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

Thursday, September 22, 2016

It was just like a family reunion.............

when I finally pulled out my cookbook collection
that has been stored away in the hall closet.........
for too long

for years, I have collected vintage cookbooks from the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s...
I love to read them..........I can read a cookbook.......just like anyone else can  read a romance novel......
and I also like to try the recipes from them

but I also love to collect books that have stories that go along with the recipes........
my favorite cookbook author is Jane Watson Hopping.......
she tells of her life growing up with all of the old family recipes and 
of her life with her husband on her farm and of those recipes........

the reason my cookbooks have been stored away is because I moved them and the shelving they
were on .........to make room for this old cabinet.........it is a wonderful addition to my kitchen.
However, it left me with no place for my cookbook collection...
so for months they have been stored away 

I finally fixed shelving and found a perfect corner with a perfect chair to read them.
when I started re-shelving them..........each one was like a dear friend or family member that
I have missed and was delighted to see and hold again!


and yes.........there is one compartment in the vintage cabinet 
for the cookbooks I use frequently in cooking...........
how about you?
Do you collect cookbooks? If so, what kind and how old?
I would love to hear

13 comments:

Connie said...

I have some of my Mom's cookbooks that I cherish. They always make me think of her and feel as if she is with me.

coffeeontheporchwithme said...

I have some favourite cook books that I go back to time and again. Some of them are "church lady" cook books, where people from a particular community or church are asked to submit their favourite recipes and then it is bound into a book and they sell them to raise money. These days, however, I find that I am just checking our recipes on Pinterest. I do have a little recipe box filled with recipes that I have written out on recipe cards. -Jenn

lil red hen said...

To be truthful, I don't like cookbooks. :( Usually, if someone gives me one, I pass it on to one of my daughters. I have a recipe box and a little booklet of those recipes I use the most often. I have an old Better Homes and Garden cookbook from my high school Home Ec. class, and a newer edition of the same book. We eat very simple meals. lol

Granny Marigold said...

Like you I read cookbooks like novels and especially love the ones with little stories to go along with the recipes. I used to have a large number of cookbooks but a few years ago I made myself take about half to the thrift store for others to enjoy. I have my Mennonite Treasury which is almost falling apart. ( My background is Mennonite) and of course I have Better Homes & Garden and Red Roses ones as well as newer ones that promote less fat and less sugar.

Bev C said...

Hello Kathleen,

I have quite a lot of cookbooks. We have a lot of fun reading through my Mum's very old recipe books. The things people had to eat before refrigeration etc. Some of the recipes would have to be eaten with your eyes closed and a drink of water on hand.

Love the cabinet.

Happy days.
Bev.

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

I have some cookbooks. Special ones I use frequently. I keep an index box with recipes I especially love and collected over the years. My favorite cookbook is the Betty Crocker book I got when we were married. Back then it gave recipes from scratch as opposed to the newer ones that base recipes on Betty Crocker mixes and other products. Another of my favorites are two that I have that are of the recipes you find on boxes. I'm not much of a cook in the summer, other than grilling. But now that the weather is going to turn cooler I will be spending MUCH MORE time in the kitchen. I don't LOVE to cook, but I enjoy it.

Your book shelf and chair look like the perfect spot to read, except I would need a lamp next to the chair. Your spot looks cozy.
xx, Carol

Summer said...

Nice collection of cookbooks ♥

summerdaisycottage.blogspot.com

SmartAlex said...

I like to collect paperback promotional cookbooks from the 1920s/1930s. You know, Jell-O or Crisco or one of the baking powder brands. I love the cover illustrations. I never cook from those but I do read the recipes and wonder "who on earth would want to eat that?" I do have a family reunion cookbook and one put out by the other's of my husband's elementary school. Those are useful for resurrecting dishes "just like Mom used to make".

Elaine/Muddling Through said...

That cabinet is gorgeous! And yes, I have cookbooks, too, though not nearly so many as I once had. I've condensed a lot of my favorite recipes into a binder. Your reading nooks looks perfect!

Debra said...

I also love old cookbooks-wish just loving them made me a better cook!!! Your cupboard is so pretty...

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

While I don't collect cookbooks, I do have several favorites including my very first one a Betty Crocker 3-ring binder version and while I have bought and pared down my cookbooks over the years, this one always stays in my collection. And when we cleared out my mom's home after her death a couple of years ago, I kept one of her original cookbooks. I have yet to use one of the recipes in it, but cherish having it.

Carol said...

I love your blog! I enjoy reading food memoirs recipes and stories, particularly moms and daughters I don't eep cookbooks any more since getting the internet but this is what I look for on my kindle from the library. I remember laughing when I read this quote "I read recipes like I read science fiction. At the end I say that'll never happen."

A Colorful World said...

Love, love love your Hoosier cabinet! And your vintage cookbooks go right along with it. You and I have similar tastes!