Recipe Regulating & Crafting

In 2006 I subscribed to 5 magazines. While it was nice to receive the different issues at different times, it did amount to a lot of paper... and a lot of unused recipes. I checked this weekend - I still have not used half of my cookbooks, so the Tuesday night Sonic burger special will have to stop so I can actually change this. Since I'm a strangely picky eater, last Thursday I started going through all of my old Martha Stewart, Every Day with Rachael Ray, EveryDay Food and "Airport" magazines. While it was not the most exciting or ergonomic-friendly activity, the tried or "to try" recipes now fit in two small binders, and are (almost completely) organized by type. I am clearly easily entertained, but this exercise has made me realize that I really don't use the magazines as effectively, and that for whatever reason, most of the magazines do not capture my interest as much as their earlier content did.

Before:


After:


Once I finish organizing all the recipes, I may finally continue working on my knitting project from August, a baby blanket. The types of knitting techniques are somewhat new, particularly picking up stitches. It requires twelve different blocks, which I will knit together and surround with a blue border. I've been stuck on number six since August.



It is somewhat odd that I now tend to organize between business trips. I leave next Monday for another trip (this time domestic). Between two earlier trips, I organized every single closet in our house. It's amazing how much two 24 year olds can accumulate over time. This current recipe clean-out will likely be the last organizational activity for a while. Luckily, it has not only resulted in a more organized, consolidated "recipe center" in the breakfast nook, it has also provided me with a fairly lengthy reading list of food-related books. A few months ago, I read "Heat" by Bill Buford, which was about his experience going from an at-home cook (in spare time) to a prep cook in one of Mario Batali's kitchen and even to Italy. Now I'm in them middle of by "A Cook's Tour" Anthony Bourdain, which gives an interesting perspective on food and culture around the world.

Here is the list of books that I captured during my recent "clean-out", which may be interesting to any foodies. Some are cookbooks, which I tend to enjoy just browsing through (explaining the current 50% cookbook utilization):

• Mission: Cook! My Life, My Recipes and Making the Impossible Easy by Robert Irvine
• The Grits (Girls Raised in the South) Guide to Life by Plume
• Chas Addams Half-Baked Cookbook by Chas Addams
• The Last-Minute Party Girl: Fashionable, Fearless and Foolishly Simple Entertaining by Erika Lenkert
• Sauces by James Peterson
• On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee
• La Cocina de Mama by Penelope Casas
• River Road Recipes by the Junior League of Baton Rouge
• Lost Recipes by Marion Cunningham
• Once Upon a Tart by Frank Mentesana and Jerome Audureau with Carolyn Carreno
• Hot Sour Salty Sweet by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid
• The Foods of the Greek Isalnsa by Aglaia Kremezi
• Spooning by Darri Stephens and Megan Desales
• Love, Life and Linguine by Melissa Jacobs
• Cooking for Mr. Right by Susan Volland
• Nirmala’s Kitchen by Nirmala Narine
• French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano
• The Farms in Provence by M.F.K. Fisher
• The United States of Arugula by David Kamp
• How I Learned to Cook (A Collection of Stories from Chefs)
• Red, White and Drunk All Over by Natalie MacLean
• Healthy Living from the Inside Out by Mariel Hemingway
• Stealing Buddha’s Dinner by Bich Minh Nguyen
• The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn
• The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food by Judith Jones
• Café Indiana by Joanne Raetz Stuttgen
• The Berghoff Family Cookbook by Jan and Catlyn Berghoff
• At Oma’s Table by Doris Schechter
• The Basics by Filip Verheyden
• Beard on Food: The Best Recipes and Kitchen Wisdom from the Dean of American Cooking by James Beard
• Elizabeth Falkner’s Demolition Desserts: Recipes from Citizen Cake by Elizabeth Falkner
• The Country Cooking of France by Anne Willan
• My Last Supper: 50 Great Chefs and Their Final Meals by Melanie Dunea
• Geoffrey Zakarian’s Town / Country: 150 Recipes for Life Around the Table by Geoffrey Zakarian
• A Year in the World: Journeys of a Passionate Traveler by Frances Mayes
• The Healthy Jewish Cookbook by Michael van Straten
• Saucepans and the Single Girl: Bachelor-bait Recipes and Dazzling Ideas for Entertaining by Jinx Morgan and Judy Perry

I'm thankful for... actually finding organizing to be enjoyable... it can make work more interesting and help prevent boredom in a very stir-crazy person!

Peter Walsh’s F.A.S.T. Plan for Clutter

Fix a time to de-clutter
Anything not used for 12 months — if it hasn’t been used in a year, get rid of it
Someone else’s stuff — if it doesn’t belong to you, it has to go
Trash — unusable items and garbage definitely should be tossed

(Source: Peter Walsh article on quickandsimple.com)