Addict!

I'm really getting addicted... to cook books! I've managed to buy two in the past three days, and the list of recipes I want to try is getting longer and longer and longer by the day.

It's funny. When I was obese I didn't really like food that much. I liked the feeling of my stomach being full, of having something in my mouth. But I didn't get excited by flavours and textures and ingredients. I just ate, for the sake of eating. I wasn't excited by trying a new recipe, and I didn't cook. I just ate.

Now, on the other hand, I'm really getting into finding new ways to cook things, new combinations of ingredients, new techniques. I look forward to cooking new stuff, even if I don't intend to eat it immediately. Soups to freeze for work and stuff like that. Far from never needing to cook because I'm cooking for one and have lots of extras to freeze, I've started cutting down quantities so that it gives me more of an excuse to cook again soon!

I'm learning, too. I'm adapting recipes to fit into my lifestyle more easily. Adding extra vegetables, or switching ingredients around so that they're more balanced. I don't buy "diet" cookbooks any more (although I have some fantastic recipes from some of them). I have the confidence in my cooking that I don't need to follow a recipe exactly, and can make it a bit more healthy than it would have been without killing the taste.

I love it, I love the feeling of cooking something that I've made for myself, and the sense of achievement when something tastes far nicer than anything I've ever bought from the supermarket. I love the jealous looks I get at work when I go to the fridge for my lunch and reveal what I've brought in today.

But meanwhile my shelves are groaning under the weight of cookbooks. I really need to stop buying them.