Vegan Mofo, Day 22: THE END. Also, my deep dark secret.

So, it's the last day of November! Which means that it's pretty much acceptable to put snowmen on your lawn if you are my neighbor, and it is the last day of this for another year.

I had fun this year, even if I didn't know what I really had to talk about and signed up on a whim. Food seemed to be a good subject, right? Vegans love their food! Lately I have felt like I'm becoming more adventurous in the kitchen and I don't need to stick to a recipe or else DOOM will occur, particularly with raw foods. Though I still love a good cookbook for direction. And thus, my deep dark secret.

My favorite pre-vegan cookbooks were spiral bound (the plaid Better Homes and Gardens, a binder). I hate paperback spines on my cookbooks. I hate holding them open, I hate folding down page corners in case I get lost, and I hate the way the book stands up on the spine like an "M" when I do pin the pages down with cans or something else handy. I can't bring myself to crease a spine and make the book lay flat.

Currently, Veganomicon is the only book by Isa C. Moskowitz I own that has its original backbone. And by backbone I mean spine. And by spine I mean, well that thing books use to hold pages together.

Because the rest of her (& Terry's) books are paperback, and they have been corrupted under my direction, and that's something the book lover in me can't rightly accept. But the busy, OCD part of me that likes her cookbooks to lay flat is overjoyed.

The Vegan Cupcakes and Vegan Cookies books are embarrassed by their black coil treatment and don't wish to be photographed (but the small size of the books means they benefit the most for ease of use).

And the madness doesn't stop at Isa and Terry's tomes. Our most used cookbooks have had the treatment.

This all started when I saw the idea on a knitting blog. It made it so much easier for me to knit while traveling when I didn't have to hold my pattern book open with my feet.

And then I wondered as I lost my place in a cookbook for the ninth time one day, the pages surreptitiously sweeping shut as I turned around, what I was waiting for.

Our most used cookbooks

Sure, I miss my pretty spines, and the bookshelf can be a little tricky to navigate when several books have no indicator of their title (my lazy fault entirely, I should totally tag them somehow). But oh the happiness it has brought me.

I made my husband stand and wait when he took the latest addition to the family up to OfficeMax for binding. Sometimes they will have you drop it off. But I, as you may have noticed, am a little attached to this book right now.

And all it's exciting treasures inside.

Yesterday I mentioned I want to cook everything in this book, and I think that is just what I am going to do. After taking December off to enjoy the holidays with family and recover from this month's posting blitz, I will be back in the new year with pictures, stories, and food, all from Appetite For Reduction. I hope to see you then! Thanks for the mofo love! Be good.