Cookbooks

 One of the things that I collect (and may very well be addicted to LOL) is cookbooks.  I love reading them.  It takes me forever and a day to read a regular book, but I can sit down with a 200 page cookbook and read it in one sitting.  I just enjoy it so much.  When I read them, I think about making new dishes and which of my friends might enjoy them.  I think of what I already cook that would go well with the dishes.  I think of what serving dish would look good with it.  The list goes on and on.

Whenever we go to the used bookstore, one of the first aisles I gravitate to is the cookbook section.  I am always on the lookout for "new to me" cookbooks.  And, thankfully, they are never that expensive. I rarely pay more than $1 for one.  Occasionally I do, but that hardly ever happens.  I am particularly excited when I find local cookbooks.  I absolutely love church cookbooks.  Of course, I grew up with several First Baptist cookbooks, that I still have.  We also had the cookbooks of other churches in Monroe. They were used as fundraisers for most churches and everyone gladly bought one from their friends that attended the different churches.  It's just what people did.  I also love the local cookbooks that are from civic organizations.  Those are mostly different women's groups like sororities, book clubs, junior leagues.  Also published for the sake of raising money.  I have a good bit of those too.

One of the things I love about these kinds of cookbooks are the names.  Every recipe is accompanied by the name of the person who submitted it to the cookbook committee.  There's always a cookbook committee!  And I love seeing the names repeated over and over throughout the book.  I sit and imagine what that person was like.  What kind of kitchen they ran at home.  What their dinners were like, how they set the table.  All sorts of things.  And the ones from my home town flood me with memories of people I have known throughout my life.  It's my favorite part of these books, actually. 

When I sit and read a cookbook, I keep a set of page tabs on hand.  This is so I can tag a recipe that I am interested in trying.  So if you ever see a cookbook in my home that does not have a colorful display of strips of paper sticking out from the pages, chances are I have not read it yet!  Of course, I tend to forget which recipe is in which book which is frustrating.  I'll remember a recipe that I really want to make and then forget which book it came from.  I have to come up with a better system.  Or maybe not.  I will normally just find something else in another book to make.  It's all good in the end!

I also enjoy cookbooks in which the author shares stories that go along with the recipes.  Often times these come from someone who runs an inn or B&B.  Sometimes it's a narrative about life.  I have one by Pat Conroy like that.  I haven't read it yet, but am looking forward to it.  Sometimes I enjoy the stories more than the recipes.  Vivian Howard's cookbook is a good example of that.  It's not that I do not enjoy her recipes.  She's a gourmet chef and I am not, so her recipes I find over complicated at times.  Still, it's very interesting reading.

My goal with my cookbooks right now is to read all of the ones I have before buying any more.  Somehow I doubt that will happen but still it's a goal.  And I will gladly accept any cookbooks your getting rid of.  I do hate to see a good cookbook go to waste!

That is all.