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Reading Room:  Anybody else read a cookbooks like novels?  |
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Horseyrider
True Blue Farmgirl
1045 Posts
Mary Ann
Illinois
1045 Posts |
 Posted - Aug 16 2006 : 08:00:53 AM
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I have to confess, I really LOVE cookbooks. I go through them page by page and read the recipes. I especially like it when the author furnishes background information such as where or how the recipe was developed, any history involved, etc.
I just got one yesterday called The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. It has as much text as it does recipes, explaining the techniques carefully and in great detail. I can hardly wait to dig in! Another one is on it's way: The Bread Bible, I think it's called. I love the Amish cookbooks, the ones I got down in Springfield about Civil War cookery, and it's also fun to read regional cookbooks.
Does anybody else do this? I'm going to curl up with my new cookbook once the horses are worked and have a tall sassafras tea with some lemon shortbread and enjoy! |
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Libbie
Farmgirl Connection Cultivator
3579 Posts
Anne E.
Elsinore
Utah
USA
3579 Posts |
Posted - Aug 16 2006 : 08:06:35 AM
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I'm up for a little confession, too! I can read "The New Basics" like it's a book -- and love every minute of it!!!
...glad I'm not alone - I've also been reading "Nourishing Traditions," which is a really interesting read of a cookbook. It makes me want to feed my family in a whole new way.
XOXO, Libbie
"Nothing is worth more than this day." - Goethe |
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KellyA
True Blue Farmgirl
237 Posts
Kelly
Johnsonville
NY
USA
237 Posts |
Posted - Aug 16 2006 : 08:11:01 AM
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Boy, do I!! My husband finds it amusing that we settle down in bed at night to read...his is a thriller, and mine is a cookbook!
I have a library of cookbooks in my kitchen,and all are fine reading, but I agree the ones that furnish background are the best. If you like to see how a recipe was developed, try any of the Cook's Illustrated series, or by Christopher Kimball. The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook by him is a favorite.
Kelly
When a cookbook is in hand, life is good! |
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ThymeForEweFarm
True Blue Farmgirl
705 Posts
Robin
An organic farm in the forest in
Maine
USA
705 Posts |
Posted - Aug 16 2006 : 08:38:44 AM
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I do! We're foodies who are always looking for new ways to use great food. I made crab cakes Monday night from fresh picked offshore crabs my BIL saved for me. I had a ball going through my books looking for a recipe.
http://www.farmcookbook.com I bought this one last year. It's real food. The recipes are from people who cook from scratch. None of the recipes are complicated yet they're so good! I liked this well enough to buy a dozen copies to give as gifts last Christmas.
Robin
www.thymeforewe.com
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sunshine
True Blue Farmgirl
4877 Posts
Wendy
Utah
USA
4877 Posts |
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willowtreecreek
True Blue Farmgirl
4813 Posts
Julie
Russell
AR
USA
4813 Posts |
Posted - Aug 16 2006 : 10:13:03 AM
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Love reading cookbooks! Rachel Rays are especially good reads!
Jewelry, art, baskets, etc.
www.willowtreecreek.com |
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Phils Ann
True Blue Farmgirl
1095 Posts
Ann
Parsonsburg
Maryland
USA
1095 Posts |
Posted - Aug 16 2006 : 12:14:22 PM
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I,too, read cookbooks for fun. Has anyone else read THE BREAD BUILDERS, by Wing and Scott? It's fascinating, and nearly made us build an outdoor oven for baking. Cookbooks are like old friends; can't imagine letting go of one.
Ann
There is a Redeemer. |
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Linda Houston
True Blue Farmgirl
538 Posts
Linda
Lake Charles
Louisiana
USA
538 Posts |
Posted - Aug 16 2006 : 4:04:40 PM
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I love to read cookbooks. I plan all types of wonderful meals for entertainment (I live alone) and something new for myself. However !!!!! Rarely do I entertain as elaborate as I daydream.
When my family comes in for the holidays or a visit ( They love out of state)---they want VERY basic Louisiana cooking. |
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mellaisbella
True Blue Farmgirl
1862 Posts
melanie
living on Anne of Green
Gables land
Canada
1862 Posts |
Posted - Aug 16 2006 : 6:32:28 PM
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Whew!!! There are people like me (ha, ha) I like to run a bubble bath and bring in some of my smaller, easier to handle cookbooks and think of all of the new things that I will make....
mellaisbella "I wanna touch the earth, I want to break it in my hands, I want to grow something wild and unruly" |
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Buttercup
True Blue Farmgirl
1433 Posts
Talitha
Vermont
USA
1433 Posts |
Posted - Aug 16 2006 : 7:25:02 PM
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I do not know that I read them like a novel....but I love cookbooks and enjoy reading them and browsing through them! I get them all the time from the library! And I love ones with history/stories about the recipes and or places they came from! I also enjoy lots of pictures so I can have an idea how it should look and ways of presentation. I have not done a big party or get together for a few years now...but once my dream kitchen is fuctioning (see dream kitchens) I hope to have a ton of get togethers and parties!! So right now am building my cookbook library...I will need it!!! 
Hugz!
Talitha
"If we could maintain the wonder of childhood and at the same time grasp the wisdom of age, what wonder,what wisdom,what life would be ours" |
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bboopster
True Blue Farmgirl
1140 Posts
Betty Jo
West Bend
Wisconsin
USA
1140 Posts |
Posted - Aug 16 2006 : 8:26:54 PM
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I love to sit and read cookbooks. I love to look at the pictures also. I find it relaxing and gets my creative side going. Good thing I do not have much time to cook these days as I also love to eat my cooking. If I could only find some one to do the clean up. my world would be perfect.
Pray for our troops to come home safe and soon.
Enjoying the road to the simple life :>) |
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brightmeadow
True Blue Farmgirl
2045 Posts
Brenda
Lucas
Ohio
USA
2045 Posts |
Posted - Aug 16 2006 : 8:36:51 PM
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Oh, yes. One of my favorite cookbook authors is one of the first cookbooks I ever bought 30 years or more ago - Good Cheap Food by Miriam Ungerer. She has a commentary on every recipe. She is absolutely hilarious! She even includes a recipe for fish head soup (when things get really thin) of course she is more of an urban cook. I also recently bought a seasonal cookbook that she wrote - I haven't taken the time to really read it yet - Kelly, good idea to take it to bed with me!
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands - You shall be happy and it shall be well with you. -Psalm 128.2
Visit my blog at http://brightmeadowfarms.blogspot.com, web site store at http://www.watkinsonline.com/fish or my homepage at http://home.earthlink.net/~brightmeadow |
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Kathigene
True Blue Farmgirl
160 Posts
Kathy
New York
160 Posts |
Posted - Aug 17 2006 : 09:39:29 AM
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Yes, I'm guilty of this also. While I will buy a cookbook that is just recipes, I'm a lot more apt to buy one that has lots of commentary. And I also have to admit to valuing the really old handed down through the generations, family cookbooks as much as a family Bible. I love finding my Mom's and Grandmothers writing in them and making Aunt Ida's prune cake. I don't really know who Aunt Ida was but she lives on in her prune cake recipe which is delicious.
Kathy
Dogs make such good friends because they wag their tails rather then their tongues. |
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Nancy Gartenman
True Blue Farmgirl
9093 Posts
Nancy
West Seneca
New York
USA
9093 Posts |
Posted - Aug 17 2006 : 10:18:22 AM
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When out at garage sales or thrift stores, love to find old cook books with lots of notes in. Have a few from my family too. never found any money in them though.
NANCY JO |
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daffodil dreamer
True Blue Farmgirl
805 Posts
Jayne
Hamilton
Victoria
Australia
805 Posts |
Posted - Aug 17 2006 : 6:09:23 PM
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I love reading cookbooks. I like the novel sized books that have a 'story' with the recipes. I have quite a few Australian ones that are set out like a diary of the seasons, so there is a little story about what is happening in the garden or about the local show or something and then recipes for what is being harvested at the moment. I like them as a good read but also because they use basic ingredients that you can grow yourself and that will all be available at the same time. So many recipes now assume that you can, or would want to, buy tomatoes in winter or parsnip in summer, but I would much rather eat local and seasonal.
Best wishes and keep dreaming,
Jayne |
Edited by - daffodil dreamer on Aug 17 2006 6:09:52 PM |
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medievalcat
True Blue Farmgirl
256 Posts
Cynthia
White County
Arkansas
USA
256 Posts |
Posted - Aug 17 2006 : 7:50:24 PM
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I too love to read cookbooks. It's what got me to look at MJ's book to begin with. I hunt down cookbooks at the library and I have my own personal collection. One of my favorites that I no longer have was Julia Childs... she's a joy to read and I can hear her accent in my head as I'm reading and I smile.
I'm glad I'm not the only one!
Cyn |
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abbasgurl
True Blue Farmgirl
1262 Posts
Rhonda
USA
1262 Posts |
Posted - Aug 17 2006 : 8:01:55 PM
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I'm not sure if this is better or worse. I read sewing patterns in bed at night! But I have been known to take a good cookbook to bed with me too! OK, I'll pretty much read anything! LOL
Rhonda
...and I will sing at the top of my lungs, and I will dance, even if I'm the only one! |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Aug 17 2006 : 9:11:23 PM
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I read cookbooks all the time. My favorites have little notes by recipes I liked..where I have changed things in them, or who likes them and who didn't so much in the family. Which cookbook to find a better brownie recipe..or like that. I treasure them!
I read alot of funny stuff...how to live without electricity (you never know) and how to books about animals alot too. And the regular stuff. I just love cookbooks though.
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
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Bluewrenn
True Blue Farmgirl
1122 Posts
Erin
Texas
USA
1122 Posts |
Posted - Aug 18 2006 : 08:33:02 AM
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We have always made all of our christmas gifts, or at least a good portion of them. One year, when I was a teen, I turned some blank journals into recipe books for each of my grandmothers and I included a few recipes from the Chesapeake Bay area to get them started. Many years later, after my grandmothers passed away, I was given those recipe books back and both grandmothers not only added recipes but wrote stuff in there as well. And Grandmom even divulged her secret chocolate chip recipe! (Turns out it was the Tollhouse recipe after all!)
My Homesteading Journal
http://toomyvara.livejournal.com
My craft journal
http://bluewrenn.livejournal.com |
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KJD
True Blue Farmgirl
402 Posts
402 Posts |
Posted - Aug 26 2006 : 5:15:20 PM
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| I love to read cookbooks. One of my favorite authors is Susan Hermann Loomis - Farmhouse Cookbook, French Farmhouse Cookbook, Italian Farmhouse Cookbook. She also has a great book called On Rue Tatin: Loving and Cooking in a French Town. |
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berries
True Blue Farmgirl
475 Posts
gloria g
Florida
USA
475 Posts |
Posted - Aug 26 2006 : 5:30:43 PM
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Yes, I have always collected, read, and truly enjoyed my cookbooks. One of my favorite is Tasha Tudor's! She is a little doll, love her stories, her rituals, her recipes, her farm, her animals, and of course her stories!
love, hugs, and strawberries, gloria g. Richards, TX
strawberry fields forever and ever! |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Aug 26 2006 : 9:40:32 PM
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I love that cookbook too..the Tasha Tudor one. The recipes are really good too!!
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
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Lynn B
True Blue Farmgirl
113 Posts
Lynn
Derry
NH
USA
113 Posts |
Posted - Aug 28 2006 : 12:01:08 PM
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I love reading cookbooks too! Too me, food is not just something we eating, it nourishes the soul. What other thing in our lives can bring friends and family together as quickly and easily as a meal?
One of my personal favorites to read is Nigella Lawson's How To Eat. Fantastic! Tons of great personal anecdotes. It's actually written like a book with the recipes interspersed throughout.
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.
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bramble
True Blue Farmgirl
2044 Posts
2044 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2006 : 08:50:42 AM
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Both my husband and I love cookbooks (he started collecting them years ago...) and we read them too. Glad we aren't the only nuts out there ...just kidding! I have a particular favorite that is funny (to me) and it is called Mrs. Appleyard. The "narrator" is a woman who lived a rather posh Manhattan existence back in the 40-50's and her husband up and decided that they should move with children and live a different life in Vermont. I have never been able to figure out if the narration is tongue in cheek or she is serious! She says things like: It is important not to wear your full length mink when asking the butcher for his very best cut of meat for invariably you will pay the very highest price for the worst cut of meat in the store" and other wacky things like that! There are some VERY good recipes actually if you like old fashioned New England cooking and my favorite Oatmeal Lace Cookie is Mrs. Appleyard's. If you can find it, it's a hoot! I heard they were going to reprint it, but you might find originals on ebay, etc...There are maybe 2-4 books of hers if I recall.
with a happy heart |
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lurban
True Blue Farmgirl
61 Posts
Vermont
61 Posts |
Posted - Sep 07 2006 : 06:34:17 AM
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I've been reading this:
The Cook and the Gardener : A Year of Recipes and Writings for the French Countryside by Amanda Hesser and Kate Gridley
Hesser, who writes for the New York Times, spent a year cooking for a family in France and making friends with the crusty gardener who kept them supplied with fresh produce. The book is arranged by month, with a short, evocative essay to begin each chapter and then recipes that correspond to the foods in season. She tested each recipe in France and then in the US using foods from her market (although I think she was able to get a better supply of things in NYC than some of us can at our local grocery chain). Foodies who love words will love this book. |
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sewgirlie
True Blue Farmgirl
1894 Posts
Sheryl-lyn
Calverton
NY
USA
1894 Posts |
Posted - Sep 13 2006 : 5:40:58 PM
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| Hi! I love cookbooks too! They make me feel happy on the inside. I am an English teacher who does reading/writing workshop with my students. Last year we spent two weeks reading and writing about cookbooks. At first the kids were looking at me like I was crazy (ok, nothing new there!) but I told them they could learn a lot about a culture, a region, the old days, etc when they read the blurbs and stories behind the recipes. When we were finished, the kids had to make a recipe from one of the books, write about the experience and share it all in class. What a great time we had. I will do it again this year! |
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Reading Room: Anybody else read a cookbooks like novels? |
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Anybody else read a cookbooks like novels?
