I mentioned that I find many of my cookbooks at Goodwill and thrift shops. You have to hunt through lots of rejects and boring stuff to find the treasures but I think that's part of the thrill of collecting. One thing I soon noticed was that they have tons of certain types of cookbooks, the first are books with microwave in the title and then there are the diet books. We all know that no one COOKS in the microwave, they are used just to defrost, reheat and to pop corn. Plus every microwave you buy seems to come with a cookbook and these all end up on the shelves at Goodwill.
As for diet cookbooks, there's lots of them too, Atkins, South Beach but the most common discarded ones are the WeightWatchers. You could buy 40 of these, stack them and add a glass top and make a beautiful recycled coffee table for about $15. I have been tempted but so far I've given them a pass.
I did recently find not one but two neat diet cookbooks by Richard Simmons. They're both in beautiful condition, not even a tiny tear in their dust jackets. In fact I was not even sure they had been cracked open until I checked inside the front cover. There it was, affectionately signed, "Lois, Love Richard Simmons 98". Not just in one but in both of them. Any signed book is a thrill to find! My daughter went nuts when she found an inscribed copy of Music for Chameleons by Truman Capote, her favorite author, in a bargain bin. This hardly ranks up there with that but I was very pleased.
So now this becomes a mystery, who was Lois and why did she dump her lovely cookbooks. I wonder if she stood in line at some bookstore and waited to have him sign them for her. Did she take them home and try the recipe for Pink and White Velvet Semifreddo on page 123? It only has 95 calories per serving compared to 360 for traditional semifreddo, whatever that is. Some of these recipes hardly look diet, the Creme de la Creme Brulee, calls for 2 cups of heavy cream, 5 egg yolks and a half a cup of sugar, it weighs in at 440 calories for a tiny serving. Maybe they just didn't work and Lois found herself actually gaining weight following their instructions so she carted them off to Goodwill. I doubt this, they look too new, too unopened and too unused.
My best guess is her kids got together and said "Richard Simmons is in town signing books, Mom is looking a bit heavy. Let's get him to sign two for her and give them to her for Christmas 1998, what a great gift". If this is what happened Lois I don't blame you, I would have dumped them too, how insulting two diet books, I'm amazed you held on to them for 10 years. My first thought would have been, I'll show you, I'll find a recipe and make that traditional Semifreddo goo and I'll eat it all myself! Plus, call me fat, you're all out of the will! So cookbook #10 is Sweetie Pie.
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