Books

I’ve a seven year-old cell phone that the new ones sneer at. I also love books and the errant lands where I may be when everything is digitized.

I love paper, my books. Sitting on my bed with books a long time ago, on my bed because that was the only room I could afford to heat to 55 degrees in the winter while I planned dinner parties for friends and out-of-town guests. The other rooms were at 45 degrees and bathroom at nothing because it was not zoned, until guests arrived.

My parents bought me an arctic weight comforter one year and it allowed me to peruse several cookbooks at a time atop the duvet cover. I’d invite guests, shop and prep and cook in a tiny place with the frig door facing the wrong way, a bete noire of mine. All the planning was made from my cookbooks and notes taken from bed at a warm 55 degrees underneath my comforter.

Today I’ve the benefit of cooking school. I still love my books and can’t get new ones on my iPhone because it’s just too old. It allows me to talk to my husband and others so it’s OK.  There’s a new comforter and cover, at least 15 years old. Most of my instincts tell me what to cook as to what is in the market and some ideas I look to online because I was away from my cookbooks for several years as all of our stuff was in storage. I get lots of ideas and actually bring food into the grocery store to reward my providers and get comments.

Books of all sorts brought me alive as a young child and continue to do so. My husband will tell you I love paper, and I do. For a recent marriage I sent cookbooks and spices because I taught the bride rudimentary cooking when she was a kid.

I buy out-of-print cookbooks for kids, newlyweds all the time. What happens when the pipeline closes? No one will know the classics of all time. Paper. Handling something that has meaning. I’ll keep my cookbook collection and my husband will keep his technical book collection for reference, and inspiration. I have recipes, he has numerical recipes.

Like the movies, kids have no idea of Casablanca, Gone With The Wind, even The Wizard of Oz. Everyone buys prepared foods or orders out. I know because I cook. My kitchen sink nearly gave out last week because I actually use it.

Books, paper, I have many cookbooks here that I cherish, and don’t want paper to go away. Preserve books and history, Dee