It's no secret I am a cookbook fan.
I collect cookbooks for various reasons.
Sometimes a book tells a story with the shared recipes.
Sometimes I buy them as a remembrance of a place I have traveled.
But for the most part, I'll be drawn in by the recipes and the photographs of the food.
I have been known not to purchase a specific cookbook based on the fact that there are no pictures of the food.
These are just a few of my favorites
'The Farm Chicks In The Kitchen'
Embellished Dishtowel how to...
Food Covers...
And who can resist Susan Branch...
'Vineyard Seasons' by Susan Branch
'Girlfriends Forever'-Besides being a 'Girl Food' cookbook, it is filled with stories of girlfriends.
I adore Susan's art work. I'm sure I have every book she has ever published.
Alisa Barry 'La Bella Vita'
Alisa tells of her story in traveling to Italy, and how she fell in love, with not only the food, but the people, the landscape, and the language, but most of all the love of simple fresh food.
You can almost taste the fresh basil and mozzarella.
I have used the recipe for 'Pane' basic bread dough a hundred times.
Sweets
'Soul Food Desserts & Memories'
by Patty Pinner.
Patty was raised in a small town in Michigan.
Patty tells of spending her childhood helping the women of the house,
the 'Queens Of Soul Food'.
She shares her family's stories, part recipe and part history.
Who can resist the Pioneer Woman's
Simple Perfect Chili?
My kitchen would not be complete without Ina Garten -The Barefoot Contessa.
Ina's introductions are such a joy to read.
In her book 'barefoot contessa at home' she begins by saying that she didn't always know how to make a home. Her philosophy is this...
'A good home should gather you up in its arms like a warm cashmere blanket, soothe your hurt feelings, and prepare you to go back out into that big bad world tomorrow all ready to fight the dragons'.
Ina talks about table setting, gathering family and friends, lighting candles and good music at any social gathering to set the mood.
Just reading her cookbooks makes me want to have a party.
Positively, my favorite COMFORT food cookbook is the cookbook
I purchased when Beth and I went to Williams-Sonoma for a cooking class.
There is not a single recipe contained within that I would NOT cook from this book.
I've cooked almost all of them, and each and every one of them are heavenly.
As a matter of fact I am making Chicken Pot Pie this week.
This is/was my very FIRST cookbook. It was a wedding gift in 1976, the first time I marred Caveman.
I used it for many, many, years. While it does not host any photographs, I adore it none the less.
It has a special place in my heart.
A gentle reminder of a young bride who married very young, and knew absolutely nothing about cooking.
The pages are soft and well worn, full of stains and some small tears.
My Aunt & Uncle who gifted this to me are no longer here on this earth, but I am reminded of them each time I look through the pages.
Brillat-Savarin wrote:
'The pleasures of the table are for every man, of every land, and no matter of what place in history or society; they can be part of all his other pleasures, and they last the longest to console him when he has outlived the rest'
Tell me...do you have a favorite cookbook?
The Girasole Lady
