Recipes

I love to cook.

I find it creative and relaxing and, of course, I also need to eat.

Cooking is also a gift I give to my husband and friends.

Because I cook, I'm always looking for interesting recipes. I don't own many cookbooks. I used to, but realized I was only using a few recipes from each and books take up a lot of space. So I copied the recipes I like on 3x5 cards, put them in a file box, and gave the cookbooks to the Friends of the Library book sale.

As I read through the evening newspaper (it's really a morning newspaper, but I end up reading it in the evening when I come home from work), I sometimes see recipes I'd like to try. When the local food co-op sends out a newsletter, it usually has a recipe or two that I'd like to try. Magazines are another source of potential recipes. And I sometimes I'll borrow a cook book from my local public library, especially one on vegetarian meals, and look for recipes I'd like to try.

After I've tried a recipe, if I like it and M. likes it, I'll write it down on a 3x5 card and add it to the file box. Sometimes, I need to make adjustments and try it again before it gets written down.

Since I've liked to cook for a very long time (ever since I came to terms with the fact that a feminist can do something so traditional as cooking), I've been on the lookout for recipes.

After the recipe has been cut (or more likely torn) from the newspaper, or photocopied from the library cookbook, it sits on top of the microwave oven, in plain sight, until I've had a chance to try it. I used to put it in a drawer, but, alas, it would be forgotten and languish until I felt the need to hunt for it. Unfortunately, that pile on the microwave sometimes gets annoying and gets transferred to the recipe drawer to languish.

The recipe drawer is getting full and messy and it's too hard to wade through all of the recipes I've mostly forgotten about.

While trying to find a recipe I was sure was in there, I decided to at least sort through all of these pieces of paper and put them in some kind of order. That way, when I wanted to try a fish recipe, I could go to the fish folder and save myself a lot of time.

And so I began. I made piles: "breads", "breakfasts", "soups/stews", "salads", "pasta", "vegetables", etc. Then I took some file folders, labeled them, and stuffed the appropriate recipes into each. By then I was tired and was less than half way through all those bits of paper.

A few days later, I continued the task. I actually found pages of newspapers dating back to 1988! When I look at some of these recipes, I can truly say "I'll never make that" and just toss it into the paper recycling bag. That's where many of the fancy dessert recipes have ended. I need fewer desserts, fancy or otherwise.

My recipe pile is looking a little less daunting, though I haven't yet tried any of the recently unearthed recipes.

After I finish sorting through the "to be tried" pile, I'm going to weed out the file box. There are a lot of recipes I added 20 or 30 years ago that I no longer use. This project could take a long time. I wonder if I'll have any time to actually try any of these new recipes?