The Cookbook Shelves

My downsizing and organizing has hit a huge snag.  For the past while I have been trying to clean, organize, and dust the cookbook shelves.   I am having this huge mental block.  I know what it is, but it doesn't make it any easier to work through.  The last time I was orgaizing shelves was last summer when our Rufus died.  I didn't manage to finish the shelves then and I still haven't gotten them all finished.  I think I might be about half finished this time.

I have, however, in spite of everything, given away quite a few cookbooks.  I must confess, I love cookbooks.  I have been collecting them since I was first married.  I read them like novels and for bedtime reading.  I look at the lovely pictures.  I even cook out of them.  But I have over three hundred cookbooks.  Some of them I have not even tried a single recipe.  So after some serious soul-searching and a huge conversation with myself, I managed to give away a few of my cookbooks.  One stack went to live at my oldest son's house and another stack went to live at my youngest son's house.  I know where they are, and if I'm suddenly smitten with a irresistable urge to cook out of one of these cookbooks (nevermind that I haven't used them in twenty-some years), I can run over and copy the recipe I want to try.

Naturally, I felt the need to reward myself for this accomplishment, and I got myself a new cookbook...This one more in keeping with how I actually cook.  I recently read Life Is A Verb, by Patti Digh.  It's an amazing book and I enjoyed it very much.  Somewhere toward the end she recommended trying out the cookbook Veganomicon.  So after checking it out online, I actually ordered one (from our local bookstore).  The recipes are as good as they were purported to be.  Of the few things I have made so far, every one of them was fairly easy to prepare, did not have weird ingredients (OK, my idea of weird ingredients might not be normal), were mostly inexpensive, and tasted good.  AND I have to finish cleaning the cookbook shelves because there still isn't space in the vegetarian cookbook section for a new cookbook...