I spent last night helping one of my closest friends sort through her belongings in preparation for her move from Edinburgh to Ireland (sniff). Jen and I used to be flatmates, when I moved in with her I had been vegetarian for 5 years and owned around three cookbooks. By the time I moved
out a year later I owned a whole shelf full and four years on from that I have enough to fill two bookcases. We have been sharing ideas, books and inspiration for more than five years. Our individual cookbook collections blur and merge around the edges with the constant flow of books from hers to mine and mine to hers. She's the only person I know that can buy me a cookbook for Christmas that I don't have to surreptitiously return as I already own it.
Last night we gathered all her cook books and magazines into the living room ready for packing; retrieving all the precarious piles liberally scattered around her flat. Afterwards we looked at the mountain we had created, photographed it for posterity, and tried to figure out how to make the
collection look smaller before her husband arrived home (she rejected the idea of hiding them at my house). To keep her going until the van arrived at the other end (five days) we packed up her ten carefully selected 'desert island' books (twenty-three in total).
Phase two of the plan found us reclining on a sofa apiece, flicking through a tottering heap of magazines nearly as tall as she was, ensuring that no useful article or interesting recipe accidentally made it into the recycling pile (vital work I think you'll agree). We retired to bed well after midnight satisfied with a job well done - I'm not entirely sure her husband will agree when he arrives today and is faced with the chaos that used to be his living room.
I'm definitely going to miss hanging out with Jen - she's the only other person I know that can spend a whole afternoon reading cook books, talking about food and watching UKTV Food and then order takeout for dinner as there's no time left to actually cook any food.
So that's the purpose of this Blog, to keep Jen up-to-date with the comings and goings on my shelves and through my kitchen and to save on phone bills so that I can afford to fly out to Ireland more often.
Good luck in your new home.
Hugs and cookies.
Veggiekate
4 comments:
I love you!
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Awhh, that's so sweet. Just found your blog through Jen's. I have recently decided to eat more vegetarian food (I'm still a meat eater just less often so that I can spend more on really good quality meat)
Anyway,your story is similar to mine, when I moved in with my friend Margaret I owned two cookbooks, Darina Allens bible and Jamie's first one. Now I have a bookcase full (someday I aspire to have two bookcases like you ;-) )
Jen and I just spent the weekend in London on a pilgrimage to books for cooks so look out for a report into all our purchases and some cupcake action coming soon.
I've been a bit lax at updating my blog recently but will post some new pics and recipes at the weekend. o drop by again soon for some more veggie inspiration.
Thanks
Kate
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