Di started it. She got new bookshelves for all her cookbooks, organized them all and had the nerve to send us photos of the completed project, making the rest of us feel like we should maybe do something about our own cookbook mayhem. Now, she didn't directly say this because she is way too nice for that...but the pressure was there for me nonetheless.
I don't have new book shelving because my cookbooks all reside in my pantry. Well, okay, that's where they are supposed to all reside. Truth in telling, however, is that I usually have three or four by my chair from my cooking blog alongs, because there is no real sense to put them away each time since I have to make grocery lists and such for the coming week from them. There are always a couple by my bedside nightstand for planning upcoming dinners, etc. There are always two or three in the car as there is absolutely no sense waiting around somewhere in the car without some reading material that you can quickly pick up and put down and that you might need to have with you so you can stop at the market for ingredients for dinner. One or two reside on the counter as I use them all the time (do you hear that Ina?). So, having cookbooks shelves in the pantry is convenient, but rarely do they all end up there.
However, just for Di, I gathered them all up, placed them in their places on the shelves, and took a photo...so here you go, Di...all organized in your honor. Now let's see if the rest of the crew can meet the cookbook organization challenge!
Just for fun, I took a photo of my very first cookbook. It was given to me in college by the father of a friend, a wonderful gentleman farmer, and he wrote both my name and his inside the front cover, very sweet. I have kept it all these years and have several recipes I use from it so I keep it within easy reach on the shelves. It was the start of a great love of collecting cookbooks to use for cooking for my family and others.
While I was at it, I took a photo of the rest of the pantry so that you can see, while the family has three of the floor to ceiling sections, Matthew has the last one for all his junk food...food easily transportable on the way to and some to stash in the car for on the way from swim practice.
Occasionally the rest of us stray over there for a bite or two, but by and large, I hold out no hope of claiming that section for anything until he is no longer using it...and just so you are sure about this: I am in no hurry to claim that section at all.
To everything there is a season...and the season of having our boys still with us is quickly progressing towards a new season, one I am clearly not ready for anytime soon. Pantry shelving is the least of it all.
