Obsessive Cookbook Disorder

I love cookbooks - I love reading about techniques, thinking about the flavor combinations, deciding whether my picky-eater husband will eat the recipes... You could say I have a cookbook addiction. My husband says I have Obsessive Cookbook Disorder (OCD). Recently, I was inspired to compile a list of my cookbooks, and I realized that I do, in fact, have OCD.

I've started collecting cookbooks 14 years ago, when my friend Molly gave me my first cookbook at my wedding shower: The Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook. It covers everything from how to hard boil an egg to Cheesy Italian Meatball Casserole to Canning. Everything. A few years after receiving that book, I got more interested in cooking. We'd moved into our first house, had a lovely neighbor who shared some of her Taste of Home cookbooks with me, and I learned about good comfort food cooking.

A few years later, I attended a women's health event where I met Jeanne Jones. Her biography reads, "Her mission has been to show Americans that they can eat well and healthfully at the same time." I won an autographed cookbook from her and discovered that cooking wasn't this mysterious, difficult process (I was never interested in helping my mom cook or learning from her), and it was actually quite fun! Mistakes were part of the game (don't ever set a glass baking dish on top of a hot burner that you didn't realize was on), but the successes were fun and fulfilling in a way that I'd never experienced.

I ultimately got something in the mail about joining The Good Cook book club. I would receive four cookbooks for $1 each, AND I had the opportunity to buy ANOTHER cookbook for half price! All I had to do was pay shipping and buy one book at member's edition prices within the next year. I remember I got a Rick Bayless cookbook (right), The Best Kitchen Quick Tips, and I can't remember what else. I think that was the official start of my addiction. The special offers - the half off everything, the four books for $10 each, the clearance specials - got me in trouble. Before I knew it, I had an entire piece of furniture dedicated to housing my books.

So, due to the recent realization that I have SO MANY cookbooks, a co-worker inspired me to actually cook from all of them and write about it. I know I'm not the first person to do a blog like this. For me, my goals are simple:

• Use all of my cookbooks (and get rid of the losers)
• Become a better cook
• Plan a weekly special meal for my family, and eventually get up the nerve to invite friends
• Be accountable for my addiction by writing about my cooking adventures

And now that I've admitted I have an OCD problem, I can admit the number of cookbooks that I currently own... Deep breath... I have 140 cookbooks, with two more on the way (it was a really good deal!)

Stay tuned for my first adventure. :)