To Browse the Bookshelf?

magazinepile

I left an ominous post earlier this month. I wanted to explain further.

I’m lazy. My subscriptions to Gourmet and Bon Appetit were due the month before Gourmet’s last printed issue. I bought Gourmet’s Thanksgiving ode in the super market. I didn’t buy Bon App. I have not since renewed.

I look at my kitchen-dedicated bookshelf: with one row dedicated to old food mags. I look at my bedroom bookshelf: with one row dedicated to old food mags. I look underneath my bed: one fat mess dedicated to old food mags.

You will also notice this trend with my clothes. They’re old and everywhere. But I’ve been *trying* to shop within my own closet this season. Create different combinations. Wear shirts with different skirts and different shoes and different rings.

Do I try this technique with my Cooks Illustrated June 2007? And my Cooking Light March 2009? The mags I never made it through, some still adorned in shrink wrap.

Or do I try a new publication? Food and Wine? Saveur? Cooking with Paula Deen?

Will I miss out on the hottest new ingredient or trend or city or restaurant or microbrew if I limit my food reading to dated pages?

I also have counted about 50 cookbooks around my apartment. Do I try the “shop your closet” with my bookshelf and cook a new dish every week? (Although how much fun could that be?)

I haven’t cooked a fucking thing this year. I need some inspiration.

(And yes, I’m in on the joke. I’m so lazy that I’m trying to make New Year’s resolutions a month into 2010.)

(Photo: Becca Nelson)