Cookie Book

My book arrived from Martha Stewart!!!
I am very excited and honored by my win.


I guess I have to keep the episode on Tivo when Martha announced me as one of the winners of her favorite cookie contest; as the prize, the signed book, is very generic. I'm sure she has to sign tons of books, but I'm a little surprised there was no personalization. No cover letter or note was included in the packaging. I'm not ungrateful, just curious and surprised.

NOW...I have to decide what cookies to make from my new book!!! And the book is gorgeous! Check-it-out.

1076 To Go

Welcome friends,

So this past week we had four great dinners provided by and inspired by the wonderful 1080 Recipes by Simone & Ines Ortega. 1080 Recipes is the Spanish equivalent to the ever popular The Joy of Cooking, or the other Phaidon workhorse, the Italian The Silver Spoon. After sitting on Spain's bestsellers list for the past 30 years, Phaidon translated 1080 into English for the first time. This hefty tome is a wonderful treat for a cook's kitchen. Although loaded with Spanish recipes, the collection is not exclusively Spanish; much like The Joy of Cooking isn't exclusively American food, but a representation of what America cooks and eats, including ethnic favorites from around the world. 1080 is beautifully illustrated and well indexed and organized.

I wanted to dive into 1080 this week and selected four recipes that looked good for weeknight meals.

First we had Lentils with Bacon and Sausage
Then we had Chicken cooked with Shallots and Tomatoes
Followed that with Pumpkin Soup
And finished with Spaghetti Bolognese.

You'll see from clicking through the recipes that there seems to be one flaw in the book, the translation of the ingredient quantities and processes. I was first a little skeptical when the Lentil recipe called for ONE cup of Olive Oil. I didn't use any olive oil. Some of the other recipes didn't necessarily make sense on the first read through. What does that mean...well, out of 1080 recipes, four weren't 100% accurate. Are the others all good? Great! Sure there might be some other inaccuracies. For that reason, I don't think I would give this book to a new cook, someone who has apprehension in the kitchen. A little bit of kitchen intuition is needed to fully realize the wonderful potential of this book.

All that said, I love this book and look forward to exploring more of the recipes in the future; especially a classic Paella...

PS: Try the lentils...there were sooooo good and so very satisfying, rounded out with a crisp green salad and you'll have a perfect meal; lunch or dinner!

Santa via Amazon

Oh What Fun!!!

Look what Santa delivered to my desk today!!!!!

If you can't read the picture (camera phone) this is:
1080 Recipes by Simone & Ines Ortega

The sticker on the book defines this book as:
"Spain's best-selling cookbook for over 30 years"

"The bible of authentic Spanish cooking"

I can't wait to jump in.
This is sort of the Spanish companian
to the Italian book The Silver Spoon which I LOVE!

Thanks Terri in WI!

The Good Book

About two weeks ago, I finished reading this:

I loved it! LOVED IT! Very inspiring and sweet and lovely. I highly recommend it. As the book is really about Julia's formative foodie years in France and the result of that, her book MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH COOKING....I had to buy it!

This arrived today:

It's beautiful! An absolute classic, even in it's appearance! Can't wait to try something from it. I was giggling earlier, the first recipe I flipped to was Duck! I've never cooked duck, but have always wanted to. This might be a sign....OH MY...that is a total lie....I cooked a full duck once for Thanksgiving....it wasn't good, that's why I say I've not done duck...but maybe now.