CREDIT: VANESSA LAURIE/STUFF
Cafe veteran Barbara Olsen-Henderson is still getting used to having everyone read her recipes.
The creative force behind some of Taranaki’s most popular cafes, including Lemonwood, Bach on Breakwater and the Yellow Cafe, has published a version of the cooking scrapbook she used throughout her hospitality career.
Olsen-Henderson’s My Messy Recipe Book is chock full of 40-plus years worth of recipes that have filled cabinets and plates and kept customers coming back over the years.
The endearingly honest and personal cookbook is full of family recipes and memories and is a near identical replica of her original stitch-bound Olympic exercise book.
It comes complete with the handwritten notes and doodles, smudges, smears and stains.
VANESSA LAURIE / Taranaki Daily News
After establishing three popular cafe brands in Taranaki, Barbara Olsen-Henderson is releasing her prized cookbook to the public.
“I need to get over that precious feeling,” Olsen-Henderson said of sharing the prized recipes that brought return customers to her doors.
“But I’m not running my own cafe, I’m never owning a cafe again.”
The idea to scan and self-publish the book came from repeated requests by her daughter Kelly, who lives in the United States and asks to borrow the book each time she visits.
A claim by son Sean that he would be inheriting the coveted cookbook had also been shut down.
“Hell no, I’m still writing in it.”
VANESSA LAURIE / Taranaki Daily News
My Messy Recipe Book is an endearingly honest and personal record of popular recipes from over the years.
Replica copies were planned for the two offspring, with Olsen-Henderson heading into Graphix to scan the pages containing more than 100 recipes herself.
“Alan, my husband, said people would like this. But I thought it might take away from the specialness of the book for my kids,” she said.
Shane and the GRAPHIX team have always produced outstanding results for my cafes and restaurant over the past 25 years. From wallpaper to menus, postcards gift cards business cards and newsletters. Always on time and they regularly exceed my expectations. They’re the best.
Barbara Olsen-Henderson
Article Credit -Michelle Robinson
September 23, 2024
https://www.stuff.co.nz/food-drink/350419894/cooking-books-cafe-stalwarts-messy-recipe-book