COOKING THE BOOKS - PART ONE

Okay so this does not relate to Stockbrokers,Bankers or Bernie Maddof, this is a food blog for Christ sake not a hedge fund conspiracy. We are talking greed in a way, but forces that are darker and far worse are at play- Obsession, lust, betrayal and porn! What the hell am i talking about the latest blockbuster thriller or the darkest of Evil,or is it just one mans obsession with cookbooks!
It's a bad pre-occupation you know-just got have it the latest release,sometimes even before they are published- thank god for the net! Haven't tried therapy yet, and the other half is worried, no not about me, but space for Christ sake, where are we gonna store them!
OK an average month will see at least a couple of new editions but the last 2 1/2 months have seen a mini bookstore sprout up like a bean stalk, new shelves have been built and they are now full. During October my pre-orders arrived The Big Fat Duck Cookbook,Alinea and Under Pressure by Thomas Keller, along with November/December releases- A Day At el Bulli, Rick steins latest creation Coast to Coast and Indian made easy by Anjum Anand. You see i have no loyalty, this is the betrayal part I buy what i like, ok there is some writers i don't buy, maybe they are too girly and i'm too alpha, but truth be known i like restaurant cookbooks, expensive one's that are hard to purchase, that is the porn part in case you were worrying!
Just last week on a pre Christmas visit to my sister and family i managed to buy no less than 6 books, 5 of them on cooking, the 6th on photography(this will be used to hopefully take better food pictures).
But why, most of these books i will not use, for reasons other than skill levels, i do not possess the time or the equipment. Take under pressure(Keller) all the recipes use a sous vide water bath and require a vacuum packer. I do not have this equipment, and i knew what the book was about,before i bought it. Hestons latest book, his life in print, will it go to the kitchen -fuck no, it will stay on the shelf, and only come out for reference or too marvel at the culinary genius of this man.
I can't honestly remember the last time i cooked from a recipe, but i do use the books for inspiration, so we now come to the lust part. Yes there are books i lust after a couple more el Bulli books would be welcome, oud sluis from the restaurant, i want along with many others, but this will take time and money, luckily we still have the obsession part. Books old and new grace my shelves to be plucked from obscurity to find that somewhat lacking inspiration that creeps in from time to time. This coming year i have decided to collect old cookbooks, not antique but as old as i can afford, i will stalk the charity and thrift shops looking for the unwanted, and build shelves all over the house, ok the last part about the shelves is fiction, but i'm sure my collection will grow. I have read somewhere that Gordon Ramsay has over 3,500 cook books that's a serious amount of paper and serious cash. I'm not going for that amount but.......................