Thursday, February 4, 2010

I've got a lovely bunch of recipe books...

... the little ones live here (a repurposed DVD case). They include the Stork Cookbook (circa 1988) and the Milk Marketing Cookbook (circa 1978) and some great waffle and pancake books! The big ones live here - I must have been going through a 'warts and all' phase when I photographed the mess of papers stuffed into the shelf! Spotted any spiders' webs yet? I didn't until I saw the photos!
Quite a few celebrity chefs are featured, and a whole lot of Fair Trade.
This is where the Good Book Cookbook lives, although I had it off the shelf for cheese making when I took the photos last week. Penny wanted to know what else was in the WWJE book - lots of healthy veg, fish and olive oil recipes, basically, Penny!
The scruffy end includes Ben's famous jam making book, re-bound, alongside his slo-cooker one
in a matching folder. We gave the boys the orange recipe folder for Christmas, to store their increasing selection of recipes. Looks like I need to take a lesson from them in storing loose papers...Avert your eyes if you like clean cook books! This is probably the most-used page of any of our books. It's a guide to times and temperatures for roasting meat, and comes from a book my mum gave us when we got married nearly twenty years ago. I can't remember numbers to save my life so I refer to this literally evey time I roast meat!
I've had a good day today - I am getting better and even managed a one-hour lesson today (a trial run to see how it went - I go back to the doctor tomorrow for some test results). This afternoon I met up with another blogeuse (it gets feminised in French) from the Toulouse area, which was great - we are both doing the Challenge of the Utmost Kind!

16 comments:

Serenata said...

Lovely to see all your cookbooks, and reassuring to know your shelves are like mine - complete with cobwebs! ;-)

I've just made another lemon cake - in the oven cooking as I type.

Floss said...

Hmmm, looking at the photos, cobwebs and slightly suggestive vegetables... it really doesn't look that obvious in real life! Must be the angle... I could have sent it in to That's Life!

Jen Walshaw said...

I love cookbooks, but am running out of places to keep them, I keep promicing to record all the best receipes that I use again and again in a seperate book

Marigold Jam said...

Wow - by the time you've looked through that lot dinner time is long gone!! I lkove reading cook books though don't you?

Jane

Sarah - Red Gingham said...

That's a lot of cookbooks. You must really enjoy cooking, either that or you never know what to cook. I only use them for baking which is seldom. No.2 got a very lovely CK cookbook for Christmas for her recipes. I'm so envious!

Glad you are picking up a bit. Just don't overdo it!! My SIL to be has been like you since Christmas. Wonder if it's the same thing? Some virus thing.

Floss said...

I think it's because all four of us cook, Sarah, so we all get given cookbooks as presents. It's odd which ones get used to bits and which ones never seem to actually inspire, though...

Mise said...

I'll have to read on to see what this Challenge of the Utmost Kind is! Many of those cookbooks are my friends too. Have you tried Donna Hay - she's my latest wonder-cook for her lovely and unfussy recipes.

Karen said...

It's funny how people can be thinking about the same things. A couple days I needed a recipe; then I got lost in my own cookbooks I hadn't looked at in awhile. I keep finding quick ones on the internet, and haven't browsed my own books! I'm inspired now! Karen

magsmcc said...

I very much admire the Challenge of the Utmost Kind. We just don't really buy anything outside of essential mundanes anyway, a sort of living simply and within necessity rather than too materialistic, but we certainly don't qualify on the vintage front...

JuanitaTortilla said...

Oh yes, who is this blogeuse? Will you tell us?

What a wide selection of cookbooks, Floss. I wouldn't know which one to cook from! But that must the problem with recipes and recipe books -- it's all about trying each one out, and then hoping to find a favourite, isn't it?

Karen, Surrey said...

Mucky cook books are the best, they're the ones you use. Much better to be covered in spills than be pristine, virgin, never used.

Michela said...

Hi Floss, I'm so glad to read that you're feeling better!
..mmh..not sure if one of the Queen of spots' (aka my mum) cooking books is dirtier than yours!

Anonymous said...

Hi Floss ! I hope you're better now.
I like cookbooks , too and I have a collection of them too, but I don't use all of them only one or two which are my favourite ones.Oh, and they've got some dirty pages, of course... :))

Anonymous said...

Lovely books :o)
I've been wondering about getting that River Cottage one.

Lululiz said...

We love cookery books as well and have quite a good collection. My DH and I are so totally different though when it comes to cooking. He is great at using recipes and always has his nose in the books. I have never used a cookery book recipe ( but I have used one or two blogger recipes and just fiddled with them a bit ). I tend to throw things together and make up my own recipes. I am way too impatient to carefully measure everything. But I do love looking at cookery books, and often they provide the inspiration for something new.

Andi's English Attic said...

I have quite a few cookbooks. Some are falling apart with use and some I keep for just one or two recipes. I've just bought Sally Bee's book and the very first recipe I cooked from it (chicken rissoto parcels) was delicious. xx