With S. gone I have been doing all of my spring-cleaning lately. Whenever he is away from home for extended periods I tend to clean. Or, I rearrange the furniture. Or, I paint the furniture and the walls wild and wacky colours. These days I don't exactly have the energy or the patience to live in an 'upside down home' whilst I rearrange furniture (it takes a few days and lots of hemming and hawing about where certain pieces should go). And since I do know that the paint fumes would be bad for Leith, I decided to just do some super cleaning projects that I had been meaning to do since I got home from the hospital last summer.

I cleaned out our closet - top to bottom. I pulled out clothes that I had put away during my first trimester of pregnancy (and they fit me now, yay!). I tossed clothes that will never fit me again (some too big, some too small) and packed up the very last vestiges of my maternity wardrobe (I was clinging to the black suit pants that saw me through my entire pregnancy when I saw what my butt looked like in them now - saggy!) for whomever is lucky enough to get pregnant next and wants them. I ended up with two and a half garbage bags full of clothes to be toted to Value Village or Goodwill and a closet full of clothes that fit, that I like and that I can wear without being embarrassed about my wardrobe. That took one evening.

What next? I cleaned out the fridge and freezer, the bathroom had a good scouring, Leith"s closet was next, then S.'s office. I cleaned the kitchen - more than once - as well as the dining room and living room. I even cleaned our storage room and arranged the recycling bins in a more appealing manner. Everything in our house is now organized to the point where I am pleased as punch and it is done just in time for S. to come bounding through the door in two weeks and mess it all up again. Don't get me wrong, I really can't wait for him to come home, but a home with my husband tends to be a slightly messier home...

Anyway, what I was going to get out (in my own round-about way) is that I purged my cookbook collection. Well, I "purged" it in that I took down all the books I don't use on a weekly basis and moved them into the study so if I do need them they are still within reach. I left the more "popular" books on the shelf in the kitchen for me to gaze at longingly all the time. I am wondering if my favourite cookbooks are the same as anyone else's favourites and if your favourites are ones I should look into buying.

So, here are the questions:

What are your favourite cookbooks? Why?
What do you look for in a good cookbook? What will make you purchase one over another book?
How many cookbooks do you own?

To repay you for this kindness I will take down the names of anyone who emails me their responses to all the questions above, and draw one out of a hat and send them a copy of one of my favourite cookbooks (I will make sure it is one you don't already have, don't worry!). So get emailing! I'm super curious!

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