[Sca-cooks] A moment of silence...

[Christy]

Today I stood and watched the cleaning crew doing an inventory and then
packing away for disposal my cookbook collection. I started it when I was 8.
It included books that my father had in his collection before me.  It had
etiquette books printed in 1900, and originals from every decade since.  A
lot of the books were simple volumes, but there were entries for probably
75-100 different ethnic, national and thematic cuisines and a few thousand
years of food history contained there.  I looked at my copy of Curye on
Inglysh  laid out on the table, covered in soot, and almost cried.  
I know much of it can be replaced, while some of it cannot.  It is the
decades of curating my collection that I'm mourning tonight.  My own little
Alexandria.  
Do yourselves a favor: inventory your books. And then go look behind your
dryer (my house fire was caused by a small hand towel that fell behind the
dryer and blocked the air intake vent. Don't just clean your lint filters,
check behind your dryers as well!)  

Christianna