Oh, cookbooks and cold weather. Blankets, apple pies and steaming mugs of spiced tea should be all the rage.
It’s been cold in New York. Really cold. We’ve had rain and snow and chill. On days like this, there is no better place to hang out than a bookstore, especially a huge Barnes & Nobles.
Especially with children.
While they browsed the pre-teen aisles, I hugged the cookbook ones. I knew I wasn’t going to buy a single one because ‘everything is on the internet’. Well, not really. Because I have an insane amount of cookbooks which I haven’t cooked from to the extent I’d like, and because shelf space is limited. There’s no point losing the gains from our Book Sale, is there now?
Here’s what caught my eye as I browsed:
The Spiralized Kitchen
I love the art of spiralizing or ‘julienning’ and this book made me lust. Most of the recipes feature vegetables turned to noodles and combined in creative ways. I don’t have a spiralizer yet but I do have a julienne peeler.
Substitute: Inspiralized website, with 16 recipes to get you started; and directions for plantain noodles and grated yam 🙂
The Unofficial Downtown Abbey Cookbook
I fell in love with Downtown Abbey a couple of years ago. Interestingly, we were flying back from New York and I finally watched most of the first season. And I understood what the fuss was about.
I particularly like the kitchen scenes, where all sorts of pies and tarts are constructed under the watchful eye of Mrs. Patmore.
The recipes cover both Victorian – the 1834 to 1901; and Edwardian (1901 – 1914) times.
Substitute: EEpicurious’s review of the cookbook plus 3 recipes
Dessert for Two
This intrigued me to no end – the idea of using mason jar covers (with their removable bottoms) for tart tins. That my friends is pure genius. Total genius.
The recipes in this book were gorgeous. It took all of my willpower to cease looking and desist from buying. There’s room to change my mind, till then I’ll hang out on Christina Lane’s blog.
Substitute: Dessert for Two blog
‘Drink Books’
The next set of books fed my current obsession with ‘Nigerian Cocktails‘. I want to make everything from wine to bitters and shrubs and more. And I will.
The Tomato Basket
One of the book covers I liked the most was that on the tomato basket.
I loved the basket. It reminds me of a style of woven baskets in Nigeria which a friend of mine uses for bread. I also liked the variety in the tomatoes.
The Soup Club Cookbook
…appealed to me on the strength of the Weck Pots on the cover. I have lots of soup books but none that feeds my love for jars and containers like this one.
Sigh.
Substitute – The Soup Club Website
The Photography of Modernist Cuisine
This was one of the largest books on display. At least in the cookbook section. I flicked through – some nice photos. I didn’t bother checking what the price was for anything this big and heavy…
Substitute: Modernist Cuisine Website
There were many more books I saw and loved – these here touched me :).
Oh well, it was nice while the romance lasted. Shelf to shelf and hand to spine. I didn’t get a chance to look through Marcus’s book because after almost 2 hours, we had to go. I did like the cover though.
In the end, I left with one book. Just one. Very essential too :).
I’ll share.
What cookbooks are you hungering for?
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