When someone visits my apartment for the first time, the first thing they say is, “Wow, you have a lot of cookbooks.”
I’ve moved around a lot since I was a kid, and while furniture and knickknacks have been sold or donated along the way, I’ve never left my cookbooks behind. I’ve been collecting them since I was 10 or 12, so they feel a little like family. On a day-to-day basis, they form a foundation for my work life: they’re reference material, guidance and inspiration. When I’m lacking ideas for new recipes, want to learn about a new-to-me dish or am looking for a weekend project, I turn to my bookshelves.
