This morning I did something I’ve been meaning to do for ……..oh I can’t even remember how long….. probably years. You know what it is from the title of this post….I sorted out my zillions of recipes.
First I threw out all those I knew I’d never try because they are too complicated . I still go by that oft-quoted dictum of Shirley Conran, who became famous with her book “Superwoman” in the 1970s “Life’s too short to stuff a mushroom” .
So any recipes that involves finding more than 7 items/ more than 3 stages / over 15 minutes of preparation were discarded.
Next went all the cookies/biscuits that had to be dipped in chocolate …….. I always make such a mess of myself.
Then, not only did I sort the rest out, but I also rewrote the illegible ones ( once I ‘d checked with my kids what I had originally written) and those where the paper was translucent from grease…..(we seem to spill a lot of oil in our house).
I then stapled the recipes, whatever their size and wherever they had come from ( a notebook, torn from a magazine, a post-it note, napkin) onto sheets of A4 paper and slid them back to back into see thru plastic pockets with holes on one side so that each recipe was now visible and inside a wipe-clean pocket and could be filed in a ring-binder.
And I’m ashamed to say I feel …..well, wonderful.
I am such a disorganized person, in my home life, that when I finally organize something it makes me feel on top of the world.
Now, you may be wondering, why did I do this specifically today. Well it probably has something to do with realizing that in one month’s time it will be Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year…and the start of a month of eating (and praying) and other Festivals and eating…...and family and visitors...and eating.
Rosh Hashanah is a time when we try to do some spiritual soul-searching, checking how we behaved over the last year and where our report card says ‘could do better’ ( in most things as far as I’m concerned).
It’s a time for spiritual bookkeeping and new year resolutions. If on January 1st I resolve to lose weight ( as usual), then on Tishrei 1st I resolve to try to be a better person, kinder, more thoughtful, more sensitive and more generous.
And in case you’re wondering what that’s got to do with my recipes – it’s quite simple – I feel that if I can conquer my laziness, my procrastination, my disorderliness in one part of my life – maybe there’s hope for me in far more important aspects.
So in case we don’t meet again for a few weeks I wish you all a very Happy New Year and you should all be inscribed in the Book of Life and good health.
