I love to cook and particularly love to bake. I am always jotting down a new recipe idea on scraps of paper or printing them out from Epicurious but when I find that a recipe becomes a favorite I love going through the ritual of writing it out on a fresh new recipe card and filing it away into one of my vintage recipe boxes. There is something so satisfying about it, as if I am giving it my stamp of approval. I know how much I treasure my Mother's recipe cards written in her own hand that stood the test of time. Mostly they are worn at the edges and stained from use but that gives them their charm and meaning. How sad it would be for future generation to miss out on that piece of history. I know I am not alone in this as there are many adorable recipe cards to be found especially on Etsy. I have also found some fun ones that are free to download from The Graphics Fairy, one of my favorite sites for vintage ephemera.

I have used many existing recipe templates that I have downloaded over the years and recently decided to design some of my own. I started out with 6 images per set (2 of each) from my each of my anthropomorphic food prints which are vintage inspired. I am offering them for sale in my Etsy shop The Curious Kitchen as they go along with their matching kitchen towels and prints. I thought photographing them in my kitchen along with some of my vintage recipe boxes would be appropriate. The one below even features the salt shaker I used for the print!

Here is a cute vintage Halloween Recipe Card that I found on Amy Barickman's blog:

Here is one of several adorable Halloween Recipe Card Templates (despite the misspelling of cauldron...) over at The Peach Martini blog:

Here is a particularly pretty Christmas Recipe Card that is for sale on Zazzle

There are even vintage cards complete with recipes available, these are from Regina's Studio on Etsy:

Part of my Apartment Therapy photo shoot was for their Kitchen Tour section which came out today. Since they hadn't planned to do a separate kitchen tour I wasn't prepared to cook anything so we pretended that I was mixing a batch of pistachio biscotti! (My favorites) It was great fun. I am very fortunate to have an eat-in kitchen which is rare in Manhattan and have spent many happy hours in there laughing and eating with my friends. One of the best parts of living in the West Village is that it is so centrally located making it easy for friends to come by. I have a lot of my vintage collectibles in there including vintage tea tins and salt and pepper shakers, not to mention vintage appliances some of which were my Mom's. I also hang all my needlepoints in the kitchen because they have an old fashioned feel about them. I think I get my love of cross stitch from my Ukrainian ancestors and I thought I should mention that as the tour emphasizes the Italian side of the family. That is only because I grew up with them and they became much more of an influence. However I look so much like my Father and the Zadors that there is no mistaking where I come from! Be sure to click on the Slide Show button to see the whole thing.

My Father always believed in having a well-stocked liquor cabinet; that way you are always ready to be hospitable when your friends stop by! He also passed on to me his love of vermouth which ironically is italian!

I bought this beautiful cupboard at a flea market down near Canal St over 15 years ago. It was in such great shape I didn't even have to paint it! The corner cabinet was being thrown out by an upstairs neighbor and even though it was mustard yellow and red at the time I could see it's potential. It is where the Franciscan china that my Parents bought for me over the years is proudly displayed.