Hey Good Lookin? Whatcha Got Cookin?

"Hello. My name is Jill, and I'm addicted to cookbooks."

( group in unison ) "Hello Jill."

It's true. I've been a cookbook addict for about - um - 6 years now. I'd always loved scouring the pages and being intrigued by a particular theme cookbook or one by a favorite chef, but slowly, it started getting out of hand. The 4 or 5 that I'd had soon multiplied to....108. Yes. 108.
And I didn't even count the recipes I've torn out of magazines that I've saved, or the HUGE manila folder of hand-written recipes that I jotted down during my "boring time" while manning the reception desk at Tower Records. The recipe collecting started before the cookbook collecting. We had a large magazine section in the store, and I would bring up Bon Appetite, Cooking Light, Saveur, Food & Wine, etc. and write down the recipes I found tasty or intriguing. I ended up having a huge stack of pages, seeing as I did this for months. Oh yeah, there's my online Word Document that is set aside for recipes I find online as well. It's about 13 pages long at the moment.

Cookbook Junkie. Recipe Whore. That's me.

Is there a method to my cookbook madness? Yes and no. There are specific types of cookbooks I like to collect ( my main focus being the hardbound Better Homes & Garden series from the late 1950's to early 1970's - which I have about 25+ of and I'm still hunting a particular few. ) These are scavenged from Ebay, Goodwill, and other various thrift stores. Mostly, it's the photography of the food I'm fascinated with. That particular time period was all about "make it pretty" ( which means gaudy ) and some of the recipes are too hilarious for words. Aspic? Ham N' Lima Bake? I don't think so. I also love kitschy things, like old County Fair cookbooks, celebrity cookbooks ( I have a Minnie Pearl one that I cherish ) , and other quirky things like that. If I can find the bizarre, I'm all for it. My weirdest is a cookbook all about insects. No joke. Put together by a nutritionist and a scientist. Some bugs are QUITE good for you, actually. If you are ever feeling peckish for some "Stinkbug Pate", drop me a line. My cookbook love is also serious too. I DO love to cook ( as does my husband ) - and we never get enough chance to in the ways we'd like - but I like having this arsenal in my kitchen to run to. I love to learn. I watch the Food Network ALL the time. My favorite type of food is italian ( my guinea roots ) therefore, you will find books from Biba Gaggiano, Mario Batali, The North End, and even The Sopranos on my shelf. I'm a sucker for Jamie Oliver ( I heart the Naked Chef ) so I have 3 or 4 from his series. Since I'm a Texan now, I've got a few books to help me learn true cowboy cuisine, yet I still have my Yankee pride and I've got my New England gaggle of books to keep me grounded ( Durgin Park! ) Be it vintage, new, Ming Tsai, Red Sage, Garlic, Fondue, Rick Bayless, Bread: I have books that run the gamut of gastronomy ( does that even make sense? ) and I plan on getting more and more. I loooove my large bookshelf in the kitchen just STACKED with my cookbooks. I know they say that it's a mild form of OCD to get obsessed with collecting items, but I'll take it!!!

PS: If Chef Masaharu Morimoto ever comes out with a cookbook, I will crap myself with joy.
I love him like little girls love Hilary Duff.

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