WEEK 10. STILL GETTING PAPER CUTS

For continuation of the 'papers' category, I did bring all my clippings and articles of recipes, food, and entertaining into one place. It was a very big, spreading pile as I like to cook and entertain and don't like to throw anything out.  I went through thousands (I'm sure) of recipes and threw most of them out because they no longer bring me joy or are not worth the trouble of trying out.

For example, I threw out an ancient recipe from the New York Times for a Chocolate Pecan Viennese Torte. I made it a year after I was married. I guess I was still trying to impress my new husband. My note said it took five hours to make and was not worth it. Then why did I keep the recipe? Was it a reminder not to ever struggle for hours with a recipe that wasn't worth it? Well, it's gone now, but I did keep a few (hundreds?) that do bring me joy.

Magazine 'cookbooks' I kept

Many women's magazines back in the day when married women were identified by their husbands' names carried special food sections which were inserted like a separate little cookbook. I have most of those that Woman's Day published under the name The Collector's Cook Book, which I didn't discard. Some of the titles: Grown-up Lunch Boxes, How to Save Money by Using Your Freezer, and Cooking by the Minute.

Many other special sections had beautiful pictures of glistening, richly colored food. They reminded me of the glamorous fashion models who have teams of beauty experts to make sure not a hair or a freckle is out of place. The displayed food also had food stylists who made sure the presented food looks as desirable to the cook as the women's photos do to the clothes shopper.

The vast majority of the old recipes I discarded because I no longer have the time or interest to make labor intensive, multi ingredient foods, such as cakes from scratch, although I do like to decorate them. Many of the recipes called for ingredients no longer appropriate—lard, margarine, and monosodium glutamate. As I filled up a huge recycle box, I thought I should really start a blog about 'vintage' recipes and how women used to entertain. But that will be for someone younger if she can keep from laughing as she reads them.

Some of the recipes and
travel brochures I recycled

Another huge category I've been working on, is travel material. I travel a lot, as much and as often as I can. And I always pick up maps and brochures about interesting places because I think they will come in handy the next time I go. A large under counter cupboard in my family room was filled with them, from Portland, OR to Washington, DC. And I always forget about them whenever I'm planning a trip. So I filled another huge box for the recycling bin with all that material probably printed at a huge cost of tourist dollars. I did keep city and regional maps, because if you read last week's blog you know I have an illness that Ken Jennings also has, mapmania. I also feel joyful thinking about New Mexico and Santa Fe so I kept material about the Land of Enchantment. It is a state I love and would have moved there but it is too cold in winter.

I also kept anything that had the word Christmas in it. We once had a house with three decorated Christmas trees inside that reflected on three glass walls surrounding a courtyard with several lighted evergreens outside. Holiday decorations will be another hard category to tidy up.

The question I asked last week was answered when I lifted the yellow quilt covering the table in my office and discovered a lot more paper. More drafts of works in progress, all to be discarded. But also a large box of high school and college mementos. I can put those aside until I reach that category.

But now am I really ready to move on to BOOKS?