maggiethecat

O.K., 150 and counting. I remember "Easy Elegance", and will make a point of finding it. I'll count ours after dinner.

Thanks, Steve. That is exactly it. I trust (other) Steve in his perceptions and point of view. But the tone? Nah, you have to be Bourdain to pull that off. Not Steve Klc's fault, necessarily. There must have been some editorial review. The mean-spirited tone detracted from the substance.

And within reason, food-related, non-cookbooks count too. Like Trillin, Kuh, or Ruhlman, par example.

There have been a few cookbook/recipe threads happening recently. I simply want to know, as a strictly academic exercise, how many cookbooks the greater eGullet commumity owns. End to end, would they circle the world? C'mon, take a few minutes or half an hour. Post the totals here. And it ain't some friggin' contest! Many great cooks have few books, and many non-cooks own lots. Food magazines don't count. I'll keep a running total. Awbrig, don't forget to count the Nancy Silverton book we borrowed. It's relaxing. Glass of wine in hand, go out there and count.

I'm with snowangel about the new "Joy." A good-enough book, but stick with your edition. Thank heaven I bought my daughter a copy before the new one came out. As a foodie mother, my heart went pit-a-pat when my daughter described how she had nade her first-ever Boeuf Bourgignon for a little dinner party with some buddies. "Well, I checked the net and stuff Mommy, but decided to use the recipe in the 'Joy of Cooking.' It turned out really great."

Beautiful writeup, Lesley. Tremendous value either way, but if in dollars Canadian I will buy a ticket from Chicago to eat there!

All good reds. And red velvet cake is making a kind of retro comeback!

Im buying 10-15 cases of the stuff, babe. Whaddya thinking everyone will be drinking at my party, Opus One? No Opus One! Sniff, sniff, flounce: We're not coming!

Ah yes! And on the coffee table :(Moulton and Kitchen Sessions) the office: ("Amish Cooking", various Edna Lewis) the bedstand ("Supper of the Lamb", Grigson's "Food with the Famous") No wonder we can never find the book we're looking for. The most battered and loved: "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" "Larousse Gastronomique" "Les Recettes Faciles" Francoise Bernard...(given to me as a shower present by a French friend. This book rocks, and seems terribley quaint simultaneously) "La Technique" Pepin "Classic Italian Cooking" Hazan "From Simple to Spectacular" Bittman/Vongerichten "Vegetarian Cooking" Madhur Jaffrey "French Cooking in Ten Minutes" de Pomiane. How I love this quirky book! "Middle Eastern Cooking" Time/Life "Foods of the World" "Joy"

Heck of an idea! Thanks.

MsRamsey: Funny you should mention the paper bags. We love them! Our garbage collector/recycle folks will take newspapers, etc., only if they are in paper bags. The TJs shopping bags are ideal for our huge weekly pile of written matter. But then, Chicago isn't as rainy as Seattle.

Cranky. Very very cranky. In the original sense of the word. I trust Steve's judgement. But why? I'm sure it is well-reasoned and true. But it gives the appearance to the Big World of being "personal." Oh well, A.A. Gill takes his licks on the U.K. board. But, come to think of it, that's simple eGulleteer opinion, not the front page of the zine. As always, with Suzanne.

Thanks to your inspirations, I actually did buy the plastic sleeves and a binder. Sorted though a two foot pile of newsprint (oldest:1999) and clipped and arranged. Did some headscratching. "Why did we hang onto this?" All nicely clipped and stored. An I am feeling particularly organized and virtuous.

Fritz: Your scrambles sound great. Have you given up the sixty minute scrambles Nero made you make? Glad you talked the old fatso out of them. Scrambled eggs are scrambled eggs, not custard. Good work! Note: Referring to the literary, not the eGullet NeroW.

Sayvheese: Can't help you...live in Chicago. But welcome to eGullet. I'm sure someone else can help you out.

I am delighted to see that someone else here owns some/all of the Foods of the World Series. Ours are very old, and we still pull them out for reference. Yeah, not the most cutting edge or modern, but they stand up extremely well to time. And the recipes tend to work. But I digress.... I wanted to say: That would be some severely awesome potluck. Fabulous idea.

I really like the idea of the plastic sleeve three-ring binder for clipped recipes that some of you mention. Thanks. I will head out today to an office supply store and get it going. Plus, I love office supply stores! I've given up, sadly, on keeping a beloved cookbook clean. Like Suzanne, I've tried everything, and nothing works. So I have decided that all those oil and batter smears are Badges of Honor on a cookbook page.

Am I the only one who will have now Dawn Upshaw singing "Poor Jenny, smart as a penny" rolling aroung the ole cranial cavity all day? Terrific review, Suzanne. And it brings us back to the question brought up in cookbook threads here. " I can't cook, can you recommend a good book?" Maybe the answer is always no. If you don't know anything about cooking, maybe a book can't teach you. And this one certainly won't.

Briggie: Everything that NSM and col klink said. Especially about the frozen fish/seafood. It's often better than the fresh we can get locally, and much cheaper. For produce, nah. I talked to the manager of our local TJs and he said, basically, that produce was not really their thing. Sorta there in small volume should you really need to pick up an onion or a lemon. The cheese is good and reasonable. And check out the frozen cakes and other desserts. The apple strudel is good, and it's cheap. I've almost stopped making it myself. And dare 'ya: Buy a coupla bottles of three buck chuck.

I was given a copy of "The Joy" as a wedding shower present. It was quickly displaced by the original Julias, but it still sits proud on the cookbook shelves, should I need a basic recipe for biscuits, pancakes, etc. And the Country Captain Chicken was my mother's first foray into "Indian Cuisine " Heck, it tastes good.

Gack Barf Bloody awful!!! (Especially because my mother uses it always to describe a hunk. "Your father looked particularly toothsome in his cashmere turtleneck last night. Or "Boy, is that Pincus Zucherman one toothsome conductor!" Wonderful that however a child may be in her extremely late forties and a woman of the world, her mother can still make her blush.

BD: You, Suzanne and I must make a point of dining out together. Looks as if we won't find anyone else to go with us.

Ron, is this standard procedure, or personal preference?

A noble drink. A classic drink. One beloved by little old ladies and two-fisted drinkers alike. And two-fisted little old lady drinkers. How do you make yours? Garnish? How much bitters? Etc. And which Bourbon? (I will remain mum on my bourbon choices for awhile, after the pasting I got on the "Best Gin for Martinis" thread.

Way to go, Katie. Glad someone grabbed my suggestion for a cocktail name!