Because I need it!  I also need another cookbook like a hole in the head!  And yet, I continue to buy them…I buy them a LOT.  And why?  Well, why not?  They make me happy, and they’re always there for me on a rainy day, or a day when I’m bored, or even better, as a literal reference library for when I need to feel inspired to make something new.

They’re kinda’ like shoes.  They ARE my shoes.  Well…they’ve become my shoes.  Like every other flippant gal in her 20′s, I loved my shoe collection just as much as the next gal…ten years ago!  I collected them like crazy, hit up every clearance sale I came across, tried them all on and strutted around my apartment on rainy/bored days.  (Are you seeing a pattern here?)

Then, something happened when good ole’ mother nature rolled the clock over three-oh.  Like, omigod, she made me realize my feet hurt, a lot, like totally.  And so began the shoes to cookbooks replacement therapy.  And I shall blame it on Nigella Lawson.  Yup, her How to be a Domestic Goddess cookbook was one of my firsts.  Bought it on a whim, in my 20′s, because I liked the cover art and the title.  But even though I read it cover-to-cover, I wasn’t completely hooked even then…see, I was still on the shoes.

I bought a few cookbooks here and there along the way, but it wasn’t until I went to work part-time at Sur La Table almost 4 years ago that I really got bit.  That’s when the Nigella cookbook I had became my first signed cookbook!  Yup…she came to Dallas for a book signing for Nigella Express and signed her new cookbook for me, as well as my Domestic Goddess one.  ”For Kerrie: Happy Baking!”  And get this, I wasn’t even there, I was on vacation, so I didn’t even get to meet her!  Crazy, I know…I’ve always regretted it.  But I’d left the books for her with a sweet note thanking her for coming “across the pond” to see us, which my manager later told me she read and tucked away in her purse.

So, I can honestly say, because of Nigella, I have an entire section of my bookcase dedicated to signed cookbooks!  lol  I have many, many others that aren’t signed, but there is a special place for those that are, and she kicked it all off – love her.  Oh, and here’s what I’ve picked up in the last month and am reading now:

I’ve got a couple of canning books in here to read up before the summer-ripe fruits and veggies arrive, the quintessential guide by Ball, and a new book about Canning for a New Generation – that’s me!  A few baking staples w/ the Magnolia Bakery cookbook and Jim Lahey’s My Bread masterpiece about his rise to fame with Sullivan St. Bakery, and his amazing 12-18 hour proofing technique!  Edible, a great cookbook to have if you follow the Edible communities/magazines for your area, or even if you don’t, it’s a beautiful book.  If you’re into eating local and the Slow Food movement, this book is for you.  The SLT Art & Soul of Baking is a given…we put out some great books, and I wanted to learn more about souffles. Memorable Recipes was on clearance at SLT, had some yummy looking things when I skimmed it, so why not?  Maxine Clark, her books are just great, she is definitely a go-to for Italian cooking.  Click the link and look at the cover, how could you pass up a book like that on clearance!?  And of course, my lovely Beekman Boys, Josh and Brent, whom I follow so dearly and enjoy immensely.  The Bucolic Plague is their latest, run out and get it for an amazing story – and follow their new 2nd season on Planet Green which starts tonight!  I promise, you’ll love me for it.

Okay, I gotta get to bed so I can take a stab at this stack of books on my nightstand…night peeps.