In this age of all things digital and AI, I find myself returning to some of my older methods of living and loving life from back in the day. I’ve revered to real books rahter than my Kindle. I use my old school calendar notebook, and I print everything I need to review at work. I make copies, highlight and underline and find myself also printing photos and want to pick up magazines. (But when did they get so expensive?)

Lately I’ve brought back something that used to be a staple. Cookbooks. I’ve found I’ve missed them. I’ve begun perusing a cookbook - and reading it like I do my other books - like I used to back in the day. I’ve always loved moving through a beautiful cookbook, reading the recipes, the inspiration and story behind the recipe, and appreciating the photos and planning the meal and the time I would try whatever looked and sounded like it would be the next best thing to serve at the table.

I‘m not sure if this is a Southern thing or my own family thing, but I have spent countless phone conversations with my mother discussing what we were preparing for dinner, sharing a new recipe or a way to improve it, how it could be changed or what particular dish was worth saving. I could call her if I needed advice on how to prepare a dish, what I could use for substitutions and how to make some of the simple things that I grew up on that didn’t have a “real” recipe.

It was our way of connecting or sharing our love language, but talking about cooking, ideas, recipes and giving new cookbooks was a huge part of how we interacted, shared and just how we were.

So now as I’ve gone back to pouring over recipes and ideas and thinking of new things to create it makes me nostalgic. And it wasn’t just my mom. My brother was a huge foodie and we had weekly chats, mostly on Sundays, where we would have phone chats and he would share what he was marinating, smoking or grilling. I specifically recall one time we were telling each other what we had prepared for dinner and laughed because we had prepared the same roasted green beans with parmesan cheese as a side. We had obviously watched the same Tyler Florence show. . .

This is such a small thing, but it has been a new way for me to relax, and gather inspiration and imagine the possibilities a way to make something different and good - and while I could look at Pinterest and websites or google or ask Chat, there is something grounding and solid and good about returning to holding something in your hands that you can dog ear and highlight and return to again and again.

Sorry AI. I’m reading a cookbook!

Does this sound hokey to you? Or do you feel the pull to return to the analog life?