Cookbookaholic

Craigslist Score #1

I recently missed a Saturday for garage sales because I wasn’t feeling well. Whenever something like this happens, I check out the Craigslist offerings in hopes of making up for the lack of yard sale action. 

In going through the online sales, I spot a nice chunk of books for the low, low price of $25. It’s been there a few days, so I send an email and ask if they’re still for sale. That’s a really great price for the number of cookbooks in the pictures. If I can snag these, that’ll be a great haul.

A little while later, I get a response. They’re still available and they can meet me in about half an hour.

The cookbooks are one town over from me, so it’ll take me most of that half hour to get over there. We meet in an apartment building parking lot and when I pull up, I’m greeted by a lady, her husband and their daughter with four US Airways bags.

If you’ve ever taken a flight with US Airways, then you’ll recognize these bags from when the attendants take up the drinks and trash near the end of the flight. Those bags can hold a lot of aluminum cans and plastic cups. And I’m hoping these four bags will hold a ton of cookbooks.

Let’s take a look at what I’ve got:

(Bottom to top) Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2002, The Best of Country Cooking 2002, It’s in the Bag!, Bake and Freeze Desserts (Elinor Klivans), Family Circle Big Book of Christmas, Eva’s Kitchen (Eva Longoria with Marah Stets), Better Homes and Gardens New Junior Cookbook, Green Thumbs in the Kitchen (Green Thumb), The Cookie and Biscuit Bible (Catherine Atkinson with recipes by Joanna Farrow and Valerie Barrett), Apple Cookbook (Olwen Woodier) and Smoothies & Ice Treats (Lindsay Barnes and Amy Shawgo).

That Green Thumbs cookbook is by an organization that focuses on providing training opportunities and meaningful community service jobs for low-income older workers. I love the quote on the cover of the cookbook: “When It’s Smokin’ It’s Cookin’ & When It’s Burnt It’s Done.” Sounds about right to me… 

(Bottom to top) Pillsbury: The Complete Book of Baking, Fix-It and Forget-It Lightly (Phyllis Pellman Good), Express Lane Meals (Rachel Ray), The Kids’ Holiday Baking Book (Rosemary Black), The Dead Celebrity Cookbook (Frank DeCaro), Favorite Brand Names Incredibly Easy Silly Snacks, The Pizza Gourmet (Shea MacKenzie), The Donut Book (Sally Levitt Steinberg), Kraft No Oven Summer Sensations, Secrets of Fat-Free Baking (Sandra Woodruff, RD) and Good Home Baking (Diana Peacock).

 
(Bottom to top) SLAR 1998, Gooseberry Patch Christmas 6, Taste of Home Annual Recipes 2004, Great Cookies for Kids (Joanna Farrow), America’s Favorite Brand Name Light Cooking, The Pleasure of Herbs (Phyllis Shaudys), Put ‘em Up!: A Comprehensive Home Preserving Guide for the Creative Cook from Drying and Freezing to Canning and Pickling and Cupcakes (Shelly Kaldunski).

(Bottom to top) SLAR 2001, Baking (Dorie Greeenspan), Crazy Plates (Janet & Greta Podleski), Fit-It and Forget-It: Kids’ Cookbook (Phillis Pellman Good), 365 Great Cookies & Brownies (Joanne Lamb Hayes and Bonnie Tandy Leblang), The Ultimate Book of Kid Concoctions (John E. Thomas & Danita Pagel), Cupcakes from the Cake Doctor (Anne Byrn) and Totally Muffins Cookbook (Helene Siegel and Karen Gillingham).

Pretty awesome finds! I asked the lady offering up the cookbooks why she was getting rid of all these. After all, she’s parting ways with a quite a few. With a smile, she says that her husband told her that if she could get rid of some, then she was allowed to get some more. Spoken like a true cookbookaholic. She’s freeing up some space to make room for some new ones!

Was Today Art Day at Yard Sales?

I can’t believe how much artwork was at almost every single yard sale this morning.

The very first sale was at 7am and from the other side of the gate, you could see a bunch of framed bird and duck prints. Needless to say, when the gate opened and the masses went towards the fancy duck prints—my path went to the opposite side of the yard. Cookbooks? Nope. But, as I rounded the yard and headed back toward the gate, I spotted this cool looking framed painting:

The lady having the sale was the artist! Instinct told me to grab it and this was my first find of the morning.

My second yard sale got my heart racing. When I asked if there were any cookbooks, a lady told me that there were a ton of them in the room right beside me. I looked on all the shelves and didn’t see any. When I found her again and told her that I couldn’t find any—she said that the “Mom” must’ve taken them with her. Okay….I thought this was an estate sale. Did “Mom” take them with her to the great beyond?

I’m disappointed, but found this cute needlepoint of the state of North Carolina:

On the way to my next sale, I spot a sign that says “Moving Sale.” I decided to turn around and give it a try. Good thing I did! When I finished looking at the items in the garage and rounded the corner to the back of the house, I spotted a box of cookbooks! I grabbed most of them and went to check out. A lady helping with the sale found a box for me and said there was room in the box for more. I totally agreed—so I asked if there were more cookbooks coming out.

She pointed me to the lady holding the sale and I went up and asked. She paused for a second and said that she did have more. She went inside and a less than a minute later, she brought out a stack—as did her husband!

I started looking through them and adding to my box—now it was overflowing! Take a look at the haul:

Southern Living Annual Recipes 1979, The Martha Stewart Cookbook, Out of Our League (Junior League of Greensboro, NC), Finest Old Southern Recipes(Wooden Cover) with Southern Cookbook: 250 Fine Old Recipes (Lillie Lustig, Editor), Charlotte Country Day School Cook Book (Charlotte Country Day, Charlotte, NC), Pick of the Crop (North Carolina Chapter 35 Telephone Pioneers Cook Book), The Charlotte Cookbook (Charlotte Junior League, NC) and Charlotte is Cooking with Allen Tate.

A Goldmine of Recipes (Cabarrus County Extension Homemakers), Three Rivers Cookbook (Child Health Association of Sewickley, PA), Cooking with the Cobb Clan (Descendants of Katie Lee Sockwell Cobb), Sharing Our Best: Taste of Travelers (Travelers Insurance Company), Sugar ‘n Spice and Everything Nice! (The Children’s Home of Pittsburgh, PA) A Book of Favorite Recipes from Charlotte BPW Club, Tried and True Volume II (Craig Avenue Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, NC).

I asked Ruby about her these cookbooks and she said this was part of 50 years of collecting them!

She pointed to the inscription on this Southern Living Annual Recipes from 1979:

(To "Supercook" on her 38th--I don't see how her culinary ability could get any better, but she wanted it anyway.)

She said, “This was from my first husband when I was 38—now I’m 71!”

Ruby then showed me several that were from when she and her first husband lived in the Pittsburgh area. She points on Three Rivers Cookbook and tells me about how this was a gift from the real estate agent when they closed on their home. The agent even had their evening meal catered for them on the first night after they moved in. Isn’t that nice?

I was on the fence about Cooking with the Cobb Clan. But when I asked Ruby if I needed to get this one, she said that this cookbook was from her friend, Phyllis’ family, and she had once owned a restaurant. I guess that settled it!

I’m so glad I turned the car around and gave Ruby’s sale a try. But now I’ve got some decisions to make. It’s about 7:45am and I still have two more 7am sales—but I’ve got two sales coming up at 8 am that I need to think about as well.

I give up on making it to the other 7 am sales and head for the closest 8 am sale. Fifteen minutes later—it’s a bust. Now I’ve got another decision to make. My 9 am estate sale is further down and across the border in South Carolina. If I leave now, I’m there around 8:20 am. That’s a good bit of time to sit and wait for the door to open. But, on the up side, it’s an estate sale from the awesome Bell. Remember the morning spent with her mother-in-law’s shed and the later one inside the house? Plus, she’s listed cookbooks in the advertising.

It looks like I’m heading to South Carolina!

As I’m pulling into the neighborhood, I notice a brand new Krispy Kreme. I think we all know where I’m visiting after this sale…

This is a development of apartment/condos and the sale is in one of the smaller units. I knock on the door and Bell says to come in. Bell is ready and her cousin is there as well. Bell points me towards the kitchen and I find a bookshelf with some cookbooks. Here’s my stack:

Nathalie Dupree’s Southern Memories, Rachel Ray 30-Minute Meals: Get Togethers, Cooking with Rachel and Friends (First Baptist Church, Rock Hill, SC), The Magnolia Collection (Gene Westbrook), The McClellanville Coast Seafood Cookbook (McClellanville Arts Council, McClellanville, SC) and Sweet Savours of Summerville (Bethany United Methodist Women, Bethany UMC, Summerville, SC).

I take a look around the rest of the condo and it’s very nicely decorated. Lots of doo-dads and decorative boxes you’d find at Hobby Lobby or Michael’s. Plus, there are tons of paintings on the wall…

Turns out that the condo is owned by a lady who is an artist—and all the paintings are all by her! Seriously, it’s like I’ve stumbled onto Art Day at yard sales. The prices for the framed art are a bit too steep for me, so I’ll just stick with the cookbooks.

At this point, it’s after 9am and the sales are over for this morning. I’ve got some nice finds in the cookbook area and a two interesting pieces of art. I think it’s time to treat myself to some Krispy Kreme!

Must Be My Rachel Ray Day?

How amazing were the last two Saturdays? I’m so thankful for the huge hauls but I’m keeping my hope in check today. Four sales are on the list…including one that only gave a street name—no specific house number!

My first 7am stop is somewhat near the house—but not in what I would call the greatest part of town. I’ll do a quick recon and check it out. Turns out, this is a nicely renovated home and I scoop up three nice cookbooks. Check out the hardbacks!

 America’s Best Lost Recipes (Editors of Cook’s Country Magazine), How to Grill (Steven Raichlen) and Classic Rachel Ray 30-Minute Meals.

Nice start to my morning. The next stop is pretty far down so I’ll first check out the sale without a house number. It’s a 7:30am sale, but by the time I roll up, it’ll be close to opening.

Last night, I did a little research and found a house number to plug into the GPS. When I made it to the street, I just kept driving back until I saw the familiar set up in the driveway. I scan the goods but don’t see the cookbooks. Oh well. But then, someone comes out of the garage dragging a plastic tub of books…or should I say cookbooks!

I see some great ones and I start a stack. The lady running the sale comes over and tells me that the cookbooks were up in her parent’s attic for many years. It’s a very cool selection and I spot some gems:

Coastal Carolina Cooking (Women’s Auxiliary to the Ocean View Memorial Hospital, Myrtle Beach, SC), Secrets from New Orleans Best Kitchens (Earlyne S. Levitas), What’s Cooking on Virginia’s Eastern Shore (Franktown UMC, Franktown, Virginia), The Joy of Cooking (Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker), The Sneaky Chef (Missy Chase Paine), The Summit Showcase of Cuisine Art (The Summit Country Day School), Not Just Bacon & Eggs: A Breakfast and Early Brunch Cookbook (Compiled by Donna Duncan Jomaa) and The Monticello Cook Book (The University of Virginia Hospital Circle).

125 Years of Recipes and Rememberances (Unity Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, Lancaster, SC), A Cook’s Tour of Athens (The Junior Assembly of Athens, GA), Traditional Recipes of the Eastern Shore: The St. Cecilia Guild Cook Book (Christ Episcopal Church, Eastville, VA), Hornets Homecooking (The Junior League of Charlotte, Inc., Charlotte, NC), Company’s Coming: Foods for Entertaining (Junior League of Kansas City, Missouri), Pardon our Pride (Junior Women’s Club of Northampton County), Ocracoke Cook Book (The United Methodist Women of Ocracoke Island, North Carolina), Original Ocracoke Cook Book (United Methodist Women of the United Methodist Church, Ocracoke, North Carolina), Favorite Recipes from the United Nations (The American Home Economics Association) and Stirrin’ the Pots on Daufuskie (Billie Burn).

I’m walking away with two bags full of cookbooks! Woo-hoo! 

I decide to skip the 8am sale and head over to the other 7am sale. When I pull up, there’s no one else there. And it’s further down than I anticipated. I wonder if they have anything left? Turns out I shouldn’t have had any worries. The lady running the sale says she hasn’t had many visitors at all. Maybe it was the scuba gear she has out front. I know if I just did a quick drive-by, that would’ve given me the impression of a lot of outdoor sports equipment.

I found a table with the kitchen gear and I start making a stack. Not bad! I get a pretty good stack…and yes, I realize now that I have just bought two copies of Hornets Homecooking this morning.

Betty Crocker’s New Boys and Girls Cook Book, 30-Minute Meals 2 (Rachel Ray), 30-Minute Meals (Rachel Ray), 30-Minute Meals Get Togethers (Rachel Ray), Seminole Fan Fare: Our Winnin’ Recipes (The Extra Point Club), Hornets Homecooking (The Junior League of Charlotte, Inc.), The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook (Paula H. Deen), The Lady & Sons Just Desserts (Paula H. Deen) and Good Cooking, Good Times: Recipes and Gardening Tips (Weaverville Garden Club).

Man of man, was this my Rachel Ray day, or what? I think I got a total of four of her cookbooks today. Looks like it goes from her very first 30-Minute Meal cookbook to a fancy hardback compilation. Plus, I pulled in some serious tonnage with the number of cookbooks…around 30, maybe? Fantastic way to start the weekend! Or, should I coin a new phrase that would make Rach proud? This sale was fab-o! Nah, it was flat-out fantastic...