There is nothing better than sitting in my comfy chair on Saturday mornings surrounded by cookbooks while sipping a freshly brewed cup of coffee! I always start my Saturday’s thinking about what I plan to cook for the week ahead. I get out my calendar, look at my work schedule, and then begin to plan.
When my girls were younger, I would plan meals around their activities. If they had a basketball game or a golf match, I would make sure to crock it that day so all we had to do was get home and eat. I swear by crock pots! Some of my favorite cookbooks are crock-pot recipe cookbooks. Working full-time and having two very busy girls, I was always using my crock pot. A week of crocking usually meant leftovers as well, which meant either lunch for me the next day or a quick dinner for someone hungry at night. And I always doubled the recipe when I made soup or chili. Anyway, with my calendar close by, I would write out the menu for the week. I would list the page number from the cookbook the recipe was located on and write out the ingredients needed on my grocery list. I felt like I was taking care of the needs of my family. It felt good.
Another reason I love cookbooks is I like to flip through them and look at all of the pictures. I try to imagine if the recipe is something I could make and if my family would like it. After making a recipe, I would usually write notes and suggestions to myself in the margins.
After following this routine for some 30 years, you would think I would have a drawer full of recipes stuffed into my head that I could call upon when needed, I don’t. Somehow, I can’t remember even the most basic recipes, even those I have made many, many times. I need a recipe to follow and I need it written down. If I go to the store, I need a list, or I will forget the most important ingredients that I need for the recipe.
Jump forward a few years…The girls are on their own, making meals for their own families, and I am planning and cooking for just two. Old habits never die, and I still look through my cookbooks and get such pleasure from that simple task of writing out menus for the week. Even though I don’t cook as much as I used to, I still love looking through my cookbooks. I flip through the pages (read my notes) and remember when I made a dish- happy times for sure.
I have an entire shelf in the upstairs hall closet full of cookbooks, photocopies of recipes found in magazines, cookbooks from school book sales, and some of my mother’s cookbooks.
Being a librarian you would think I would have a handle on organization…a winter project for sure! Over the years I have given some cookbooks to the girls and to the library book sale. I used to have two-full shelves crammed with recipes.
This cookbook came to me via a book sale at my library. I made the tart one night for dinner and we both loved it. Meatless and simple.
What are your thoughts on cookbooks? Do you find yourself still using them? I wonder about the future of cookbooks- in twenty years will people still read cookbooks or will the computer replace them?
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