TIME FOR SPRING CLEANING

             Do I sound optimistic? Am I pushing the season a little bit? Are you as tired of this frigid cold winter weather as I am?  Call it cabin fever, but I am a little tired of spending my days indoors. This morning, I was looking at my wall of cookbooks, and came to the realization that it was very messy and probably could use a good dusting too. This picture was taken last year...all of those books tossed on top of others were annoying me. Maybe the title of this post should be " Playing in the cookbooks" because that is exactly what I did this morning.
The neatened, tidier wall of cookbooks made me feel slightly accomplished.
Spending time sorting and organizing made me happy! I organized the books into sections by author and chef, geographical area, and one area of food network. I wasn't even aware that I had so many food network books...they have honestly never been cracked open by me. All of the books in that pile were found at yard sales last summer. It is hard for me to walk away from a brand new cookbook when there is a price tag of a dollar or under. Included in this mosaic are some of my all time favorite cookbooks too. The Saveur cookbooks because I think Colman Andrews is a culinary genius and the magazine hasn't been quite the same since he left. The Chez Panisse books because I also think that Alice Waters is brilliant.
The Maida Heatter cookbooks are the ones I learned to bake sweets from and I have never been disappointed by one of her recipes. A surprising find buried under many other books were the Quilt Country Cookbooks by Marcia Adams. Both were found at yard sales, and stuck in different parts of the bookcase. I spent a little time looking through these lovely books and will try a few of the recipes. 
One of my favorite areas is this group are the New York City restaurant cookbooks. All wonderful memories from a long time ago. The Cookery was a restaurant in Greenwich Village that my parents would take us to every now and then. I was so excited when I found that book. I have loving memories of meals at Mama Leone's, The Russian Tea Room, and the Oyster Bar at Grand Central Station. Some other New York restaurants I would love to find a cookbook from are La Fonda del Sol, The Sign of the Dove, Rincon de Espana. Those old restaurants never disappointed me. What are your favorite cookbooks? Do you have any that you would consider souvenirs or are they just for the recipes?

               So maybe I didn't get so much cleaning up done today, but this was a fun start!

               This post is being linked to Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday, Little Red House for Mosaic Monday, and Blue Monday over at Smiling Sally's.

♥, Susan   

Comments

[Sally]

Organization is the best part of cleaning.

You must be an awesome cook!

Happy Blue Monday, Susan.

[Jenna Ericson]

Mom, it looks great! So tidy and organized. I love it!

[laura]

I love the New York section! When I was 12 or 13 it seemed that so many of the novels I was reading involved the Russian Tea Room...I've totally glamorized that place!

[laura @ the shorehouse]

As you know, I am beyond impressed by your collection!

I've never asked and now as curious...have you ever bought a cookbook and thought, "oh, this will be a great one to add to the collection!"...only to find it already on your shelves when you got home?! I feel like I would do this ALL the time, lol!

[susan ericson]

I have never actually bought a duplicate by mistake, however, I have bought duplicates because once again, I cant turn down a great book for pennies. Usually giving them to one of my daughters or a friend. I have on the other hand sold a few that I wish I hadnt, but on the whole, I know exactly what I have on those shelves.
♥, Susan

[LaVoice]

You take the prize for having the most cookbooks. I know people that have several, but never have I seen this many.

[jenny]

Looks good, Susan!
My favorite cookbooks? The very first I bought for myself, as an 18 or 19 year old, the "high protein meatless cooking" book, Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe. The other? The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook, which was a wedding shower gift. Book books have been used over and over.
Now, I am off to do (sort of) what you have done with your books. To the bathroom linen closet I go, to organize!
I guess the fact that it's so cold outside is good for something!

[Donnie]

I have a Taste of Home Cooking for two cookbook that I use all the time. I have approximately 15 cookbooks. I love reading the recipes in Church and Women's club type cookbooks. You shelf is lovely though.

[Joy]

Looks great! We need you to work here at the library. :) Also I love the milk glass collection you have. Or to me it looks like milk glass.

[Nostalgic Marveling]

Oh my gosh, that's a lot of cookbooks hehehe

[Carol]

What a fantastic collection! I have many of the ones on your shelf. I love collecting :) Good for you for organizing, I really need to, I am running out of room, but keep adding to my collection!

[millie]

i just love seeing that others have extensive cookbook collections...like me...

[Mrs. Magpie]

I'm very, very impressed, Susan! I can't believe you have that many cookbooks. How neat! A friend of mine in high school had a mother who was a gourmet cook (the best!), and she had about 500 cookbooks. I think you might top that!

Happy Blue Monday by the way. I signed up to do that meme and then was traveling all day and had to go to two parties on Tuesday so I'm just now getting around to the memes for the week. Maybe I should just quit while I'm ahead, you think???

XO,

Sheila :-)

[Tereasa]

I love this, looks like you have a great collection of books.

[Kitchens]

I like your collection and Its Fantastic. We need to work here at the library.I also like the milk glass collection you have. Or, for me, it resembles glass of milk.

[tods outlet]

I wonder how you got so good. This is really a fascinating blog, lots of stuff that I can Get into. One thing I just want to say is that your Blog is so perfect!