I discovered a new foodie blog/website about a week ago, called
101 Cookbooks...and I wrote about it on the
Jungle Food Chain section of my blog...but I thought I'd share it here, as well...
101 Cookbooks is based off a lady named Heidi who was a self-proclaimed impulsive buyer of cookbooks. She always purchased them with the very best intentions...and she read them...and dog-eared the pages and marked favorite recipes with post-its...and then stuck those cookbooks on her shelf and never actually cooked anything from them.
One day, she looked up and realized that she had over 100 different cookbooks...and decided right then and there that it was time to stop buying, and start COOKING. So, she started a blog about her foray into all 100+ cookbooks, and the blog evolved, and she gainmed some notoriety, and now...
Guess what?
She has her OWN cookbook!!
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| Heidi's own cookbook...just recently published!! |
Heidi focuses on cooking with all-natural ingredients, and is also a vegetarian. Since our family is becoming more and more health-focused, this appeals to me.
But her story got me thinking about my OWN love affair with cookbooks. I have no where NEAR 101...but I have many. And I always want more.
For example, I don't own a single
Julia Child cookbook...and I think this is tantamount to a sin. Julia Child is quite possibly the Saint of Foodies...so I feel this growing urge to engage in some kind of repentance.
I also want the
Pioneer Womans cookbook. And the one above
by Heidi. and there is one being published by another of my food goddesses...Smitten Kitchen. And then there's
Molly Stevens classic, which I'd love to have because Braising is my favorite style of cooking, and I'm tired of looking up recipes on-line.
And that brings up the Internet Conundrum...I know I can find all these recipes, and millions more...on-line. and I love surfing for recipes...but there is something about a cookbook vs. a computer screen. For one thing, I hate running from my kitchen to my desktop to check what the next step is...
...and I could never bring a laptop in my kitchen because when I cook, I throw my whole soul into it and make a MESS.
So that means I'm forced to print the recipes, and that just wastes ink and paper.
It's kinda like my quandary about purchasing a Kindle...I LOVE the idea of an electronic book that holds thousands of my favorite novels and fits in my purse...but there is something about holding an actual
book in my hands...turning the pages, feeling the worn paper...
I know it's a bit romantic of me...but it sums up my issue with cookbooks as well.
True, my cookbooks get worn and trashed...you can tell my favorite recipes by how bent the spine is in that spot, and how many spills and stains are on the pages. But they are trusty, and loyal, and won't suffer crashes or computer glitches. They can handle the splashes of water and sploshes of sauce, and still faithfully return to my kitchen every night.
I love them.
And so I thought I'd share my favorites with you.
Despite my utter failing at having a Julia Child's cookbook in my collection, I do possess
some classics...such as
Joy of Cooking ...
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| What other book explains how to properly trim a whole bear? |
And of course, this baby has graced American kitchen for generations...carefully updated for every new breed of home chef...
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| I bet ya'all have this one... |
I have some cookbooks that are purely nostalgic for me...
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| My mother had this cookbook... |
I have tender, slightly whimsical memories of this cookbook...all centered around baking cookies from it's pages for Christmas with my mother and sister. She would let us choose new recipes to try every year, and I remember carefully pouring over the pages to pick which confection would grace our holiday tables.
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| I love the old pictures,,, |
A few years ago...the publishers re-released it with all the original 1960's photography and design, and I literally BEGGED Jason to buy it for me, which he did (good husband). Now I use it to plan my own Christmas cookie attack, and let my own children crowd around the counter, ohhh-ing and ahhh-ing at all the beautiful cookies gracing it's pages.
Some of my favorite books aren't classics OR nostalgic, but more seasonable in nature. For example, I absolutely LOVE this cookbook on grilling...
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| Absolutely GORGEOUS photos... |
It has some of the best pictures, and fabulous recipes, I have ever seen and tried. I have cooked many, many things from this cookbook...it is very close to becoming my Summer Bible, as it were, by the grill...
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| Doesn't that look heavenly? |
Some cookbooks are more about
styles of food...for example, this one:
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| So much fun and creativity... |
I also have some cookbooks that came with their own soundtracks. No, really...they did.
They have recipes that revolve around a certain type of music and/or entertainment...and have a CD that accompanies them...
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| For your evening at the San Francisco Symphony, Metropolitan Opera, and Garden Classical Event... |
I even have cookbooks that are religious-based (and no...I don't mean kosher)...
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| Yup...they say "Essential MORMON Cookbooks", and yes...they have the green jell-o recipe... |
Some of my cookbooks are from places I've been...
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| From a famous restaurant in Maui |
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| It was a gift from Presidents Circle, and it's even signed!! |
...and some are from places I want to go...
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| From a restaurant located in Martha's Vineyard |
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| So beautiful...but I've yet to make anything from this cookbook, although I've owned it for years... |
Some cookbooks, like the one above, I haven't actually cooked from yet. I will...I just haven't...either from intimidation, or...well, it's mostly intimidation. But some day, I will get over my fear and actually create something from them.
But I do own some cookbooks which I never plan on cooking from...ever. They are simply to look at...
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| perfect example... |
This book on cakes is AMAZING...but as far as I'm concerned, completely unattainable without training. I have used it to
inspire some (intensely) simplified ideas, but I will never be able to create cakes like this:
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| Yes...this is an actual CAKE... |
Or this:
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| WOW...and that's all fondant, molding chocolate, and marzipan... |
I have cookbooks for kids, too. They are lots of fun...especially if I can tie them into a story, or a project. I find I use them a lot over Summer School...
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| We did a lot of the magic one while reading Harry Potter... |
...and I, of course, have my fair share of those little "grocery store" cookbooks...ya know the ones...the little cookbooks in the check-out aisle next to the tabloids. My mom buys those for me...I like the holiday-themed ones...they always have insanely simple but very clever ideas for celebrations...
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| I have about 4 of the Halloween-inspired booklets... |
But my collection is special to me for another reason...the fact that I have a couple of my grandfathers cookbooks from when he ran his own diner in Chehalis, Washington, called the Eat Shop.
My grandfather was the cook, and my mother and uncles waited tables and washed dishes. It's how they grew up. Now, many years later, and long since my grandfather has passed away, my cousin, who is a chef, has re-opened the shop in the same location, calling it Dan's Eat Shop.
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| My cousin, Dan Ewing... |
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I have these old cookbooks...and they are like the grocery store variety my Mom buys me. But they are OLD...
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| My collection... |
My Mom says they used to be Grandpas...and I haven't ever cooked anything out of them...although I thumb through them frequently.
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| Look!! It's NEW!! |
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| Only .25 in 1953 |
My grandfather passed away when I was just 2 months old from emphysema and liver cancer. He was a hard drinking, tough smoking, all business man...I guess not always an easy man to live with...but my Mom adored him. She talks about his sparkling black eyes (like my Brighams), and the way he's tease her, and call her Ginger-Puss.
I didn't know him, and honestly, I'm not as close as I'd like to be with that side of the family. I don't know why...maybe the massive age difference between me and my cousins (although that hasn't been a deterrent to my younger sister, who has always been accepted up there), or the fact that I'm forever running around the country and living in places that increasingly get further and further away, or maybe it's the actual lifestyle choices I make, or maybe I'm just darn un-likeable. Whatever the reason, I wish it was different.
So this is my piece of him...my little bit of Ewing pride.
I'd like to think I got some of my love of cooking from him, and although I don't think I'll ever be good enough or cool enough to run my own restaurant, I hope my own style of kitchen finesse makes him proud...
...as proud as I am to have him be part of me.
