Sweets and I have resorted to New Year’s spring cleaning as a way to shake up our entry into the new year. Perhaps this is us being late with 2006’s spring, but I’m considering it a head start for this coming one.
And like it always does, we have come face to face with our stuff. Imposing, looming, boxes and stacks of it hidden in plain view. CD’s we don’t peruse, clothing we don’t touch, pillows that are a shadow of their former selves, and my books and magazines that have exploded into a bedside entity the size of a person.
Cookbooks I have hardly touched. Ones I don’t reference at all. So, I’m biting down, especially as Sweets has challenged my assumption that we must live among stacks of books (how else are you going to prove to others what it is that you know?). I’m scooping them up, and taking them to Smith Family Bookstore to sell back: let this be a call to Eugene Cookbook hounds to check out their stacks in the coming weeks.
And to prevent myself from falling into the same hole:
I swear to not buy a food magazine or cookbook in 2007.
No, really…
however, gifted ones are perfectly acceptable…
9 Comments
I was somewhat amazed when I started looking at the stuff I have in contrast to the stuff I use. The purge continues.
If you can get the books/data- do you need to keep the books/ data? What is the sound of an empty bookshelf?
I got rid of a ton of cookbooks when we moved to our new house last year. I couldn’t fathom moving all of them. This is going to sound ridiculous, but it was soooo hard to do! It’s even hard to not buy new ones, but I’ve managed to make it almost a year and have only purchased just a few 
Good luck with that. Now watch as every chef you love comes together for one awesome cookbook that everyone raves is the holy grail of food.
Hey- no fair jinxing me Garrett! If such were to be the case, I would petition my library to up their collection, or maybe be a patron to their cookbook section. Hmmm that actually sounds like a good idea for my unwanted cookbooks too.
–McAuliflower
Wow! Good luck with the resolution! I know that S and I could never ever manage not buying a cookbook this year. We are way too addicted to buying them. Food magazines, on the other hand, I think we could handle. What with all the food blogs out there, I think I could forgo buying a food mag. Happy mew year.
I want to publicly state that I did not put her up to this in any way. I don’t endorse it. And further clarify that when I pay for the cookbook it counts as a gift. (to myself?)
On the other hand, there are some fabulous recipes I have been drooling on in our existing library. Maybe this is my chance?
MUST FIGHT URGE…WIL NOT DRIVE ALL THE WAY TO EUGENE TO SCOUR USED BOOKSTORE FOR COOKBOOKS… Oh I am so tempted I read cookbooks like novels as I’m sure many others do here.
I gave away the great majority of our cookbooks when we moved into a smaller apartment (losing 500 square feet, down to 800 total) last summer. It feels easier to use the remaining ones with the shelves that are no longer clogged up and overwhelming. I still don’t use them as often as I should. But I can’t help that internet recipes are constantly beckoning and offer feedback on how recipes have turned out. . . .
Right- the internet treasure chest of recipes has made my interaction with cookbooks different. It seems like food blogging has both fueled and negated the need for the cookbook industry.
–McAuliflower
I thought you resolved to READ and USE all the cookbooks you had!!! I, too, am guilty of buying far more books, CDs and yarns than I will ever need in the next few lifetimes, but I could never part with cookbooks!
You are really not going to buy any this year?????
Don’t forget the free cookbook thread over on Eg.
I’m not familiar with that Randi, thanks! Eg being eGullet?
–McAuliflower
