“Hi everyone. My name is Shirle’ and I am a cookbook addict.”

If there were a Cookbook Addicts Anonymous I might have had to find a meeting because I was a true Cookbook junkie. I would join cookbook clubs, buying tons of books, with the hope that I would somehow make every dish in its pages, only to have the book sit on the coffee table, or better yet, my desk, collecting dust. This went on for a few years until one day I realized I had barely touched a recipe in any of them.

I then had to stop and think about how to manage the task of figuring out what I wanted to make from all the books I had acquired. It was as if I had a huge mountain before me and didn’t bring the proper shoes to climb in.

Then my friend Sarah Daily brought me the climbing boots I needed.

She had this idea, born from The Wine Authorities, our friends Craig and Seth’s Wine store here in Durham, and how they label their wines. The have this system where each bottle is labeled “Daily”, “Weekly” or “Monthly”. It’s a brilliant way to help the shopper know whether the wine should be paired with Monday nights leftover pizza or paired with something that takes all day to braise for that party of 12 you are throwing.

Sarah took their insight and easily transferred it to my dilemma. “Why not look through each recipe quickly and label it with either a “Daily” tag, one that you could whip up in 30 minutes or less; a “Weekly” tag, a recipe that you might want to make for a nice weekend dinner or a “Monthly” tag, one which would require considerable time to make something very special.”

When she came up with this idea, seemingly out of the blue while we biked along, I was instantly fixated on the details. “What kinds of post-it notes should I use? I don’t like the boring yellow ones. They need to be 3 different colors. Maybe I can print something on my computer.” The ideas were rushing in so fast. I went to Staples the next day and found this 3 pack of multi colored with flower ones that fit the bill. I then took a Sharpie marker and labeled each one with a D, W and M and got busy on the latest book I had received in the mail. (It was the Splendid Tables, “How to Eat Supper”…Hey,it was a thank you gift from WUNC’s Spring telethon…)

This has changed how I now look at all my cookbooks. Instead of having this insurmountable task (and guilt) of not ever using that “Vegetarian Table of North Africa” book that sits about my desk I now have a new and exciting way to deal with it-whether I cook anything out of it is another question, but at least it will be picked up, given the once over and tagged.

Then it’s on to joining another cookbook club