Culinary wish lists - purging cookbooks

When I first got married I was not much of a cook.  My mother had said that we'd do enough of that when we got older so she didn't spend much time teaching us to cook and with 5 kids I don't think she enjoyed it except for baking.  The first "dinner party" I had at our one-room apartment was almost cratered when the spaghetti noodles I'd made turned into one huge lump.  And then there was the time I'd thought I'd make coq au vin only I didn't have any wine and used some whiskey leftover from a friend who came to visit.  Smelled good, but another disaster.

As a young wife and student I figured I'd fix the problem by educating myself - but only through books, no classes that would reveal my ineptitude!  We bought a microwave and a crockpot and the cookbooks that came with them are staying in my collection along with my go-to tome, my trusted Betty Crocker Cookbook that was a wedding shower present I think.  We survived as my then spouse "ate to live" and wasn't interested in pitching in except for breakfast pancakes and occasional grilling.  Then came the weight battles.

See all those "low calorie" gems in the picture?  All efforts on my part to find some way of enjoying food without having it stay on my hips.  There were the "good food" (read, healthy and bland) cookbooks, like the seafood and rice ones.  Needless to say, they are in better shape than the Toll House cookbook and Pillsbury crescent rolls ones. The Richard Simmons cookbook (so annoying) and Low Fat Living (an oxymoron in my mind) were more failed efforts.

Sometime in the 90's I won an award at work and got a trip to Aspen, Colorado for a weekend.  We were wined and dined, toured Barbie Benton's Copper Palace and partied late into the night.  The Aspen cookbook was one of the goodies we were given.  Notice the "Lighter" in the title.

Aphrodite is really a story with lots of recipes by one of my favorite authors, Isabel Allende.  I liked how she reminisced about her life through cooking and eating.  Sort of like what I'm doing here.  

Recently I've been looking for recipe books and boxes and files at estate sales.  I found one that was all desserts and drinks from the 50's through the 70's and after scanning a few of the recipes, I'm shipping it off to a historical gastronomy fan.  

The books in the picture are going off to the trade-in store and what they don't take will go to Goodwill.  At least getting rid of the cookbooks is making me feel lighter already!

Matchbooks and Memories

In my ongoing pursuit of purging my home of clutter I came across a basket full of matchbooks, almost 100 of them.  There’s no reason to keep them, I never smoked although someone used several of them in part or completely.  I collected them when I visited a place I wanted to remember, maybe to come back and visit again with the thought of enjoying another meal or another night’s stay.  Truth is, they were meant to be bits of memory, stored away to be re-visited some lazy afternoon when I wanted to reminisce.  Some are over 30 years old.

There are matchbooks from all the way back to the early 70’s at Paul Shank’s in Scottsdale where I went on my [first] honeymoon; Los Olivos, Sugar Bowl, local restaurants when I was in my 20’s and chain restaurants like Marie Callender’s, Sesame Inn, The Good Egg and Reata Pass Steak House.  Trips I took after graduating from college and before and after having my son to the Silverton Train in Silverton and the La Quinta in Colorado Springs; the Hotel del Coronado where there was a family vacation and the Westin Bonaventure where we went with some church couples in California.  The Royal Hawaiian in Hawaii to celebrate 10 years and the Fabulous Toots Lagoon, the Adobe Inn and Em Le’s in Carmel by the Sea where my son went to tennis camp in California; Wickenburg Inn, John Gardnier’s Enchantment, Las Campanas de los Catalinas, El Dorado and Poco Diablo Resorts, in Arizona for Charro celebrations. 

And then there were the Las Vegas trips; the Alpine Village Restaurant with the train and the pewter serving dishes; Jai Alai at the MGM Grand, the Riviera, the Golden Nugget with its yummy shrimp cocktails, Caesar’s Palace, Luxor, Fremont, Circus Circus, Gold Coast, and the Stardust.

In my 30’s it was Club Mediterranee and the years of living it up; Mancuso’s, Ruth Chris’, Jewel of the Crown and La Chaumiere.  And the travel for work, how I loved to travel; the Millennium Hotel in New York City at the World Trade Center, Le Bor Bat Restaurant, Essex House, Hotel Nikko, Caravela, B Smith’s, Le Parker Meridien, and the Restaurant Francais all in New York.  International travel to the Top of Toronto and Anderson’s Dining in the Creek in Vancouver, Canada; Hotel L’Horset, Hotel Metropole, L’ Alban Chambon Restaurant and Meridien Hotel in France.

Then life took another turn and I was at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort, Doubletree and Registry Resort putting on seminars for geriatricians.  Meeting dates at Marilyn’s First Mexican Restaurant, Ed Debevic’s, Chevy’s, Z’Tejas, Planet Hollywood and Kowabunga.

And here I am now.  Moving on.

Gifting memories

In addition to donating or selling things after recording their meaning to me in this blog, I've begun to look at my possessions and consider them as potential gifts.  I have too much and a gift with a "story" of the memories surrounding it may be more precious to the recipient.  Besides, the story will be lost if I'm not here to share it.

I recently gave as gifts some books - a child's picture book to a grand nephew, a book on rural living to a niece living on an old dairy farm, a coffee table book on Fractals to a sister who's interested in the topic.  I gave away some watches that I haven't worn since I left the corporate rat race to a niece on the edge of jumping into it.  These items will receive more use in their new homes and new memories will be made.

Purging my library

I have a library, I would guess of over 300 books.  I love them.  They have been my companions all my life, with me at every stage, through every life experience.  Many haven't been opened in years yet remind me of who I was, where I've been and how I got here.  Today I started to purge them so that, when I'm gone, someone else won't have to do it.  My book friends and I have been together a long time, some over 35 years and only we know the times we shared.  Here's some that I'm passing on.

From before the 90's
Beyond Freedom and Dignity - B. F. Skinner
Passages - Gail Sheehy
The Closing Circle - Barry Commoner


There's a couple diet books in there too.  The Before 90's collection has the flavor of the decades of ecology, social issues, feminism.  Sigh.

From the 90's - my second childhood
Approaching Zero - Turning Stones - Managing Your Mind - Darwin's Machines - Collapse of Chaos - Beirut to Jerusalem - Being in Dreaming


The collection here shows someone looking for something, different thinking, self-improvement, what the future may hold.




If any of these titles strike your fancy let me know and I'll hold them aside for a little while, maybe the end of the month.  After that, out they go.  Keep in mind these are some that I'm getting rid of.  What remains on the shelf are still a part of me that I can't or don't want to let go of yet.  If you want to know those titles you'll just have to visit me!

Technology aging faster than me

A while back I finally whittled my computer collection down to 2 - my everyday laptop (now 4? years old) and my WINXP desktop.  Of course, I then turned around and bought a mini-notebook because it would be easier for traveling.  So, this post is about saying goodbye to old technology. 

This gutted PC is my WIN95 desktop, surrounded by other obsolete pieces and parts of bygone days.  I bought this before 2000 and had kept it, ostensibly to be able to help friends who were still running WIN95 operating systems.  It also had some old DOS programs I was fond of, in particular my Managing Your Money (MYM) original finances tracking software.  It still worked perfectly, albeit slow by today's standards.  I'd installed a "zip" drive, a high capacity (700MB?) 3 1/2" drive and had to convert the stack of disks I had laying around to my newer USB backup drives (200GB).  I kept the hard drive because I'm paranoid about being able to clean off everything so it's a useless shell and on its way to Goodwill.


Check out the other goodies: A joy stick (I played Flight Simulator, Myst, Mech Warriors with it), multiple serial port mice, 3 or 4 parallel port printer cables, telephone plugs (before universal ones) and even a USB camera (now their all built-in).

I still have a WINXP desktop that reads 3 1/2" floppies and I'm going through stacks of those in preparation for eventually retiring that desktop too.  It's serving as my music machine for now.

I'm looking at getting a new PC, an all-in-one monitor type with a giant screen and the PC integrated in the monitor.  So, computers are still a **BIG** part of my life.  

Toot toot tootsie goodbye

A few weeks ago I decided it was time to part with some musical instruments I had acquired.

Many years ago when I became an empty nester and number one son moved on, I decided to do something I'd enjoyed before work, family and such got in the way - back in when I was just "me".

I'd played flute and piccolo since 4th grade and gave it up when I went to college.  I sold my silver flute to my brother-in-law-to-be (a real musician).  Fast forward 25 years and I decided to pick it up again.

Unfortunately, my embouchure  (that's the way you hold your lips, don't you know) was shot so I found a recorder instead.  I went off to my favorite "adult camp" the John C Campbell Folk School in North Carolina and took a week's worth of group lessons with the first flautist of the Florida Symphony Orchestra.  Ureka!  I could still read music and play with others.

Back home I joined a Early Recorder group and played with them at Renaissance Fairs and weekend workshops.  Check out the "wench" picture!

It's been a few years since I've played with them as my skill and talent fell far short of my desire.  So the tenor and alto recorders I'd purchased have gone on to a middle school teacher eager to share how beautiful these instruments can sound in the hands of a practicing artist.

The soprano recorder will stay with me for those times when a little jig or melancholy tune is called upon to soothe the soul.

Out with the old (furniture, that is)

Last week I gave this set of couch/loveseat/chair to my brother's family.  Still in good shape.  I hadn't noticed, but it was pointed out to me that they were no longer the right "scale" for the living room and if I got rid of them I could start imagining other uses for the space. 

I liked the color a lot against the tan carpet and white shutters and teak bookcases.  The empty space is calling to me and for now I'm ignoring it.

Funny how many different ideas come to mind when you have a clean slate to work with.  With Spring in the air, I'm ready to move more stuff.