Foxfire #2

Foxfire 2 (Hardcover) by Eliot Wigginton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Really interesting. I like that they included diagrams and measurements when they were available. I also liked the mix of instructive or just interesting oral history (like the part about midwives and the part about ghosts & ghost stories) and how-to. I am going to copy parts of the section on edible spring plants & how to prepare them. There's a lot of them that I've known you could eat for a really long time, but didn't know how to prepare other than to eat a few leaves (or seeds or whatever) raw. Also the recipe for violet jelly. Interesting. :)

Recommended for hipster urban farmers, homesteaders, and other people who just want to read (but not "do") the olde days.

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Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Having read through the forward and some of the pre-recipe chapters, I've determined that I like the writing style. Having made a couple of the recipes (a sauce good on fish & eggs and a steak recipe w/sauce), I've determined that this is a cookbook I must own. I will cook fish more often just because that recipe was so good (& simple too). I doubt greatly that I'll cook every recipe a la Julie & Julia, but it is so well put together and so clear that it is really a book that belongs on the shelf of everyone who cooks at home. It pushes you out of your culinary ruts with a nudge and gives a range of possibilities for cooking the same dish over and over, but with variations so it's different every time you bring it to the table. And though some of the dishes take some time, those that I tried did not & dinner was finished within 30 minutes with the addition of a simple green salad or some "steam in bag" veggies that balanced out the fish (or steak) with the richer sauce very nicely.

I think it'd take a very long time to fully appreciate this book, so I'm hoping to receive it for Mother's Day or my birthday this year, but will keep the copy I borrowed from the library until I can't renew it anymore!

A must-own for everyone who cooks at home and those who don't, but love food. If I could give a book 6 stars out of 5, I'd do it.

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