#5 For fun - I like to read cookbooks. And buy them.
For the life of me I can't remember where I heard about him (perhaps in some comments on Martha's blog) nor can I figure out why I have never heard about him before (although I do have a very vague memory of his face) but by any means, somewhere recently I read about Rick Bayless and his wonderful Mexican cookbooks. I'm half Mexican, studied in Mexico for a quarter, my major in college was Spanish and I love just about anything to do with Mexican culture and people. So when someone mentioned Mr. Bayless' Mexican Everyday cookbook I jumped right on it and put it on hold at the library. While I was searching I also found Rick and Lanie's Excellent Kitchen Adventures, a cookbook he wrote with his teenage daughter, and put that on hold as well.
Since it is a beautiful, sunny day here in the PNW - the fam and I decided to take a walk downtown to the library this morning to pick up one of the cookbooks and a few others I had put on hold. I should mention here that it was such a lovely walk - my first iced coffee of the season made it extra special. I could hardly stand the time it took to get the kids fed and down for their naps so I could kick back in my chair and devour that book. It's the Kitchen Adventures one and it is fabulous!
Now, when I say 'read' I really mean it. I sat down in my chair, put my feet up and opened up the front cover and started reading. All the introductions and stories - everything. I can't even describe the feeling I get when I sit down to read a good cookbook - truly, as funny as it may sound, all giddy and excited inside. I really think I have a true, harmless addiction to cookbooks... and yarn and knitting books for that matter but that's a different story(book) altogether. I rarely use the recipes, as I've mentioned before. I like to think that I kind of glean and somehow incorporate their ideas into my cooking just by reading what they say.
The coolest thing about this trait of mine is that my grandma is the exact same way. I like to think I inherited it from her. Now, back to reading....
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6 comments:
I love reading them, too! Sometimes, all I ask for is some time alone on my comfy bed with a stack of Cooks' Illustrated's (they're the best: so sciency and I love hearing about their experiments) and some quiet.
I read cookbooks and knitting books cover-to-cover, too. My current favorite knitting book is domiKNITrix--haven't tried any of the patterns, but I've read it twice.
Michelle - I just got that one from the library too! Aside from some disturbing pictures.... it has some great patterns. I'm sorta the same with knitting books though - I hardly ever end up making the stuff in them. :-(
I get giddy over a new cookbook too and read them cover to cover as well. I know, pretty impressive coming from the girl who you had to teach how to fry an egg.
And FYI, I learned when I did our church's cookbook that it is not copyright infringement to reproduce a recipe. The U.S. Copyright Office states this:
"Mere listings of ingredients as in recipes, formulas, compounds or prescriptions are not subject to copyright protection. However, where a recipe or formula is accompanied by substantial literary expression in the form of an explanation or directions, or when there is a combination of recipes, as in a cookbook, there may be a basis for copyright protection."
Fred's mom is like this. I'm not. I scan when confronted with a cookbook. Yeah, I'm a scanner. But it's fun to have Fred's mom for Christmas. I have found vintage cookbooks (1920's,30's and 40's) for her all for 50 cents! Shopping DONE! It's a good feeling knowning that when she opens them up she'll probably scream with joy, then tell everyone to be quiet so she can read :-)
Trina
Hi Cutzi, this is Martha's friend Amy. I love reading cookbooks too! I also check out cookbooks from the library. I like to read them but in reality I will only make like 2 or 3 recipes from a book so I really don't need to buy it. So I check them out, read them, and write down the real keepers.
I jumped over to your site to see your refried beans recipe...looks good...and I see you have Thai coconut chicken on your menu plan...you need to post that recipe too!
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