I was asked a funny question ...

[jglass]

I was telling my father in law about getting my latest cookbook in the mail and he comes up with the suggestion that once I have made all of the recipes in any of the books I sell them
I gasped ...he was speaking about my children lol.
I told him no way in heck would I sell my books!

Do you have any cookbooks you have actually tried all of the recipes from?
I sure dont.

[chubbyalaskagriz]

Ha! I'm w/ you, janie. In fact, honestly? I have MANY cookbooks that I have never cooked ANYTHING from- though they are still books I enjoy and value. I often have the ability to "taste" foods without actually eating them. Often simply from reading the recipes in books I can get a keen sense of their outcome- so they satisfy that way. Plus, let's face it- some cookbooks, it's the stories and pictures we like most!

[Keziah]

I inherrited some cook books from my mother-in-law.

Some of them were printed when food was still on the ration back early 1950s.

I'll have to dig them out of the spare room and put a few on here. I also have recipes from a Pears Cyclopaedia dated 1901. It also tells you how to employ servants and what types won't steal the family silver. Reading this gives me the hysterics.

[chubbyalaskagriz]

re: "how to employ servants and what types won't steel the family silver."

Sounds like a hoot, keziah!

[Keziah]

I've got it upstairs on the shelves. I'll see if I can get at it tomorrow and put a few 'Pears' tips on, should raise a few eyebrows and get a few giggles.

[Cook Chatty Cathy]

Keziah thay would be neat if you could share some of those tips from "Pears" with us!

Kevin I like you enjoy a cookbook as a novel, and I will never tire of looking at it! I like you can almost taste the food as I read about it. Hey at least that way I won't gain too many Lbs! Although I have heard the saying "I can gain weight just by smelling food!" I wonder if that works by looking at it in pictures too........hee-hee.

[CanMan]

I actually tossed and/or gave away every single cookbook I had in the house, which included 40+ years of same inherited from my parents, when I finally realized I would never do any of the fancy recipes and especially not the ones for 6-8 people. I'm 65 and on my own. At most I would cook for 2.

I also went through the boxes and boxes of recipe cards, clippings and notes, and tossed everything that fit that same pattern. I did save 3 special family recipes from my grandmother, framed them and put them on the wall to be remembered that way.

The 'keeper' recipes went into my MasterCook program (after deleting all their similar fancy recipe collections made for 6-8 people). I then designed a custom printed (half) page so that recipes would go in to a half-size 3-ring notebook. I've now got 13 specialized recipe notebooks that I "use" and the feeling is great and I add and delete pages on a regular basis.

[Cook Chatty Cathy]

Wow what a terrific idea CanMan! I do not think I could do that quite yet, but one day. I like the whole idea of personalizing it to suit your own tastes and needs. I even like how you framed the recipes of your grandmothers. I do not have anything like that, but what I do have is an old Book of Ration Stamps, and my grandfather had to sign his name for it, so I have his signature, I am thinking how neat it would be to frame that! Thanks for the very nifty ideas

[chubbyalaskagriz]

CanMan, I love the idea of commeorating your Grandma's important recipes by framing them and turning them into a work of art to hang in your kitchen!

My place is filled w/ books of all kinds. My l'il sister has instructions to pick the ones she might wish to keep- then get the rest of'em to our small town high school library if anything should ever happen to me.

[jglass]

I have three large plastic boxes full of books in storage. Most are paperbacks.
Here in the apartment I have about 100 cookbooks plus 20 or so paperback books.
I have that Mastercook program but never loaded it when I got my new computer finished. I'll have to dig out the cd.
Jon gets his books on tape. Talking books put me to sleep lol.