I’m in the process of developing a bunch of delicious canning recipes for my upcoming cookbook due out next summer from Rodale, and this weekend I realized I needed a dose of inspiration. So I called up my neighbor Ellen Watkins, an incredible cook who has been canning for 35 years, and she and her brother-in-law Sam suggested we take a field trip over to her Aunt Birdie’s house to pour through Aunt Birdie’s vast collection of vintage cookbooks.

Aunt Birdie is a collector. She’s a collector of things. Lots and lots and LOTS of things—mostly garage sale finds and various forms of bric-a-brac.  To walk through her home is to navigate a sliver of carpet carved between a mountainof stuff.

Look to the right and see this:

Look to the left and see this:

Ellen, Paige and I were all a little overwhelmed by the onslaught of treasures.

I think there’s a name for this condition, but the truth is…..if it weren’t for people like Aunt Birdie, people like me would never have access to books like like The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, published in 1896, that is in mint-condition, never-been-opened and probably worth a lot of money.

I could have stayed in her basement and outbuildings for hours except that I started to feel that the walls were closing in on me. Which is to say, the walls were literally closing in on me. Mobility is very limited at Aunt Birdie’s.

But she graciously allowed me to borrow 13 of her prized cookbooks for research.

My homework

Then Ellen, and her daughter Yvonne and I spent the rest of the afternoon tinkering in the kitchen, putting a modern spin on some of these culinary classics. Mmmmm!

Find out what they are once the book publishes next summer!