I grew up learning to cook from one of Betty Crocker's red and white checkered "picture" cookbooks, which explains why I am attracted to red and white cookbooks in general.

One day, when the spine started to break, I decided I needed to salvage the book full of memories and called C. Dickens, an old rare book store in Atlanta that had salvaged another family heirloom.

Through the Book Dispensary in Columbia, South Carolina, they rebuilt the well-loved book - even added a book-marking ribbon so I don't need to stuff it full of cards.

Two months later, the book was back, good as new!