Cookbooks

Most folks know me as a practical person, someone who is frugal, one who does not purchase things on a whim...but I have a weakness, it being cookbooks. I'm likely to buy a cookbook based on one recipe that intrigues me, with the thought that if the author was smart enough to include that recipe then there must be many more where that came from.
I have an entire wooden cabinet filled with cookbooks. In my defense, it is a small cabinet, about 3 1/2 feet tall, so it is not too full of cookbooks. I've got cookbooks on my counter top and even a "cookbook" I created. It is a photo album that I have placed copies of family recipes, recipes from friends and just ones from magazines and newspapers that have caught my attention over the years. The clear plastic protective layer prevents food splatters from destroying the recipe and it's binder format gives me the opportunity to add more sheets as needed. I even have my collection of the cooking magazine "La Cucina Italiana" on my counter top for quick and easy reference.
Yet, out of all those books, I barely open them once I get them. I use my "Joy of Cooking" most, and my homemade one next. I'm more likely to peruse several cooking websites I've come to love than to open my cookbooks. It's not that I don't like them, it's just that I don't usually have the ingredients on hand for the recipe that catches my eye or I do not feel like spending the time to prep it for that night's dinner.
I've made a new resolution, that with each new cookbook (and the old ones as well) I need to take 1 recipe per week. This way, our dinners will be more varied (or our desserts, I have several dedicated to chocolate, cookies, etc) and I will have gotten my monies worth from them. I can plan ahead, so that the ingredients will on hand. In fact, I can even prep most of the meals on Sunday so that the hectic work week will not be quite so hectic.
Luckily, Jman cooks dinner once a week and he is not afraid to open my cookbooks, to choose something completely different every time. Some of the recipes he has picked have seemed odd, but all have come out deliciously. I guess I do know how to pick a cookbook, even if I don't use it myself!