuff and are all addicts.
xo
This book is priceless! My grandma's ricotta cheesecake is my favorite. Even though it seems she was always on a diet, when it came to cheesecake, she said you could never skimp on the full fat ingredients.
ReplyDeleteOh, what a lovely book, jodi. Hmm...favourite family recipes are light on the ground here, as I seem to be the only willing cook around. I learnt lots from my russian great grandmother when we lived with her when I was a kid...my all time favourite is pelmeni, little pastry parcels containing a meat mix which are boiled and served with a curious dipping sauce made by mixing sour cream and soy sauce. Ahh, the ultimate comfort food!
ReplyDeleteOne of my family favourites would have to be one passed down from my Nonna, from Italy. I writes post about it www.thejadeleaf.blogspot.com. It is her famous chicken noodle soup, which as kids we used to call 'boogie soup' because of the small pasta in it. Lovely, lovely book. Jade x
ReplyDeleteMy husband is German and I often make his favourite cake which is a bit like a black forest cake (i.e totally divine!) and the recipe has been used by his mother and her mother. It's been a big hit at my parties too so the recipe has been passed onto my friends and family in Australia.
ReplyDeleteThat is the loveliest book. I am partial to a good scrapbook. xx
ReplyDeletewhat a great book!
ReplyDeletemy father in law's dahl recipe is always a winner, my husband's grandma's tuna casserole gets lots of requests but i'm with vic, with all the special things to cook in my own recipe book, my nan's jelly slice still gets the most requests!
awesome book. I would say good old spaghetti bolognase has remined a favourite for young and old in our household.
ReplyDeletea chocolate gluten free sponge with copious amounts of cream. my mum always tops it with a heavy dusting of icing sugar and on special occasions, fresh roses. this looks like a special book!
ReplyDeleteI don't cook but SERIOUSLy had heart palpatations when I saw it, at first i thought you had made it and I was falling in love... it looks amazing.
ReplyDeleteFave family recipes woudl have to be my husbands lamb shanks. he is a chef, it was the first thing of his I ate and i said to myself... how could I have not noticed you before????
Thanks for visiting my blog, I am so glad I popped over here today.
We have two family recipes. The first is middle eastern roast lamb. You take a leg of lamb and cover it with a mixture of thick natural yogurt, olive oil, onion, salt and pepper. You put it into a very hot oven for a short amount of time and then turn it down to roast for a couple of hours. The yogurt combination sounds weird but it makes the most delicious sauce and the lamb is so tender. The second recipe is for lemon poppy seed cake with almond icing. I have no idea how we came up with this combination but it is crazy-delicious!
ReplyDeleteThere is a Cinnamon Tea Cake that my Mum used to make for afternoon tea when we got home from school.
ReplyDeleteNow my daughter makes it with her little brothers.
What a fabulous concept and gorgeous book!
I would love to win this book! My favourite family recipe is my colombian mother's bandeja paisa (with a vegetarian twist nowadays). Fingers crossed!
ReplyDeleteMy Grandmother's yummy jam drops and super moist banana cake is the recipe page with the most wear and tear in our household. But my mum's taco dip is a staple on the nibbles table at every event and celebration too!
ReplyDeleteThis lovely book is to die for - I was oohing and ahhhing over it at my favorite book shop the other day, but our recently-tightened purse strings meant I sadly had to put it back on the shelf!
You have a lovely blog, Jodi!
My Greek nana who lived until she was 98 made the most beautiful chicken soup with lemon and rice. It was always on the stove ready for us when we made the long trip from up north and arrived frozen and starving! It warmed every inch of us and there's no way I can re-create it though I try - with the chicken, eggs and lemons from the garden and made with such love - it was the last thing she ate the day she passed away - how can I ever forget such a recipe.
ReplyDeleteThank you for bringing back the memories : )
Wowsers that looks like one beautiful book! My Dad has been perfecting his christmas cake recipe for about 8 years. He's a meticilous perfectionist and the original recipe now has notes and critiques of each years tweaks down the side and all over. In fact, it'd be a perfect inclusion in Keepsakes the Sequel! Hope you guys are having a lovely weekend. Kellie xx
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful book, would love to create some new family traditions from these pages...
ReplyDeleteI love my mum's version of Christmas mince pies, they are not very traditional but so delicious... think dried apricots, cranberries, nuts, banana, currants, some kind of liqueur (just what depends on her mood....), it varies every year but she always gets it right. I also love the email reply that she sent me years ago when I asked for the "recipe". Yes, I have tried many times but they never taste quite like hers!
Another favourite at our house was a Thai style fish, pumpkin and coconut soup...mmmm.....
Wow! I'm a sucker for a cookbook. The first thing that sprung to mind was my mum's topside roast. The potatoes were roasted in the pan with the meat. We called them black potatoes.. full of flavour. We all fought for them:)
ReplyDeleteCheese Biscuits- Addictive little morsels that melt in your mouth, that you can't help eating the whole lot in one go
ReplyDeleteAunty Beryl Biscuits! Shortbread bikkies with a glace cherry in the middle or sometimes a choc chip.
ReplyDeleteEaster biscuits springs to mind - i just made them over easter from the recipe handed down from my Dad's grandmother. simple and yum.
ReplyDeletetablet!! (kind of like home made fudge - but Scottish style) My auntie's recipe passed down from my Granny. She would make trays of the tablet, wrap it in silver foil and hand it out to us all after we visited.
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome book!
ReplyDelete♥
Pearl
would have to be my Grans custard sponges and lemon slice. Gets made for every bday/christening/wedding/Easter (insert special event).
ReplyDeleteI wish we all posted our recipes for these too. All sound so delicious and would love to hear the stories behind and photos (another book perhaps)
ReplyDeleteThis is the most beautiful book I've ver seen :o)
ReplyDeleteThe family favourite was mum's Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding. With 7 kids, I am sure she doubled the recipe.
ReplyDeleteI now have my late mother's recipe book passed to me by my sister to look after. We were both a bit disappointed to see the cherished recipe written in my brother's handwriting - not mum's - so not sure what happened there. Although there are many other recipe clippings and ones she has written out.
I recreated my own 'handwritten' copy for framing in the kitchen, using an elegant script font and paper stained with tea and coffee, like a well used recipe.