Cookbook <3
Today, since Jake is at work and I am still at his house, I wandered down to Recycled Books. I found some fun YA stuff: Birth of the Firebringer, Dealing with Dragons, and Below the Root, all of which I remember liking a lot when I read them. We'll have to see how they stand up now. Then I found an Osprey Men-At-Arms series The Gurkha Rifles, which has some pictures of division badges like the ones the siblings and I have. I hope we can identify them. :D The military history section is right next to the cookbooks section, and as I scanned the shelves, I saw one of the Holy Grail cookbooks I've been searching for: Mastering the Art of French Cooking, vol. 1 but Julia Child. My heart nearly stopped, and I snatched it off the shelf, to clutch it protectively against my chest. (No really- I did.) My father gave this, and volume 2, to my mother when they were just married and had almost no money (it was for Christmas, I think,) so not only do they remind me of my parents, but they have WONDERFUL recipes. o_o
People who know me probably know that I like cookbooks. I like cookbooks a lot. I like having them around to look at even if I never end up cooking something from them. I like cookbooks with flashy photos, cookbooks with chatty blurbs, businesslike cookbooks with straightforward recipes, and cookbooks with no photos at all. All I ask is that they have good recipes.
But sometimes one needs a good, all-purpose cookbook. Not Chinese, or Japanese, or Hungarian, or Russian, or Basque, or all about Apples. One needs a cookbook that has everyday, no-nonsense recipes for biscuits and piecrust, notes on how to roast a turkey, conversion tables, and advice for panic-driven substitutions when you find that whoops, you don't have baking powder. If it has a section on how to cook armadillo, all the better. For me, this has always been my Mama's copy of Joy of Cooking, which I think she got from her Mama. Over the last twenty years or so it has gone from merely well used to scruffy, then to held together with duct tape, and finally, to completely coverless and about to fall apart. I have been searching for a copy of this particular edition of Joy of Cooking for a while now. It has to be this edition (the 1975 edition) because later editions did horrible things such as "updating" it by taking out sections on cooking armadillos and opossum and raccoon and other wild game, and changing recipes. Obviously, entirely unacceptable.
And today- today I found it. Beautiful, like-new condition, still with its dustjacket. I am sooooo happy. Two wonderful cookbooks that I have been searching for for ages in one day! :D *does the happy cookbook dance* I'm tempted to make a pie to celebrate, since there's blackberries in the back yard. Edited to Add: Yup, made a pie. :D
And now, I need to go make a post to food_porn asking for help with finding good chile verde recipes, and good Mexican, Thai, and Chinese cookbooks. :) Our house shall be very well prepared in the cookbook department next year!
People who know me probably know that I like cookbooks. I like cookbooks a lot. I like having them around to look at even if I never end up cooking something from them. I like cookbooks with flashy photos, cookbooks with chatty blurbs, businesslike cookbooks with straightforward recipes, and cookbooks with no photos at all. All I ask is that they have good recipes.
But sometimes one needs a good, all-purpose cookbook. Not Chinese, or Japanese, or Hungarian, or Russian, or Basque, or all about Apples. One needs a cookbook that has everyday, no-nonsense recipes for biscuits and piecrust, notes on how to roast a turkey, conversion tables, and advice for panic-driven substitutions when you find that whoops, you don't have baking powder. If it has a section on how to cook armadillo, all the better. For me, this has always been my Mama's copy of Joy of Cooking, which I think she got from her Mama. Over the last twenty years or so it has gone from merely well used to scruffy, then to held together with duct tape, and finally, to completely coverless and about to fall apart. I have been searching for a copy of this particular edition of Joy of Cooking for a while now. It has to be this edition (the 1975 edition) because later editions did horrible things such as "updating" it by taking out sections on cooking armadillos and opossum and raccoon and other wild game, and changing recipes. Obviously, entirely unacceptable.
And today- today I found it. Beautiful, like-new condition, still with its dustjacket. I am sooooo happy. Two wonderful cookbooks that I have been searching for for ages in one day! :D *does the happy cookbook dance* I'm tempted to make a pie to celebrate, since there's blackberries in the back yard. Edited to Add: Yup, made a pie. :D
And now, I need to go make a post to food_porn asking for help with finding good chile verde recipes, and good Mexican, Thai, and Chinese cookbooks. :) Our house shall be very well prepared in the cookbook department next year!