heyjude

Felipe Rojas-Lombardi's THe Art of South American Cooking is a terrific book from 1991. There are several copies available on Bookfinder.com.

I just came from the fall Friends of the Library sale with 23 nice finds including McClane 's Encyclopedia of Fish, Sophie Grigson's Gourmet Ingredients, L'Atelier of Alain Ducasse and one I've never seen, Art and Cook published by Allan Ben. There have been at least a few others since last post, but call it 25. We are so close to 150,000.

I don't have that one, but if you google "Incredible Datenut Cake", the very first hit is on Cooks.com and it is fabulous. I usually serve it with an orange custard lightened with whipped cream. And the cake recipe doubles beautifully.

Marilyn Tausend, who happens to live in Seattle, has written several well-received books on Mexican cooking. Two are gorgeous coffee table books, but with terrific authentic recipes. One is Savoring Mexico, a Williams-Sonoma collection and the other part of the "Beautiful" series published by Collins. They are both available used.

I just received a nice box from Jessica's Biscuit with all kinds of books including just about all of the new baking and/or dessert books. Among them: The Art of the Dessert and Panna Cotta. I also made a special trip to pick up a book FWED said was a must have. It is Chocolate by Jan Hedh, translated from the Swedish and republished by Barnes and Noble Bargain books. See if they have one at your local B&N. It's a steal at $9.98 and they said it probably won't have a second printing. So, please add 18 for me.

This has been a fabulous week with a total of 63 (yes, sixty-three) new and used cookbooks. Some are from my trip to NYC and just arrived by media mail, a couple were from Jessica's Biscuit and 25 are from members only night at the Friends of the Library sale. They include everything from 3 gorgeous copies of Jacques Pepins Art of Cooking and La Technique, Olney's Simple French Food, Chez Panisse Desserts and The Browns' America Cooks to two piristine Fine Cooking Annuals and on to Nancy Silverton's latest, A Twist of the Wrist. I'm so happy.

The 2 for 1 annual is a good deal if you haven't subscribed to either year or bought them at the newstand. I do this every other year for both me and mamster. We now have the full set through 2005 and will make use of this offer next year when it will be "pay for 2007 and get 2006 free". Since nothing in the magazines is time sensative, this works fine for us.

I got two copies of The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink edited by Andrew F. Smith, one for me and one for mamster. It is too heavy to read in bed.

Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook should at least be given a look. Terrific pictures.

Just 2 today. The Lee Brothers Southern Cooking and Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas.

Whole Foods has a very nice one. Ask for a sample.

A bunch more from Jessica's Biscuit. I'd love to know how many books their best customers buy. I may be way behind many other collectors, but I try. New include Artisan Patisserie for the Home Baker, Cheese, Glorious Cheese and Chez Jacques with a signed book plate. Several titles were back ordered, so for now, add 7 and I'll post more when they arrive.

I made a hopeful trip there today and it was still closed. I drove home and left a voice mail for Peter. I've never done this for any other restaurant. Let's plan a "welcome back, Green Leaf" event and fill the place.

My edition is from 1952 and says "New and Enlarged" on the cover along with a subtitle that says "More than 3,400,000 now in use". This book was published under many names, but almost always "edited by Ruth Berolzheimer". Sometimes a local newspaper bought the contents to print under their name. During World War 2, there were editions with rationing info. The value varies depending on condition, edition and attribution and whether it has the thumb-indexing. There are dozens of other books and pamphlets with Ruth Berolzheimer listed as editor or as Director of the Culinary Arts Institute. Books were published at least into the 1980s. Mine says Garden City Publishing Co. If you need a recipe for Water Toast, this is your book.

I've decided to bite my tongue, but PM me if you want to know the book. I'd like to hear what you all have to say, but don't buy it. I'm sure you can sit and read it at B&N. And please add 6 more for me including Bite Size by Francois Payard, Baking Boot Camp by The CIA and Darra Goldstein, 2 by Marco Pierre White, and Breakfast Lunch Tea. Maggie, it will be great to have us back where we belong.

As some of you know, I have been collecting cookbooks for a long time (over 40 years) and have many treasures. Because we have downsized, I've let go of a few, but the collection is growing, again. I got over 40 during the holiday season. These included great books like Dorie Greenspan's Baking and Happy in the Kitchen, good books like Cindy Pawlcyn's Big Small Plates, and The Worst book, not even one of the worst, I've ever seen. Any one I've shown it to has agreed and then some. I was asked if it is a joke. My question to you is should I post negative reviews here, on Amazon and on ecookbooks.com? I've never done that and I'm reluctant to start, now. My upbringing was firmly in the "If you don't have anything good to say" model. I've been so ambivalent about this, that I actually called the photographer, who has worked on several very successful books, including a Best of the Year, to ask him about his experience. He was incredibly nice both to me and the author. So, I'm still agonizing. This is not a self-published or vanity press book. It's out there for anyone to find. I'm not grandiose enough to think my criticism will have a huge impact, but I also don't want to be cruel. I assume the author does check the websites to see how she's doing. Please, help me make a decision.

I just received 2 boxes of used books I bought when I was in NYC the week before last. So, I have 28 new (old) books to love including everything from Linda McCartney's Home Cooking, Tropical Drinks, 3 Cook's Illustrated Annuals, Miriam's Kitchen and The Hot Dog Companion. And from last night's Cooks and Books event Danny Meyer's Setting the Table.

Please, see mamster's blog www.rootsandgrubs.com

Seattlites, Dorie will be at 2 Cooks and Books events at Macrina Bakery on First Ave. on Nov. 15th. Call there for times and reservations (206 448-4089).

A special gift for me. Ruth Reichl's MMMMM a Feastiary and several used including Julie and Julia, 2 by Colin Cowie and Occident/King Midas Collector's Bake Book. This is in a ring binder with a fold back cover that acts as an easel. There is no publishing date. Does anyone know when this came out? And a couple more, so 7 for me.

Last night was the members only part of the fall Seattle Friends of the Library sale. There is a 25 book limit so I spent $64 and got 25 books. I certainly could've found more, but I was very happy with my haul which covered all the bases from the Nordic Ware Bundt Cake Cookbook to Blanc Vite by Raymond Blanc.

Four from Half Price Books yesterday. Three dessert books and one my friend recommended highly called Real Life Cooking by Trish Deseine. It is subtitled Traditional European Recipes for Modern Day Life. The photographs (by Sylvain Thomas) are gorgeous.Recipes include everything from Boiled cake to Lamb Stew, "slightly burnt" to Pheasant with Foie Gras.

10 new ones just arrived from Jessica's Biscuit. They are so good to me ( and I guess they consider me good to them). They are mostly baking and smoking titles including Williams-Sonoma Mastering: Cakes, which I have yet to do.

The short answer is 40 years. The long is that my mother had 2 cookbooks and my grandmother none and I had never really looked at one until I left home. My then boyfriend (now husband of 39+ years) was sent off by his mother with the paperback James Beard Cookbook. I still have it. Thousands more have joined it in various ways. We lived for a couple years right across the street from The Strand and I worked at Powell's in Portland. Fabulous discounts. Now, of course, I work for Kim Rickett's Book Events doing the Cooks and Books Visiting Chef Series which is incredibly fun and I end up with signed copies of books by the best of the best. Cookbook authors are nice people. I will wait until November for my copy of Dorie Greenspan's latest when we hold her event at Seattle's much-loved Macrina Bakery. The obsession has never let up and my kids have caught it a bit.

One of my best hauls ever, but not to be duplicated in the real world. A good friend who is downsizing let me have first choice from her sizeable collection. So, I have 55 new books. I'm really not a greedy person. I just act like one sometimes. You can see some of my collection in Henry and Lorna's fabulous blog.