Well that family of 96 cookbooks has now grown to 99 cookbooks. Before you begin accusing me of falling prey to my cookbook habit again, I should let you know that the three new cookbooks are courtesy of my family Kris Kringle gift (thank you Aunt Carmela). You see being from a large Italian family, as I am, we participate in a yearly Kris Kringle during the holiday season. This way we don’t bankrupt ourselves by having to buy gifts for a hundred people!

Lucky me, Aunt Carmela pulled my name out of the hat. And thanks to that stroke of good fortune, I am now the proud mommy of three new cookbooks:

Artisan Baking by Maggie Glezer, the Larousse Gastronomique and Patricia Wells’ Trattoria by Patricia Wells.

Now I should probably tell you that we do make up a Kris Kringle wish list and these cookbooks did happen to be on the list. But it’s not like I twisted anyone’s arm to buy them for me. Aunt Carmela could have very easily bought the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker or the Emile Henry items that I’ve had my eye on. But bless her little heart, she knew what I truly yearned for.

I first fell in love with Artisan Baking when I saw it two months ago. I picked it up and flipped it open to a recipe for Pandoro, which is a type of panettone, or Italian sweet bread. I have longed to make pandoro for years and when I read the recipe I thought to myself, "This is it. This is the one."

As for the Larousse Gastronomique, that’s been on my wish list for many years. I suppose it’s one of those must-haves but I always seemed to put buying it for myself aside. Now this cookery tome finally sits on my shelf for me to consult whenever necessary.

And finally Patricia Wells’ Trattoria. While I’ve often looked through this book, I never bothered to buy it. But I recently read On Rue Tatin by Susan Hermann Loomis. I was so impressed by her relationship with Patricia Wells that I decided to take a closer look at the book. I fell in love and put it on my wish list.

I cannot wait to try out these books. Never fear dear readers. You will be the beneficiaries of the results.

Ciao!

OK, I admit it.

The initial effort of actually sitting down and thinking of a blog name and picking a banner colour and deciding what font to use and … well … it was a lot to absorb all at once.

So I took a few days off. With renewed enthusiasm I took up the blog challenge and did what I never thought I would have the intelligence/skill/ability to do:  set up a list!

There was no question what would be the subject of my first list … cookbooks. Oh, glorious cookbooks! How I love all of you! How I yearn to buy all of you!

Eagerly I began pulling my cookbooks off the shelf, one by one, and adding them to my list.

10. 20. 30.

Surely I am getting close to the end. Oh no … another shelf to go.

40. 50.

Wait a minute … are these all mine?

60. 70. 80.

Oh boy!

90. 96.

96 cookbooks. 96 cookbooks!

Panic set in. Do I really own all of these? Is someone coming into my home during the day and putting cookbooks on my shelf without my knowing?

And then came the truth. I own all of these cookbooks. I bought (almost) all of these cookbooks. Oh, the shame! Not because I have a bookshelf full of cookbooks. Shame because I have a bookshelf full of cookbooks that I have barely used. In fact I’m sure the spines would crack on many of them as they have barely been opened.

I wanted to cry. What’s wrong with me? Do I have an addiction? Do I need help?

And then I realized that I do have an addiction. I’m addicted to food. And I do need help … help in the form of more food!

Ultimately, I guess that’s what spurred me on to create this blog. It will give me the chance to put all of these cookbooks to good use. This blog will be my therapy!

96 cookbooks. 96 reasons to eat and learn and grow. 96 … wait … uh oh … I forgot about the cookbooks in my bedroom.

Yikes!

Wow. I can’t believe it! I’ve finally taken the plunge and set up a blog. When I first began reading blogs, computer challenged person that I am, I never imagined that I would be able to do this. To put my food thoughts out there for the world to see!

But here I am … doing just that!

So I guess for my very first post I just want to say hello.  And thank you.

Thank you to all of you out there who blog every day. You’re so inspiring. Knowing that the world is full of people who love food as much as I do (some of you maybe even more!) is so encouraging.

So I bid you welcome to my blog, Cream Puffs in Venice! A place I’d love to be. The food I love to eat.