balmagowry

Here's another nice tribute from Newsday: Inspired by Julia, followed by a few recipes. Erica Marcus has tried to go for the "man in the street" approach, i.e. the kind of non-celebrity testimony to be seen in this very thread. I wouldn't say it's entirely successful, given that the ostensibly non-prominent interviewees include Helen Studley and Julie Powell; still the general idea comes across, and it works.

The thing is, these books haven't been used since my mother died, nor is there any likelihood that they will be any time soon. I have my own copies, and though I do cook over there now and then, it isn't generally the kind of operation that requires books - or if it is I can always look stuff up ahead of time at home. These books shouldn't have to sit on a shelf gathering dust for the first time in their lives, they're not used to it; they should be used. You need 'em, I don't; and I hate that they're wasted where they are. Much better they should go where they're really wanted. Better for you, better for them, and therefore better for me. Well, this is one way of doing it. Not that I'm parting with any major first editions, but.... Actually, what I'll probably do is keep her copies and send mine instead, and that way I don't have to confront that particular dilemma just yet.

That would be Virginia Lee. Good, I have that one for you; also the Settlement Cookbook, the New James Beard and Beard on Pasta, Julia's The French Chef Cookbook, Ada Boni's Talismano della Felicita, Hillman's The Cook's Book, Corriher's Cookwise, maybe some Harold McGee (not sure whether there are dupes or not), Thorne's Serious Pig, probably a Time-Life or two (I'm pretty sure at least British Isles is a duplicate), a couple of the Pierre Franey 60-minute books, and I think there's also some Dione Lucas (remember her?!) and some Elizabeth David - the Mediterranean and French stuff. Don't have Joyce Chen, but do have Gloria Bley Miller (The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook) and Chef Chu's Distinctive Cuisine of China (probably signed). And a few more esoteric odds and ends. I also have... duplicates of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, both volumes, and of Gourmet Vol I... but truth to tell I don't think I'm quite up for parting with those - the households and collections aren't being consolidated, and seems like one oughta keep a set of the baseline stuff in both places, don't you know. So lemme know what talks to you. BTW, are we getting to the point where this discussion oughta go into PM territory? or is everyone cool with it staying in the thread?

Whee, definitely. A positive move, always good after an awful experience. Getting back to the book tastes - any interest by any chance in more "furrin" stuff? French, Chinese, Italian?

Welcome to eGullet! but you won't be able to post a Member Bio, or to read them, just yet - that's one advantage of posting instead of lurking, because it's only after you've posted 20 times (I think it is) that they let you into that part of the Pantry. Meanwhile, what you just did is exactly how most of us got started: jump right in and post, then sit back and watch the welcome messages pouring in on whichever thread you started with. Introducing yourself here with your treasures more precious than gold (and how right you are about that!) is an auspicious beginning. Then again, I beg to differ with Suzanne on one point; some of us are perfectly aware of how much we reveal in our posts!

I have Gillian Riley's book along similar lines - A Feast for the Eyes, based on the, um, other National Gallery, and very accurately titled.

Just what I was wondering. I was over at the other house this evening and made a note of the duplicates and there are more than I thought - some 30 or so - but it's a pretty eclectic mix, and it seems silly to try to choose for you - Murphy's Law is almost bound to rear its ugly head. Give us a feel for your proclivities, and I bet I'll have a nice batch of goodies for you. Meanwhile, Spies, Black Ties, & Mango Pies has just arrived - pristine 2nd-hand copy via ABE - so that's one more for my tally, please, Maggie; and log another salute going out to Julia.

Forwarded by permission from a friend of mine who is a retired writer for the Washington Post. I thought those here might enjoy it.

I too am sorry to hear of your tremendous loss. An idea just occured as I was hitting the reply button: Judiu's collection would definitely "rise again like the pheonix" if some of us who have duplicate cookbooks could send them to judie. Judiu, are there any particular titles you desperately need? I may not have any that you lost, but this may be a good way to start new passions? I was thinking this too. I have at least two duplicates in need of good homes: Madame Maigret and... oh damn, now I can't remember what the other one was - maybe the Davidson Dumas on Food? But actually I should do some digging, because I'm pretty sure there are more than two - especially as I now own my mother's collection as well as my own. She wasn't a big collector, but there is certainly some overlap. Should we branch off into a separate thread for this? (I bet I have at least four different editions of The Joy of Coooking... )

Ahem. Lucy who?

More information about that.... The owner of this domain: Domain Name: JULIACHILD.COM Administrative Contact: Yong Li Yong@ukr.net P.O. Box 904 Beijing 100029 China 10-62043326 Technical Contact Zone Contact: Yong Li Yong@ukr.net Believe me, I sent a scathing e-mail to this clown. There's probably something that can be done about this, if one can figure out who'd have standing to do it. The Authors' Guild has been very active - successfully so, I might add - in suing to recover the rights to the URLs for its members' names. (So if anyone out there is thinking of nabbing lisagrossman.com, save yourself the trouble; now I think of it I haven't bothered to register it myself, but if anyone's beaten me to the punch the full wrath of the Guild will come down on the miscreant's head!) Don't know off-hand whether JC was a member, but I'm sure she belonged to other such advocacy organizations, any of which (IACP? Beard House?) would have sufficient clout. Not that clout is needed, but it does come in handy sometimes. And I bet the legal team at the Authors' Guild would be willing to share strategy in such a cause. IAC, of course it'd be up to her heirs/estate to authorize any action. But maybe a little public outcry wouldn't hurt.

I don't think she's back from her trip yet.

A day late but not a dollar short: here's her obit by Sylvia Carter in today's Newsday.

I was thinking the same thing, and you know what? She will. She is too permanent and marvelous to stop living forever, just because of a stupid little thing like death getting in the way. Some people are like that: being dead is just... totally out of character for them. She's still here. "Sometimes it's fish, and sometimes it's chocolate." Blessings on her. I'm so glad she went out easy. EDIT because Lala is right and is more appropriate.

Mine also comes from a sign, the one in the long-lost window of The Last Wound-Up: DON'T POSTPONE JOY.