As I have established on more than one occasion, I love books. That will never change—all books. Along with books for my reading pleasure, I also am obsessed with cookbooks. A good cookbook is like my porn. The pictures, the ingredient list, the prep. I love it all! I have two bookshelves full of cookbooks.
It all started innocently enough when I first got married. I wanted to be the domestic goddess I knew I had in me, and that meant feeding my man. I did a lot of cooking without a cookbook. I have good instincts in the kitchen, but I wanted to up my game. So, I got a couple of cookbooks and did just that.
My husband is a joyous and appreciative eater. Food is my love language, so we are a good match. He is generally very appreciative of the food I prepare. We have been married almost 31 years and I can only recall two meals that he was not all in on. In his defense, they were not good. With one, I believe the recipe was just bad. It was not edible. With the second, the recipe was fine. The real problem was vegan Swedish meatballs should not be a thing. They were not good, y’all.
Along with my uncontrollable urge to buy more cookbooks, people in my life have also figured out that cookbooks are a gift you can’t go wrong with when it comes to me. I have received more than a dozen cookbooks as gifts. These are some of my favorite presents.
One of my dear friends bought me all of Jose Andres’ cookbooks. If you don’t know Jose, look him up. He is a genius with food. His books are the best kind of food porn. Sometimes, I just pour myself a glass of wine and leaf through a cookbook. I mark recipes I want to try and I will start a grocery list with ingredients I need. This is a totally Zen act for me.
When I’m on my A-game, I will even meal plan. I will grab eight or nine books off my shelf and just start scouring them for new and exciting-looking recipes. As I go, I will make a grocery list for my husband to do the shopping and I will have a whole week of meals planned out. I get really excited as I map out new recipes.
For a long time, I knew which books held all my favorite recipes. However, as my cookbook collection has grown, I have forgotten and lost track of some of my favorite recipes. I need to come up with a new filing and mapping system.
I did breakdown and get a binder to house the recipes I print from online. I even bought plastic page protectors and tabs and organized my printed recipes. My sweet daughter went so far as to do a decorative cover for the cookbook. It has become a small family treasure full of some of our favorite meals.
Cooking is one of my happy places. I enjoy all phases of the act—from prep to execution. Making dinner is my favorite part of the day, most days. It is nice to have a task that has such a delightful outcome.
I applaud chefs who create beautiful and delicious cookbooks. They are works of art.
I will never be able to make even a fraction of the recipes all my cookbooks house, but I will have a good time trying. I’m lucky that my family is appreciative of my efforts.
One of my favorite chefs, the great Ouita Michel says, “Food is love.” I could not agree more and I have a lot of love to give.
Angela Traver
What is this blog about? Well, it's a general blog, but it is also a very specific blog. If you get that reference, you get a gold star! I have been a public relations professional and writer of press releases for more than 20 years—primarily in the booze biz. I decided to do some writing for fun and embrace the humor that gets me through most days. Hopefully it will make you chuckle—or at least smile. I’m a certified crazy magnet, and more than a little nutty myself, so buckle up. Also, I have two vices—profanity and red wine/whiskey. You’ve been warned. It should also be noted, that I’m a HUGE Bob & Sheri fan. I’ve been a listener for more than 20 years. This opportunity is a dream come true and it may have made me cry. That being said, I cry at everything. If you are into booze, dogs, food and/or knitting, hit me up on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter (although I’m terrible at Twitter and it scares me) @kyspiritsgal. You can also find all my previous blog posts at www.kyspiritsgal.com.
