The Ones That Got Away

In honor of surpassing my page views goal, I decided to take a break from the usual nasty cookbook theme. I owe all of you who look at this blog with interest and come back a big thank you! All of my hard work has paid off as I get close to the 2,000 page view. That may seem paltry but in the blogosphere, it's excellent for a new blog. Please continue to follow or read! If you have any ideas for topics, I am open to suggestions.

What makes this a work in itself? Every week I get noless than 10 cookbooks. Whether it's from the thrift stores, used book stores, or ebay, I am always getting something. I am at a used book store, find a book that piques my interest, come home and have nothing to say about it no matter how hard I pick. Ebay books come and they aren't quite what I thought they would be and I search for an angle of interest without success. If I haven't put more than 10 tabs, I know it's not going to work. I'd rather have one quality blog entry than something forced for the sake of doing a daily blog entry. 

Believe it or not, most books just don't make it to the scan stage. This entry is focused on ones that could not make it. I've tried and read over them a few times, but I couldn't milk a dry cow. I need good pictures and some topic. For every ten that I have, only one makes it up here.

Here are the ones that just couldn't work. Believe me, I've tried.

The Complete Jello Recipe Book, 1929. This booklet came out before Jello got scary. There are several drawn illustrations but nothing that would make a full blog entry.

Baker's Cookbook, 1905. I could find nothing bad or ugly about this book. In fact, I was fascinated to have a book in my possession that is 105 years old. I love the writing on the back cover, the seals, the texture, and the illustrations. This definitely was not something I could poke fun at in a blog entry. It's practically a relic.

Grading Dressed Turkeys from the USDA, 1938. This was interesting but irrelevant. The USDA used to have us in mind when it came to food. Interesting read, but nothing too funny about it.

Family Circle Illustrated Library of Cooking, Volume 1 Abev, 1972. These libraries or encyclopedias don't really have much of a story. It's mainly recipes and a few pictures but I was only able to tab five pictures.

Betty Crocker's Bisquick Cookbook, 1979. I know how shocking it is that I could not find anything worth blogging about when it comes to my nemesis. I think she was hiding behind the guise of Bisquick. There was no story or attempts at making us feel like we suck at what we do and how we need to do more or else we are branded failures.

Better Homes and Gardens New Junior Cookbook, 1979. I think Betty Crocker had a monopoly on crappy books for kids. I looked and looked but only had a few pages marked. Usually Better Homes and Gardens is my go to book series. Not in this case. I'll stick with Betty Crocker because she even makes kids feel like crap in the kitchen.

Campbell's Cooking With Soup, no publication date. It was just about soup. Nothing but hundreds of recipes on soup. I don't really care for soup. I can't find humor with hundreds of soup recipes. I tried!

Betty Crocker's Cooky Carnival, 1957. Aside from common day "cookie" spelled with a y, there was little information to blog about. Betty slipped through the cracks again. It's okay, Betty. I will have my day. I have that picture cookbook indicated on the cover tabbed and ready to go.

Barbecuing the Weber covered way, 1979. I am fairly certain that my mother had this book. I liked the old smell of it, but I didn't see too much worth blogging about either. After my "Men Who Stare At Grills" blog, I couldn't top it. No, I did not spend $7.99. I think I paid 50 cents for it.

Salads and Salad Dressings, 1965. I would have went crazy on this if there had been colored illustrations. Alas, there were not so I did not find the point in blogging about this book.

Favorite Recipes of America: Salads, 1958. I could have had fun with this one too if there were illustrations. Maybe if there were illustrations the book would have not sold. The majority of my blog is nasty pictures and tuhds. There was nothing in here that was even worth the scan.

Better Homes and Gardens Fondue Cooking, 1970. The only thing interesting was the types of fondue pots used. Otherwise it was just gunk with skewers.

See above fondue cookbook for description. They pretty much came out at the same time. The pictures were also close. Nothing to get too excited about.

Better Homes and Gardens Meals in Minutes, 1973. I have an earlier version and the illustrations and descriptions were far better so I avoided the redundancy. Plus I found four pages worth tabbing.

Latin American Cooking, 1968. There weren't too many foods. It read more like an encyclopedia than a cookbook. It focused more on geography than recipes.

Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery, Volume 4, Cre-Fin, 1966. Barely any pictures and mostly recipes. Most of the following Woman's Day encyclopedias follow this pattern.

Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery Volume 8, Moi-Pee, 1966. Again, nothing blogworthy. Just recipes and a few pictures.

Women's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery Volume 9, Pec-Pur, 1966. I will say the way they are alphabetized makes for interesting words.

Woman's Day Encylopedia of Cookery, Volume 6, Had-Kid, 1966

AHHHH there are more!! Women's Day Encyclopedia of Cooking, Aba-Awo, 1979. Because nothing changed in 13 years. SSDD. People actually spend money on these sets? As you can see, they've gone through the thrift sore rotation a couple of times. It just might make it to a third.

Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery, Volume 5 Car-Chi, 1979. Eh..what was I thinking when I picked up not one but two different incomplete sets of these?

Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery Volume 6, Coo-Dem, 1979. I'm in no hurry to find the rest of these books. Not even the ceramic rabbits on the cover are inspiration. That was the last of the Women's Day Encyclopedias in my possession.

The Cooking of China, . Same idea as the Latin American book. Few recipes and no pictures of interest.

Family Circle Casserole Cookery, 1976 It dealt mostly with slow cookers, but nothing really stood out either. I'm starting to think books between 1940-1970 have the most interesting recipes and pictures.

500 Dishes Delicious From Leftovers, 1949. As much as I hate leftovers, I thought for sure I would have something to write about but there was nothing. Oh well, I still hate leftovers.

Dishes Children Love, date unknown. As picky as my kids are, I thought for sure there would be be something. But there wasn't even a picture of a tuhd.

The Ready, Aim, Cookbook, 1976. If I had an electric foodgun, I bet I would be able to know what the purpose was. However, it's not in my gadgetry.

Those are nearly 30 books that I found nothing that I could blog about. However, I have several waiting for blog entries. I will keep on keeping on. Sometimes you have to kiss a few frogs to find a prince. When I find one, I know it! 

It's been my pleasure to entertain you. I look forward to more interesting blogs. 

Until next time!! Maybe I'll come up with a better closing.