Cookbooks

I have 25 cookbooks and I use one on a weekly basis. I don't think the Costco freebies count, so let's just say that I have 23 real cookbooks. When I counted up these books my first inclination was to purge them. Streamline the stash, because~let's face it~I use maybe three of these a year. As I dusted them off and straightened them up, I was reminded of different times in my life where they were useful and appreciated. As the minutes ticked, they almost became like photographs to me. Seasons of my life when I was young and a vegetarian. Or times when I was impressionable to the power of the Oprah Show and had to have the Jessica Seinfeld cookbook. Or who I have become~a home cook interested in classic recipes contained within Cook's Illustrated.

I have all the usual like the Joy of Cooking, Best of America's Test Kitchen and Betty Crocker~which is quite outdated but reminds me of my old Betty Crocker cookbooks I used as a kid.

Some of the cookbooks I keep around because they were gifts and highlight Hawaiian cuisine. The Pioneer Woman Cooks is a gift from Brian that I am thrilled to rediscover. Laurel's Kitchen, a vegetarian cookbook, dates back twenty years and reminds me of Aunt Jane. It is the ultimate in healthy and whole food cooking, much before its time. I hope that someday Kate will take it when she sets up her first home.

I use The America's Test Kitchen the most and it is my go to for breads and my much requested buttermilk pancakes. The Encyclopedia of Country Living, another gift from Brian, is useful if I want to butcher are own chickens, worry about mushroom poisoning, or even want to shear our own sheep. I love this book for its comical (to me) how-to information and keep it around for those just in case situations. I learned how to raise and keep ducks safe from reading this book. Obviously it didn't work and maybe I should have reread that section a few more times. I do appreciate the butter and cheese recipes contained between chapters of "treating my family with homemade remedies" and "basic beekeeping."

Martha Stewart's Housekeeping Handbook is along these lines, insightful information that I probably need to know. I know that there is a section regarding how to fold a fitted sheet. I skip over this section each time, knowing Jon folds all of our family's fitted sheets to perfection. I also have the Top Chef Quickfire Cookbook which reminds me of our enjoyment of the cooking show. Though we have yet to recreate one of the recipes, I am certain that at some point it will be something we do.

In the end, the cookbooks are for keeping and reminiscing. Thank goodness we bought a bigger house!