Yuman says cookbooks almost yummier than end result

Susan Evans is addicted to something, but don't worry. When you're hooked on cookbooks the only dangers are running out of space and the occasional paper cut.

Evans loves flipping through the pages of cookbooks, taking in all the yummy ideas, serving suggestions and photos, but not only while she's standing over a bubbling pot. The Yuman actually prefers to curl up with a favorite book after a long day and to simply lose herself in a world of casseroles, soups, appetizers and baked goodies.

"I read them for enjoyment, almost like a fiction book. But for me to recreate some of those dishes might be a work of fiction!" she said. "It's really just very relaxing. I could sift through numerous ones for hours, if I had such time."

All that reading may not end up with something in the Crock Pot, either.

"I just like good food and I like to imagine how I would have fun creating it, sit down to enjoy it and it would be awesome," she said. "I just don't carry it all the way through. I would say that I love cooking, it's just the cleanup that I don't like. When I get home at the end of the day the thought of cooking and cleaning it all up is exhausting sometimes."

So she'll read about it all instead - and love every page.

Evans has been collecting cookbooks for years and has full bookcases to prove it. Just don't ask tricky questions like - just how many are there?

"I would say a few hundred," she said. "I'm trying to cut down on cookbooks, but they keep coming out with new cool ones and that makes it difficult."

It turns out that collecting cookbooks is actually a family tradition. "My mother collected them. Every time I would go home I would just shop her bookcase."

Evans' favorites are cookbooks produced by churches or other community groups, plus anything published by Cook's Illustrated.

"I love the books where everyone shares their favorite recipes," Evans said, referring to books commonly available at specialty shops, antique stores and used book stores. "With Cook's Illustrated I know those are recipes have been done over and over again. Supposedly, I'm getting the best."

Evans knows a thing or two about finding good books, too. She works as director of the Yuma County Library District. In fact, local libraries are a great place to find cookbooks of all kinds. Yuma County's libraries actually boast more than 1,000 titles.

"At the library we get advance advertisements, so I always know what cookbooks are coming out."

Evans just moved so most of her cookbooks are still in boxes, but she normally keeps them all neatly put away on shelves.

"I had bookcases in lots of rooms," she said, adding that visitors never commented because they probably didn't realize the extent of her collection. "I spread the bookcases out, so I don't think people realized. When I unpack I'll see what I have room for at this house. I guess there had to be an end at some point. I'll be maxed out of space eventually!"

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Darin Fenger can be reached at dfenger@yumasun.com or 539-6860.