lisa5•24d ago

TIL my grandma's old recipe box had a note that said 'add less sugar, people lie'

I was sorting through her stuff last week in Toledo and found a handwritten card from 1978 that said to cut the sugar in her apple pie by a third because her neighbor always bragged about her own pie. It made me realize how much of what we think is 'family tradition' is really just passive-aggressive history. Does anyone else have weird little notes or secrets hidden in old family stuff that changed how you saw someone?

2 comments

2 Comments

carr.gavin24d ago

My buddy Dan found a note from his great-aunt in a Bible that said "if you're reading this, I never liked Uncle Bob's meatloaf either" and it completely changed how he saw every family dinner from his childhood. Dude framed the note and hung it in his kitchen.

ryan_ellis24d ago

My grandmother had a similar thing, a recipe card for her famous apple pie that had "the secret is the bourbon" scrawled on the back in pencil. We always thought it was just a joke until we tried it with the bourbon and realized the whole family had been eating the wrong pie for 40 years. That note changed Thanksgiving forever, now everyone argues over who gets the card. It's funny how a dead person's throwaway line can rewrite your whole family history, makes you wonder what else they were holding back.