If everyone else jumped off a bridge....

2010-04-21T07:26:00.000-07:00

I have seen several "my favorite cookbooks" blogs lately and I want in on the fun!

My most used cookbook is my Fannie Farmer--it was a gift from my grandmother, Skinny Ninny and it is abused, stained, shaken and loved. Where else can you learn how to truss a wild bird or what the heack to look for in fresh Rhubarb? It gives a basic grounding in classic America dishes and processes from liver and onions to Mulligatawney stew...

The next is another gift from my grandmother and is my baking bible-- I use the pancakes, muffins, biscuits, banana bread and pizza dough recipes SO much that I have the recipes copied out and taped to the inside of my cupboard! The banana bread regularly astounds people with how good it is--it is hard for me to admit that it isn't my own magic that makes it so good! Ha!

I found Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe when the kids were little and picky and we were poor enough that I found it necessary to search for meat alternatives. The concept of the cook book is simple and revolutionary--as most good ideas are. By mixing grain and dairy in specific proportions it is possible to make meals that have complete proteins but are still super cheap and vegetarian. In addition to practical recipes and bean loafs that I have friends request I make INSTEAD of birthday cakes, there are fun camping/backpacking recipes and clever meals you can cook in a soup can over a fire. What is not to like about that!?

Vegetariana by Nava Atlas is a recipe in itself. It is 2 parts good food, 1 part poetry, 1 part history and a dash of original art. Nava presents her food as subject and includes historical tidbits, folklore beliefs, poetical references and original drawings about the food. It is really a beautiful and fun book!

After practicality, the second thing I look for in a cookbook is fun factor! I love historical cookbooks and themed books...here are my favorites. I read them just like novels--good stuff.

Cooking with the Dead by Elizabeth Zipern is a fun walk down memory lane. As a Dead Head, you eat a lot of new and interesting things and one of my favorite parts of Dead tour was the cooking going on down on Shakedown Street. My hubby Jason and I sold grilled cheese out of our microbus, but I got tired of eating that and ventured out to explore the smells of the lot.

I have eaten many of these recipes at Dead shows and remember the people fondly. This book is full of snapshots and interviews with the cooks and it is as interesting to read as it is to cook from. I highly recommend the egg rolls....all most as good as the show.

I am a historical reenactor and I love hearth cooking and I am also a youth librarian who loves the Little House books; so when I found The Little House Cookbook, I was in hog heaven. It is my one treasured inheritance from my beloved step-mother who passed away several years ago. The book intersperses passages from the book with frontier life history and recipes. I just love it.

Another good cookbook based on a series of books is Nanny Ogg's. Nanny Ogg is one of the notoriously funny witches in Terry Pratchett's Discworld Series. As Nanny says:

“They say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, which just goes to show they’re as confused about anatomy as they are about everything else, unless they’re talking about instructions on how to stab him, in which case a better way is up and under the ribcage. Anyway, we do not live in a perfect world, and it is foresighted and useful for a young woman to become proficient in those arts which will keep a weak–willed man from straying. Learning to cook is also useful.”

Last but not least, Square Meals by Jane and Michael Stern. I rescued *ahem* STOLE *ahem* this book from a goodwill drop off where someone left it outside the box. I know it was wrong and I still don't care. This book is incredible. It is actually a collection of historical cookbooks reprinted with notes and updated measurements fromt the Sterns. Interesting sections include: Victorian Teas, Nursery foods for turn of the century kids, WWII Ration meals, the 1950s suburban housewifes guide to entertaining and 1960s Sock Hop Diner Fare

The Gardens at Crocus Corner

2010-04-17T16:56:00.000-07:00

The day we bought our corner lot house-our first-was a very nerve-wracking day. I wasn't sure that I wanted to buy a house, let alone move to the far West side of the city away from schools, friends and familiarity. The house was a previous rental and had no grass--just mud where the last tenants dog had been left to the filth and closets full of dried rice and beans. I later found out that the last tenants also had TB...the place was a dive.

But out of the ground four tiny crocus bulbs had bloomed on that chilly March day and I felt that it had to be a sign that the four of us were meant to move in. Since then I have done little to the house, but the gardens are brimming and the entire property is clad in rich grass. I don't use chemicals and I don't force it. I want the garden to be lived in and I want people to walk into the garden to pick herbs, smell flowers and chase cats. Needless to say--I have a bit of a jungle....with bits of plants volunteering here and birds nesting there. I love it and I love the Spring when tiny shoots come back. In this first post I will elave you with my favorite poem from T.S. Eliot and pictures from my garden.

APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.

There And Back Again...

If everyone else jumped off a bridge....

The Gardens at Crocus Corner