Cookbooks

I have a vast collection of cookbooks that I purchased at yard sales, antique stores, ladies auxiliary, or any bookstore that has a Starbucks in it. I have tried to condense my kitchen library several times, but this cookbook has this recipe and I cannot do without that recipe; then they get replaced in the bookshelf right where they belong, right where I need them to be if I am looking for that particular recipe everyone enjoys.

But, I have found some of the best recipes are those I just “whipped up” and “add a little of this” and a “squeeze of that”, needs a “pinch”, then “top it off with grated and crumbled”, and serve.

The table has been set, the aromas have filled the air, and the voices are leaving their rooms and entering my domain, and the only language I hear them speak is “Umm, yumm”. It’s funny though, because it is a language I understand. Okay, so I keep the cookbooks for comfort and because it provides the look of a gourmet cook (prideful, tsk,tsk.)and I have used a few recipes. So, I must confess, “Father, most of the time these cookbooks stay on the shelf and I use the ingredients Mom used back home to guide my cooking. I am following the “Old Bookmark” in my mind as it turns the pages of the Commandments I remember like: Do not add cinnamon instead of cumin in the Spanish rice, (my first attempt at making rice), Do not forget to put the sugar in the custard, (Oops!, but I asked him if he was alright!), and, Do not catch my blouse on fire from the gas cook stove, (it was one of my favorites, too). Father, you have kept me alive and others as well. For which, I give you thanks. Amen".