$452.91

Yep, that’s the amount I just racked up on my credit card in the name of education. I just purchased sixteen of the “must have” books for chef wannabes:

• Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
• The Soul of a Chef: The Journey Toward Perfection
• The Oxford Companion to Food
• Aquavit: And the New Scandinavian Cuisine
• Essentials of Cooking
• The Elements of Taste
• Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One
• Sauces: Classical and Contemporary Sauce Making
• Cooking by Hand
• Larousse Gastronomique
• On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
• The New Making of a Cook: The Art, Techniques, And Science Of Good Cooking
• Bouchon
• Escoffier: The Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cookery
• Cookwise: The Secrets of Cooking Revealed
• The French Laundry Cookbook

They should be arriving in 5-7 business days, at which time I will quit blogging and begin reading. Or, start blogging about reading. Or, maybe I’ll just post pretty pictures of the books. Or the things I cook from the books. Oh, the possibilities are endless.