Confession

I have a confession to make.

I am a recipe addict. A collector of the delicious possibilities. A keeper of culinary potential. An organizer of clippings and cards.

My addiction started when I was young. My mom and both my grandmothers were bakers and had a collection of cook books as well as beloved recipes saved on cards in little metal boxes. (I now collect those too.) I loved browsing through all these potential projects as much as I loved sampling the delicacies they produced. The beautiful photographs, the unique (or simple) ingredient lists, the pages of useful tips for the home cook. I loved them all. 

As I started college, my addiction went electronic. It was the very beginning of the internet and everything was text only. After typing up assignments for class in the computer lab, I would venture into list serves looking for recipes others had posted online. At this same time, I worked in the book store at my university, so I had ready access to cookbooks and cooking magazines. Browsing the bargain shelves for cookbooks became a past-time and once I even talked a publishing company rep into giving me a free copy of a huge culinary arts book with step by step directions and pictures for everything from artfully carving vegetables to cooking a rabbit. (Yuck)

Next came the cookbook clubs, where for a commitment to purchase just 3 books at regular price, I could pick out 8 free. (Never mind the fact that shipping costs were outrageous.) What a deal! Many of the books that are stacked in an upstairs closet came from those books clubs. 

Then, I got really into magazines. I subscribed (and impulse bought) probably hundreds of cooking magazines over the years. Eventually, my stacks get so huge I'm forced to either throw them out or sit for hours pulling out potential cooking and baking projects that I might want to try. 

Wait, try a recipe? Not once have I mentioned actually cooking as I describe this addiction of mine. Do I actually cook or bake? Yes. But where do my recipes usually come from? The internet, of course. Or possibly from something I've seen on TV that I then look up on the internet. Yes, I have boxes and binders and shelves full of recipes I've collected over the years, but the inefficiency of looking through them all prevents me from using them a lot of the time. I have my go-to favorites of course, but 9 times out of 10, I end up searching and printing (and then storing) a recipe from a web-site. 

So, what do I do with my addiction? I've tried selling my cook books. (They don't bring a lot of $ second-hand.) I've tried hiding them in boxes in the attic. I've tried picking one or two...determined to cook my way through those (and only those) books. I've banned myself from buying more books or magazines. I've gone through my collection and donated books I never use. But, I can't seem to get rid of them. Each one brings with it a memory of a particular time in my life. I love the color photos (I never buy a book without pictures.) In some ways, they are like art to me. And so...my shelves are crammed full, some of my closets too, and a new magazine just arrived in the mail. (That subscription was a Christmas gift.)