Every woman needs a cookbook

and the one thing every young bride receives at a bridal shower is a red & white checkered cookbook, You know which one I am referring to, yes, Better Homes & Garden, and for me it started there years ago. Through out my married life I have added and given away many, but I do still have many. I have a recipe box of favorites and a few favorite cookbooks. Some old, some new and I keep looking for more at thriftstores and have purchased a few through Amazon, I really like the used cookbooks best. I find them quite interesting when cooks before me have made comments in the margins and underlined the instructions. My daughter has a couple that I have given her and I know she has added many more to her collection. Her collection far excedes the number I have kept. Now that I have time again to spend in the kitchen I find that my collection needs added to. I can always move a few into another cupboard. If I find a recipe in a magazine or a friend or family pass them on I have now constructed a notebook for those clipped and marked as "must try." I have confidence in cooking and this is good, because I must admit I have tried a new recipe on my husband , my family and even company and so far have been fortunate not to throw out dinner to the chickens, and head out to the nearest Hamburger stand for dinner. I do watch many shows on TV like Food Network, gleaning good tips from the great chefs and have purchased books by Giada de Laurentiis, Martha Stewart, Emeril Lagasse, Rachel Ray to name a few. Family have given me books on Spicy sauces, BBq favorites, Fish & Poultry, Cookies & Breads. Those are used a lot but so are my old tattered, food stained pages of not so famous cooks who put lots of love in their recipes. Today, I think I might go check out the shelves at the thrift store to see if I can find that treasured book of somebody's grandma or aunt or mother that they have discarded. I just might find a new recipe to try for dinner and I could invite the neighbors.