My mother had a passion for cooking, as a family, we often became reluctant participants in her daily culinary experiments. There was a time when I asked her not to tell me what she was cooking because, as a child, just hearing the name of a dish (like oxtail soup) could make me lose my appetite before dinner. Interestingly, the unnamed dinners often turned out to be the tastiest. The successful dishes earned a bookmark or folded page in the cookbook, while the unsuccessful ones were discarded along with the recipe.
Her passion for cooking was matched only by her pursuit of tasty family recipes. Over the years, this pursuit led to an impressive collection of cookbooks, including those small specialty recipe booklets found at the grocery checkout. She even compiled her own cookbooks by clipping recipes from newspapers or magazines and arranging them in a binder for future reference, one of which she made for my 33rd birthday that I still often refer to.
After Mom passed away, I inherited the majority of her cookbooks to include in my collection. One of my favorites is an old one that belonged to my grandmother, titled: Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook. It was a Christmas gift from my grandfather in 1948. I am sure my grandmother did not find it amusing since, like me, she didn’t enjoy cooking. Considering my collection, which is quite ironic! Honestly, we loved to eat but preferred that someone else managed the cooking and cleanup!
Now, years later while I'm out selecting books for the business, I find myself drawn to purchasing cookbooks. Like Mother, like Daughter, I'm sure both of our collections will continue to grow.
