heyjude

I was just at the new Pix on N. Williams and spent way too much on gorgeous treats with great packaging. Nuts, Chocolates and their own version of Nutella.

26 used and 5 new for me including Mango and Curry Leaves, Rover's, The Herbal Kitchen and some nice Elizabeth David Penguins, A Harold McGee and a Richard Olney Simple French Food. I have room for about a dozen more. I have to rearrange the linen closet.

Chocolate Holidays is a paperback reprint of A Year in Chocolate. The recipes are not the same as in Bittersweet.

Only one tonight. The new At Home with Michael Chiarello. He was among the nicest and most professional chef/authors we've had in the Cooks and Books series. We spent all day shlepping from one event to another and he is a peach. And I still want in on Probono's books. I'm totally curious to see where we overlap and where we don't.

Me, of course. Where are you? And please add 26 more for me including birthday gifts (the new Portland Junior League) and several from Cooks and Books events including books by Paula Wolfert, Nancy Oakes and Pamela Mazzola, Alice Medrich, and the new Martha Stewart and Mark Bittman which jumped into my cart at Costco. Plus the usual used treasures like Texas the Beautiful Cookbook.

Cooks and Books is doing what should be a very fun event at Veil on November 16th. Matt Skinner is Jamie Oliver's sommelier at Fifteen in London. Their phone is working if you want to make a reservation: 206 216 0600. Check www.kimricketts.com for other updates.

In his latest book, At Home with Michael Chiarello, MC has a recipe called Freeform Cheesecake Poured over Fresh Fruit. It is on page 214 if you have time to go to a bookstore to copy it. He makes the point that it is adaptable to many fruits including mangoes and persimmons, can be flavored with the liqueur of your choice and can be gussied up by serving it in a martini glass or the like. The recipe has fairly standard ingredients plus a pound of mascarpone, but it is not baked. It is cooked like a stovetop custard. Michael will be on book tour in the Pacific Northwest in mid-November.

Only 12 from the Fall FOL sale. Now I'm counting the days until the spring sale.

21 more for me, although some will go to mamster and LaurieA-B. They include a couple of slow cooker books, some Angelo Pellegrinis (he is being memorialized here in Seattle next week), some Art Culinaires and Beard on Bread which somehow I've never owned.

Wendy, Richard and I did Hurricane Ridge last weekend. The views are amazing. Even we got some good pix and we often can't say that. Dinner in Sequim was pretty awful, but lunch in Port Angeles on Saturday at Michael's Divine under the organic health food store was very fresh and generous. Richard had the Oyster Po'boy and I had a huge Crab Louis with about a cup and a half of very fresh Dungeness. The service was friendly in an offbeat ambiance.

Sweet Miniatures by Flo Braker is the must have book on the subject. When she gives classes she often hands out her card and invites questions by email.

I am pained to admit that I've gotten so many since I last posted that I've lost count. They are new, used and gifts and are in every category: dessert and baking, ethnic, food lit, single subject, chef and restaurant and newspaper and magazine compilations. I'm too busy reading to cook. Let's be restrained and say 50.

Owl and Thistle has a great band playing Friday, 5/27 at 9;00. Go eat fish and chips and hear my bass playing son in Sambusa.

I have 2 new Donna Hay cookbooks signed to me. She was in Seattle for a Cooks and Books Visiting Chefs dinner and I was her escort. She's as funny as she is talented.

I knew that. Anyway, they are both artists at what they do. See you soon.

Darren, Paley's is a fabulous small and personal restaurant which you can infer from the fact that we chose them to do Mark Bittman's Cooks and Books Dinner in Portland. Vitaly Paley is a natural (and a former ballet dancer). He has earned this honor. Kimberly Paley who runs the FOTH is a very gracious host. PM me if you'd like to ride down with me on May 12th. I'll return to Seattle the next day.

Seven more for me from the used book stores in Tacoma including the very hard to find Stars Desserts and Four Star Desserts by Emily Luchetti. I have been reading Candy Freak by Steve Almond which I wouldn't count for our purposes, but would certainly recommend. I also got a Gary Rhodes BBC Fabulous Food for half price. What do you think of him?

I brought 3 home from Portland, one of which I gave to an eGulleteer, so it should still count. The keepers are Art Culinaire #28 and Patisserie of the Eastern Mediterranean. Does anyone know the total number in this pastry series?

Melissa went above and beyond and created two platters of exquisite cookies, brownies and pastries for me to whiz up to Seattle for a BBQ party/potluck. The almond cakes were a real favorite along with the nut bars and the variety of chocolate treats. I was so happy to meet you, Mel and to see your happy customers in your bustling bakery. I'll be back.

I don't know how I didn't mention that among the 25 used books I got at the FOL sale one was the last one needed to complete the Good Cook series which I have been building over several years. It is Dried Beans and Grains. I could have bought the whole set, but this was much more fun. I also got Classic Home Cooking co-authored by Marlena Spieler.

Got the maximum 25 at the FOL sale. They include old, new and collectible and I am happy at least until I try to shelve them. Titles: Alice's Restaurant Cookbook, A Treatise on Baking by Wihlfahrt, a Gladys Taber, All about Chocolate by Carole Bloom and Pates and Terrines among others.

We wish the article had said that the very successful Bouchon dinner at Union was part of The Cooks and Books Visiting Chefs Series put on by Kim Ricketts Book Events. We hope interest will be piqued when local food buffs see that we are sponsoring an event. Please, see the Cooks and Books thread for more info.

It has been a splendid couple of days. Thomas and Jeff and their publicist Amy were wonderful to work with. We had so much fun at the Union dinner. I ditto everything said about the food and wine. The soup was my favorite course, but I ate some of the chocolate sauce with a spoon. It was lovely to see all of you. Ethan and his team can do as many of the Cooks and Books dinners as they want. Don't miss the next one there, which is Mark Bittman on May 11th. Go to http://www.kimricketts.com to see the rest of the schedule. The rest of the time with Thomas and Jeff was spent shlepping to private events and bookstores for stock signings. They were charming to all. Just before we went to the airport, we had a one of everything lunch at Salumi. Armandino was so generous and took them on a tour of the curing rooms. They took home several different salamis and other meats and raved about the experience.

Check out http://www.idolci.com/. Jane Burkholder's cakes are gorgeous and you can see all the possible flavor combinations.

A friend just gave me 20 fundraiser cookbooks some of which I will share with Judiu which means they can still be part of the total. These are from organizations as diverse as a hospice, a Montessori school and a group of Cairn Terrier lovers. Churches, museums and women's groups are also included. A huge amount of work goes into preparing these. The largest has 582 pages. The Settlement Cookbook started as guide for young Jewish women and has been in print for over 100 years.