Moving Sucks, Cooking Rocks

Hubby and I continue to unpack our earthly goods at a glacial pace. Today we unearthed my cookbooks, which for me is like coming upon a box of photo albums of life-long friends. Love, nostalgia and excitement swept through me as I removed each book from its box and flipped through it, lovingly smoothing the pages and fantasizing about the meals that I will cook in my new kitchen. For many of my cookbooks I remember the period in my life when it was purchased and I first started cooking out of it.

• My first cookbook: My college roommate's Joy of Cooking (which I now also own).
  
• The cookbooks I purchased because my mom had the same books: William-Sonoma books with titles like"Fish" and "French."
• The dieting cookbooks: Canyon Ranch (love-love-love), French Women Don't get Fat, Weight Watchers (almost never use), Raw Food (by Sarma Melngailis)
  
• Books purchased because I adore the chef: Alice Waters, Ana Sortun, Julia Child
  
• Food Porn: Donna Hay
• And, of course: Martha Stewart
  

I almost cried when I discovered that about 1/4 of the books had somehow been exposed to water and were starting to mold. I briefly considered trying to salvage them, but I will tragically have to replace several hundred dollars worth of cookbooks over the next year.

Images from Donna Hay