Some recipes are measured in cups and tablespoons. Others are measured in memories.

For Smedes Ayers Lindner, a collection of handwritten family recipe cards recalls an era in Sedgefield when neighbors gathered around beautifully set tables, climbed aboard hay wagons to sing Christmas carols and dropped in throughout the day during Greensboro’s biggest golf week.

Among the recipes Smedes shared are chocolate mousse, cheese cookies, egg nog and a shrimp mousse — each connected to a particular Sedgefield tradition.

One favorite, written on the card as “Chocolate a la Boots,” came from longtime Sedgefield resident Boots Thrower. Boots and her husband, Ed, built their home at 1 Chowan Road in 1975 and were active members of the neighborhood.

Smedes remembers her mother serving Boots’ chocolate mousse at dinner parties, sometimes adding Chambord or fresh raspberries and always finishing it with fresh whipped cream.

Those were not necessarily casual dinners.

“My parents used to have formal five- to seven-course black tie dinner parties,” Smedes recalls. “The dining room in their Sedgefield home could seat 14. It was beautiful with large floral arrangements and elaborate place settings.”

Ingredients:
1 package semi-sweet chocolate
1 egg
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
Pinch of salt
¾ cup milk

Directions:
Heat milk until scalding. Place everything in a blender and blend until combined. Chill before serving.

Christmas Eve brought another tradition.

For more than 20 years, Smedes’ parents hosted a neighborhood gathering that originally began with caroling from a hay wagon traveling through Sedgefield.

“People would hop on and hop off the wagon,” Smedes remembers.

Eventually the hay wagon became a hay tractor, and after one particularly cold Christmas, the festivities moved indoors. Larry Oliphant, whose family lived at 3556 Old Onslow Road, would play the piano while everyone sang Christmas carols in the living room.

Two staples remained: cheese cookies and an enormous bowl of egg nog.

Ingredients:
½ pound butter
2 cups flour
½ pound grated sharp cheese
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups Rice Krispies
Dash of red pepper
Paprika

Directions:
Cream butter. Add flour, salt and red pepper and stir. Add cheese, then fold in Rice Krispies.

Using two spoons, form into balls and place on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with paprika just before baking.

Bake at 375 degrees for 12–15 minutes.

Ingredients:
18 wine glasses whisky
6 large wine glasses brandy
24 eggs
2 glasses rum
1 level tablespoon sugar for each egg
1 quart cream per 2 dozen eggs

Directions:
Lightly beat egg yolks separately. Add sugar and dissolve thoroughly. Slowly add whisky and other alcohol. Refrigerate in jars for two weeks.

A couple of days before serving, beat egg whites until peaks form. Add cream, then fold in the egg whites.

And then there was the dish known on the recipe card as “Scrimp Mole.”

The shrimp mousse was a fixture at the family’s GGO parties during the 1970s, when guests came and went throughout the day and a buffet filled the dining room.

The bright pink mousse was molded into the shape of a fish, complete with olive eyes, and served with Club or Ritz crackers.

“It was delicious even though it sounds weird now,” Smedes says.

As for the unusual name written on the card? Someone at one of the gatherings dubbed it “Scrimp Mole,” although Smedes no longer remembers exactly how the nickname began.

Ingredients:
1 can tomato soup
1½ packages gelatin, dissolved in ½ cup water
1 large package cream cheese
1 cup finely diced celery
½ cup onion
1 cup mayonnaise
2 cans shrimp, drained
Salt and pepper
Old Bay seasoning
Olives for garnish

Directions:
Mince celery and onion. Mix tomato soup, mayonnaise and cream cheese. Add celery and onion. Dissolve gelatin and add to mixture. Stir in shrimp and season with salt, pepper and Old Bay.

Chill in a fish-shaped mold and use sliced olives for the eyes.

Decades later, the handwritten cards are more than instructions for dishes once served in a Sedgefield dining room. They preserve the people who shared them, the parties where they appeared and a style of neighborhood entertaining remembered long after the last plate was cleared.