"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands........" 1 Thessalonians 4:11

Friday, February 11, 2011

I love cookbooks..........

have I told you this before????????
I do!

I can sit and READ a cookbook just as if it were a romance novel! I have spent years collecting.............not just old ones,............but all and any. Many I have purchased either new, but the larger part being at library books sales..........a wonderful place to find them! I have been giving so many from friends, who no longer want them and who find them on their travels. I am truly grateful!!
I have a small section of vintage cookbooks,some old in years, but look as if they were never opened, some more tattered than the rest, but all full of the good old recipes that we all have grown up tasting.

This week instead of stitching or playing in the greenhouse, I set out to get my home in order............room by room. One of the things on my list was to get some more shelving for my new bunch of cookbooks, that found their way to my porch and into my heart.
Can you tell how much I love them? {:
I don't just collect and read, I also cook out of all of them. I go through them, mark the recipe I want to fix and after I have fixed it, I write notes as to how it was to fix,along with the date, who did or did not like it,.......and why.............. and whether or not, if I will fix it again.
I have gone back and found where I have written something years ago! It makes me smile. So if one were to say that I have an addiction.............it would be cookbooks...........sigh.
How about you? What do you like to collect?
Do you collect cookbooks like I do, or do you collect something totally different?
Do you have something vintage in your collection?
How does your item wind up in your collection? Do friends and family pass them along? or do you go on a massive search?
I would love to hear!


12 comments:

Kids and Canning Jars said...

I collect cookbooks too. But, not just any cookbook. It has to have a purpose. I love vintage cookbooks also. I decorate in my bookshelves with them. I will have some home canned goodness next to 4-5 cookbooks her and there. I love it.
Thanks for sharing.
Melissa

Tammy@Simple Southern Happiness said...

I dare say you have an obsession and one I would not want a cure for. I see you have some very old publications too! I could sit for hours reading the books.

I use to have load of cookbooks but gave them out to friends, family and charities. I did keep a few good ones. One is Fanny Farmers... I seem to go to that one all the time.

Lets see??? Do I have anything vintage....My honeyman for starters....:) I did a massive search for him.... kiddin'. He was a patient and I fell in love examining his eyes one day. I was so reserved it took all I could to find out more about him. Little did I know he was asking about me. The lord brought us together.... boy did I go off... let me get back on track...

I like to collect vintage aluminumware. I have bunches of it and mostly trays and bowls. I find alot on Ebay and Etsy. I use to collect hard-shell gourds. I had 100 sitting all around the house. Just plain old natural gourds. Honeyman kept kicking them across the floor so I had to get rid of most of them. I did keep a few. God sure knew what he was doing when he created those. I use to make bowls and such with them, burn designs into them and give as gifts.

Hang onto your books, they are a great read.

Kelly said...

Hi Kathleen,
I love cook books too but only if I like the recipes. When we first moved into the farmhouse there was an attic that had about 500 cook books. I only kept a few. The others were given away. I hate to admit to it but some were burned. The lady that previously lived in our house was a hoarder of everything. We were so overwhelmed we probably burned or threw out so many things. It was just too much. They collected cats too and fed them in the little cat food tins. Even today, everytime it rains those cans wash through. Glad to see you are busy and enjoying yourself.

Unknown said...

Good for you getting things in order...I seriously need to be doing that too. I am also a lover of cookbooks - I try hard to only add the ones that I NEED to my collection or soon we'll be buried in books :)

Blessings!
Gail

Connie said...

Old cookbooks can be quite a treasure, especially when they have personal notes added to them the way yours do. I need to do some organizing here too. This time of year seems like a good time to do it. Have a nice weekend and a happy Valentine's Day, Kathleen! :)

Jennifer said...

Wow, Kathleen! You have quite a collection. I love to collect books in general, but I also love cookbooks. My favorite cookbook in my own little collection is my mom's battered orange Betty Crocker cookbook, circa 1978.
It has a white wire "notebook" type binding that is still in great shape, although the book itself is frayed at the edges.
It was printed in the USA! That sort of amazed me when I saw that since most books are printed overseas these days. I have a few other cookbooks, which I also love, but the BC is my favorite and my go-to book for everything basic, like bannana bread and pancakes.
Some of the pages are beat up, but I love that I can tell which recipes my mom used the most by the wear on certain pages and notes she kept throughout the book. I feel like she's in the kitchen with me when I use it.
I'd love to have a collection like yours someday. I only have 10 right now. Another favorite is my cookbook of depression era recipes. It's amazing to see how poeple could create a meal using very few ingredients. When my cupboards are looking a little bare I can always find something in there that I can bake with whatever I have sitting around.
Thanks for sharing your collection. I'm truly envious ;)

Blessings to you always,

~jennifer :)

Ladybug said...

Hi Kathleen
Have a small collection of cookbooks, I purchase those with
a purpose, I have one cookbook that is 46 years old, just simple country cooking..Most of them I
give to a friend..

as far as collecting I love Willow
Blue Dishes and such, Stoneware
old vintage items..

Thanks for sharing Great post
Blessings
Trish...

Unknown said...

I too love cookbooks and can while away the hours just reading the old ones. If I ever have a cooking question, I know that my friends have all of the answers to choose from.

Debra Howard said...

What a wonderful collection! I like to read them too. My hubby probably wishes I would cook from them more often though. LOL.
Debbie

Together We Save said...

Wow - that is alot of cookbooks!! What a great collection!

jerilanders said...

I grew up with that red Betty Crocker cookbook. I learned to make gingerbread, and peanut butter and sugar cookies from those pages. My mother passed it to me and the pages still bear the butter stains and dogged ears that were left there nearly 50 years ago! I love that cookbook, it brings back so many memories.

Suma Subramaniam said...

I love South Indian Vintage Artwork - Its called Thanjavur Painting. You can look up the art work here - http://www.tarangarts.com/tanjore-paintings/c-1.html

Thanks for the post Kathleen!

Best,
Suma