One a penny, two a penny...

...well, if I had a penny for every cookbook I own, I'd have many a penny! Cookbooks are a bit of an obsession of mine. Most purchases I make take some degree of contemplation and I often walk away without something because I am rather good at convincing myself I don't need it. Cookbooks fall outside this capability. I'm a sucker for those book clearance shops. If it's shiny (or these days the fancy ones are matte), has yummish photographs of the food and has a large fluorenscent sticker on the front, I can find a reason to add it to my ever expanding collection. Then there's those tauntingly glossy magazines in the supermarket with freebie teatowels and recipe journals. I can't stop myself. My latest necessary acquisition was a sunny yellow magazine with a free pot-holder. A FREE POT-HOLDER! Now, I can justify this one...I've already whipped up a great, buttery, shiny brown brioche from it AND my little boy has had a house wide adventure with his chomping and 'raaaring' pot-holdersaurus.
I've been buying, borrowing (yay for libraries) and reading cookbooks for many years and I have never lost interest. Why? I reckon there are a few reasons. Reading cookbooks is my super therapy. Following cactus hour, that intolerable hour (or three) up until bedtime where the cherubic children turn into miniature mosters, I collapse on to the couch. Once I've gathered my thoughts (usually not many left to gather by then) I cobble together a teetering tower of books and start idly flicking the pages. I get lost in a cookbook much more easily than I do in the telly. I love the smell of the fancy paper and imagining the flavours and textures as I read. I also think cooking is one of those things that can be self indulgent but with a side benefit of providing for others. I become totally absorbed in cooking and baking and eagerly await the proof in the pudding at the end. I rarely cook the same thing twice. Even when I whip out a standard like spag bol I have to fiddle with the ingredients. I love to send the kids off with their Dad so I can get down to making something that will delight their precious little selves. It's funny how I feel like spoiling them much more when they're nowhere near...something about absence and a fonder heart, I think. And as far as cooking is concerned, it's utter misery trying to do it with the kids, unless I completely surrender to it being a child centric, cupcake icing, finger licking, sprinkles all over the floor kind of experience. Then when we sit down to eat I have to remind myself it's all about the journey, because nothing takes the gloss off a lovingly prepared meal like a three year old who cannot stay on a chair unless there are party pies, and a one year old who thinks aioli is a French word meaning hair conditioner.
Cooking is also a lifelong education. There's always something new to discover or master and I'm constantly uncovering new sides to myself as my knowledge evolves. My flour in the hair, biceps of steal (lets just pretend I do the kneading by hand) baking Mama comes out when we need a loaf of bread. Just recently my inner hippie made a reappearence, this time in the supermarket. I caught her dreamily slipping two varieties of tofu and a tub of mixed sprouts into the basket. She then followed me home and I'm a little concerned she may put up a teepee in the back yard, next. I can't seem to shake her off. When I unloaded the shopping it dawned on me that this inner hippy had been reading my new, birthday Neil Perry book over my shoulder. I've recently embarked on an extended course in Asian cookery thanks to this book, and I'm pleased to say, the Tofu DIDN'T taste like polystyrene! See, it's all about learning and becoming a better version of myself. Healthier, too!

That was until the little boy with a sad face and a box of chocolates came a knocking. How could I not buy something?? It was, afterall, in the name of fundraising.
Buntyandsars is also in the process of becoming a better version of herself. The scribbles in the picture (under the chocolate!) are some examples of a range of boy goodies I have in the pipeline. I've also been busily illustrating and redesigning the covers and bindings for my colouring books and paper dolls so the whole shebang is a bit prettier and more cohesive visually. Can't wait to get it all to a sellable stage so I can spread it all out together and see my range as a whole. Hopefully it'll make me want to give myself a pat on the back!