Recipe for a Sweet Space

When Drs. Mary and Gene Alford moved into their bright and welcoming new home one year ago, everything seemed move-in ready – everything, that is, except the front room right off the foyer. Although the space is diminutive in size, the tall ceiling and expanse of one wide wall vexed Mary. Turns out, opening up a forgotten packing box of recipe cards solved a decorating dilemma in the sweetest way.

Barks of welcome and a sign that reads “Young Dog, Old Dog & Several Stupid Dogs Live Here,” sets the lighthearted tone for the entry into Mary and Gene Alford’s new home. Once over the threshold, three fluffy Doodles (named Sam Houston, Pearl, and RudyTomOlajuwon, after their Lone Star roots) form a welcoming committee while bright colors, vivid patterns, and joyful folk art are everywhere. It’s a bit like walking into a rainbow with rays of sunshine beaming down onto all surfaces. Add to that the signature Odessa, Texas accent of Mary’s and visitors immediately want to sit down and stay awhile. And for Mary, that’s the point.

“Food is a magical thing,” smiles the blonde and vivacious Mary, a retired dentist. “Cooking and baking are my best gift to give because it takes my time and energy and I get to put myself in it. I learned that from my Mama and Grandmama. Food was a love language in our family. But it’s just the bait because people around the table is what really matters.” The intersection of meal prep and gathering around a table has been a key ingredient in her life.

After moving to the Boulevard Oaks area last year, Mary found the house easy to decorate and worked to ensure that the home was wheelchair accessible for husband Gene, who sustained a tractor injury in December 2007 that left him paralyzed from the waist down. But that front room continued to serve up a dilemma.

“We called it the ‘Too Small Room,’” laughs Mary. “Sometimes we called it the “Too Useless Room’ or the ‘Too Little Room.’ It was the room that screamed the most. It was just not right. I thought to myself, ‘I love everything we have done in the house, but this room is not pretty.’”

The unpretty room posed a design challenge with its four walls: one boasts a street-facing window, one a wide entrance with no doors, a third wall is short with a niche on one corner and a tiny, child-sized door on the other – and then there was the dramatic wall that was too tall, too broad, and too empty.

Although Mary wasn’t quite sure how to decorate the room, organically, along the way, the room also became a special and sacred place for the Alford children and grandchildren. The niche in the first corner has angels: literal and figurative. A pair of carved wooden angels stand guard over framed photographs of son Charles who died in a car accident at age 16 in February 2009. “He’s still with us,” says Mary. “He is still ours and we feel him here.” 

ELEVATED RECIPES After living with a “not right” room in her new home for a year, Mary stumbled upon inspiration: a box that she had neglected to open during their move. The box contained hundreds of old recipe cards that had belonged to family members and friends. "The cards were my mom’s and my grandmama’s,” says Mary. “My mom was one of seven children from the Panhandle and there was no money there: the recipe cards were the sweetest possessions they owned.” She felt it was meant to be. (Photo: hartphoto.com)

Other photographs are of daughter Bess and son John when they were young. Bess recently married husband Darren Gore and John is married to wife Lauren; together they have a daughter, Harper and son, Landon. The child-sized door now opens to their grandchildren’s reading nook, replete with fairy lights and comfy chairs, where Harper and Landon dive into books.

After living with the room “not right” for a full year, Mary stumbled upon inspiration: a box that she had neglected to open during their move. “The weird thing is that God sometimes does things,” smiles Mary. “And I opened the box and inside was this pile of cards.” And not just any old cards, but old recipe cards, specifically those that had belonged to her family members and their friends. “The cards were my mom’s and my grandmama’s,” says Mary. “My mom was one of seven children from the Panhandle and there was no money there: the recipe cards were the sweetest possessions they owned.”

Which is why, after Mary unpacked the cards, with their creased edges, distinctive handwriting, many discolored by age, something clicked, and she decided she could not leave the cards tucked away. Touching the cards evoked memories of her entire life and she finally knew what to do: she was going to turn those cards into wallpaper.

“Here was this pile of cards that I could not get rid of and it appeared to me that I had plenty of them,” she recalls. “I measured the wall, and it is 14 feet wide by 10 feet tall. I did a lot of math and I thought to myself, if this is gonna work, it has to be carefully done.” The math indicated she needed 18 pieces of 18” x 30” foam core on which to carefully glue the recipe cards one by one. She researched what kind of glue to use on the foam board. After some visits to Texas Art Supply, Mary came home with acid-free foam board and glue to keep her antique cards in their best shape. And she quickly realized she had to nail the boards to the sheetrock. “I did not want to make my painter mad, and I knew if I glued those suckers, I would ruin it for generations,” she laughs. “So, I got paneling nails from Southland Hardware and there are 12,000 holes in that wall now!” The number of nails is an exaggeration, but it goes to show the amount of precision it took to arrange and get those recipes in line. Mary estimates she used more than 1,500 recipe cards and it took her a solid two weeks of work to complete. She notes getting started was time-consuming, but “it became simple once I had a pattern and figured out how to draw the lines.”

Husband Gene Alford, a facial reconstructive and plastic surgeon at Houston Methodist, says he loves Mary’s recipe wall. Which is no surprise, given that their 40-year marriage is one of love, laughter, faith, family and of course, food. “It’s so creative how she thought of that,” smiles Gene. “And she spent so much time working on it. It was really a labor of love using her mother’s and grandmother’s recipes.” Gene adds that part of the beauty of the wall is the surprise decor. “When she first showed the cards to me, they seemed kinda dingy and old,” he says. “But then you get them up there and the handwriting back in the day was so beautiful. The wall looks so beautiful.”

Mary did not arrange the cards by food type so the fun of looking at recipes up close is a smorgasbord of family go-tos: you can find Sunflower Salad next to Totie Chicken next to Super Hamburgers next to Layer Jam Cake and Strawberry Bread. “There is one card from 1931 for Ice Box Tea Rolls,” says Mary, who loves the history represented in her wall. “There is a good chance my Mama made that!”

FROM THE HEART Two of Mary’s favorite recipes honor family members who are no longer living: Superb Fudge Pie is a nod to Mary’s great-aunt and Charles Alford’s Favorite Pound Cake was the special pound cake her son used to make before his life was tragically cut short by a car accident when he was 16. A note at the bottom of the card reads: “We hope you enjoy this pound cake as much as Charles did!” (Photo: hartphoto.com)

Some of the items on the cards make Mary giggle. “One of the ingredients is shrimp in a can! A can for shrimp because it was the Panhandle,” she exclaims. “And another one: Mincemeat Cake – a pound of mincemeat! What is that? No, I won’t eat it. And for some reason there are a lot of microwave fish recipes!” 

Mary also inherited recipes from friends of her family. “The recipe cards were acts of friendship that they shared,” says Mary. “And some of them, like if Verna Headlee’s name was on it, you knew it was good!” 

Recipes, Mary realizes, are not only just for directions for cooking, but instructions for life. “When I went to college, my Mama handed a box of recipe cards to me,” notes Mary. “She said this is what you are gonna want.” Those recipes have taken her through college, dental school, marriage, children, and all the celebrations and all the sorrows in life. “The recipe cards are really a storybook,” adds Mary.

“I knew my mom’s mom loved chocolate and the majority of her recipes are chocolate,” says Mary, who adds that she loves to make breads, biscuits, and cinnamon rolls. “And I make her Super Fudge Pie, which is famous. We call it ‘Big Elizabeth Pie’ or ‘Crack Pie’ and I make them and give them away. I once made five of them for a friend’s bachelor party!”

But the most special recipe of all in the Alford house is a pound cake. “My favorite is the Charles Alford Pound Cake,” says Gene, without missing a beat. “Charles knew how to make it and he would ask to make it.” Mary agrees, saying that the cake has become the sweetest reminder of their son. “Charles died on February 13th and my birthday is February 16th,” says Mary. “My friends wanted to celebrate me that year, but they knew I would not want to celebrate. So the following year my friend Tricia Oyer gave me a birthday party and she made a ton of his pound cakes and gave everyone a card with the recipe,” says Mary. “She is the best.” 

Now, in addition to the treasure trove of her recipes, Mary has added Charles Alford’s Favorite Pound Cake. It calls for only seven ingredients and Mary says it tastes divine. A note at the bottom of the card reads: “We hope you enjoy this pound cake as much as Charles did!” In the Alford household, where people, memories, and tastes are savored, recipes make for good eating – and good decorating.

Charles Alford’s Favorite Pound Cake

Recipe is from Mary Chenoweth Wright, Mary Alford’s grandmother, whom she is named after.

1 cup butter or shortening
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
3 cups flour
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and mix. Mix baking soda into buttermilk and stir. Alternately, add flour and buttermilk mixture to creamed mixture. Stir in vanilla.

Bake in either a greased and floured large loaf pan or bundt pan for 45 minutes or until tester comes out clean.

We hope you enjoy this pound cake as much as Charles did!

Super Fudge Pie

This 1963 recipe is from Elizabeth Chenoweth, Mary’s great-aunt.

½ cup butter
3 squares unsweetened baking chocolate
4 eggs
3 tablespoons white Karo syrup
1 ½ cups sugar
¼ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

In top of double boiler or over low heat, melt butter and chocolate. Meanwhile, place the eggs in a mixing bowl and beat until light. Beat into the eggs the Karo syrup, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Now, add the chocolate mixture (slightly cooled). Mix thoroughly and pour into a 9-inch pastry-lined pie pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until top is crusty and filling is set, but still somewhat soft inside. Do not over bake. Pie should shake like custard so it will not be too stiff when cool. This may be served plain, but is best served with a topping of vanilla ice cream. Mary always serves this pie with whipped cream and adds seasonal berries if available.