Cookbooks, more cookbooks!

About a month ago I "got carrried away" again bidding on items from the Miller Estate. The Miller's had Miller Gallery in Hyde Park. They had been early "mentors" for me to keep painting. It wasn't enough to just bid on one lot of cookbooks, it was fun to continue bidding on a second lot.

Little did I know that the second lot would be in boxes in the basement and would require numerous trips by me alone to get them out of there, up the basement stairs, out the front door, down several more steps and finally put them in "Little '88" (my Acura Integra hatchback). There were other lots that I won - a Eureka upright sweeper, some appliances, silver tea set and silver trays (some sterling and some plated).

It took many more trips from the car into the house to unload the books - cookbooks, garden books, pet books, odds and ends books. Finding places to put all the other items has been a challenge, too. The sweeper is now in the possession of Lynn Swanson (friend and art student) - I pulled out the full bag of dirt, got some new sweeper bags, wiped it down and delivered it to Lynn for $23.00 (my cost).

For many evenings I enjoyed turning pages of all the cookbooks. I'm not sure if there was residual dust/damp floating about from the books, but it probably wasn't the best idea to surround myself with old books. I did experience eye strain and eventually I realized I had a "book bug".

Most of the cookbooks are now stacked on the back desk in the room where I display and store cookbooks and cooking magazines. Some of the cookbooks are going to the other lady who had been bidding on the cookbooks for her granddaughter.

I enjoyed seeing recipes and names of people that were familiar to me. I imagine my mother would have known many more of those people. There were favorite recipes - long forgotten - but worth trying again. I'll be sharing some of them here with you.

Now it's so easy just to "Google" a recipe. And, watching all the wonderful cooking programs on TV keeps me inspired. I'm gradually getting my kitchen(s) in good order again. I'm looking forward to preparing a lot of delicious food for our Native American Dinner on Nov. 14th, 2010 @ 6 p.m. @ Karen's Studio.