Cooking Books vs. Cook Books

Have you ever found yourself getting very hungry from reading a book. It seems that more and more books feature food in them. Scenes of fabulous meals, family feasts, or sexy romantic meals for two. Even in my favorite genre, the mystery, food is featured more prominently. To start with there's Diane Mott Davidson's caterer, Goldy Schulz, one of the first detective/chef characters I encountered. When Goldy wasn't out looking for clues or running into or from the bad guys she was in her kitchen whipping up wonderful meals and decadent desserts. Recipes included. Follow that up with baker and cookie shop owner, Hannah Swensen, the sweet creation of Joanna Fluke. I've broken down and purchased ingredients with the intention of baking up some of the cookie recipes featured. Chocolate chip cookies anyone?

Then there's books that are all about cooking. Take for example Julie Powell's memoir Julie and Julia about the year she took to cook her way through Julia Child's quintesential cooking tome. Or a look at Paris through the eyes of pastry chef, David Lebovitch, in his book The Sweet Life in Paris (I must confess that this one is still sitting on the bookshelf waiting to be read. Or still a look at cooking in Tuscany with Frances Mayes in her most recent memoir Everyday in Tuscany  which was chucka-block full of recipes using the fresh produce from her garden or local markets.

Then there's the cook books. Last night I was searching for my favorite apple crisp recipe. I couldn't find it. I know I clipped it from some source years ago but couldn't lay my hands on it in my recipe scrapbook. I eventually went to the old standby my husband's grandmother's 1955 copy of the Good Housekeeping Cook Book. I looked through and found something that would work, or rather in the end I put together a recipe. Let's face it after hundreds of meals, I figure I've learned a thing or two about how to cook. Anyways, I got to flipping through the pages and got a kick out of some of the what I consider antiquated expressions and ingredients, for example what is a number 2 sized can of fruit? But wait, on page 344 I came across the recipe for toast. Yes, that's right toast. You can make it in your oven, under the broiler, in a skillet, use a waffle iron, or the best yet - an electric toaster. And I quote, "Just pop bread into toaster. Today's toasters are better than ever." And you thought boiling water was hard. Oh by the way if you need help with that one just follow this link.