cookbooks...

Librarygirl asked how many cookbooks we have so I counted - 27. This number is reduced a bit because for a while we had some books for professional cooks that were very heavy and had recipes for 20 loaves of bread etc. They had some lovely photos but we finally got rid of them. I think. Of course they could be in the attic...

Of the 27 that remain, I refer to about 4 seen in this photo.  From top left, Bon Appetit, Martha Storey's 500 Treasured Country Recipes, the old Joy of Cooking and a small vegan zine from Montreal called Ripe. I don't think it's published anymore - maybe she has a blog now? I should check.
**I did check - it's by Jae Steele and she now has two books and a blog, Domestic Affair - I shoulda knowed that!**

I refer to this one most (actually #28) which is a notebook from chinatown filled with recipes handwritten and cut out of magazines, some tried and some just copied for future reference. There are also pages with magazine pictures pasted over yucky recipes that I've given up on. I started this when I lived in Vancouver in 1988.

These are the rest of the books. There are some very beautiful ones, a couple of church lady style fundraising ones, one I bought when I started university (Cooking 101) and some found at thrift shops and bought purely for the covers.

This is the one that my aunt and uncle gave me for my birthday in 1973. It may be my favourite, although I don't think I've ever made anything from it -- I just look at the pictures, which are lurid and oddly compelling. The recipes have ingredients like "1 box brownie mix" and "1 4-ounce package of potato chips" and instructions such as "Ask Mother to help you heat shortening in skillet." There is a photo of s'mores that is burned on my retina. I've tried for 37 years to roast marshmallows like that with varying degrees of success.



Here are a couple of other treats from the 70s. Mmmmm.