Sunday, January 2, 2011

New Year, New Adventures

Happy New Year, everyone!

I've always been one of those foodie people who hates January. Why, you ask? Because all the fun comes out of the food world. We go from the lavish, fun holiday seasons to articles about salads and steamed, unsalted food. The January issues of food magazines never fail to disappoint me, the displays in the supermarkets star low-cal options, and the blogging world seems to slow down while people try to get thin for the New Year.

I'm tired of New Year's resolutions being about taking away. "I want to STOP doing this," or "I want to LOSE weight," etc. It's time to put a positive spin on the New Year, and ADD something.

So, the new theme for the next two weeks is about adding new things to our kitchens. You can take this theme as far as you want. Do you just want to try a new recipe? Crack open a new cookbook that you haven't used yet? Or maybe take it a step farther, and learn a new technique, or use a new ingredient that you haven't cooked with before. Whatever it is, have fun, and add a little something to your life for the New Year.

Remember to post about recipes that come from printed cookbooks only, and to a post a permalink (a link to the post--not to the front page of your blog) below. Have fun, and Happy New Year!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Festive Food

Hello. Sorry I'm so late in posting the newest theme.

The theme for the rest of December is "Festive Food." It's the time of year to gather with friends and family and share warmth and edibles. Break into those cookbooks and post about a festive dish you made.

Remember, "festive" doesn't have to mean "fancy." Maybe your recipe is for chocolate chip cookies to share with drop-in visitors. Maybe its for a big pot of chili that you make and keep in the fridge for quick meals after shopping. Maybe it is a special drink you make to ring in the New Year. Whatever you make this season, please share it here and drop in to share other bloggers' celebrations.

Please post by January 1. We will resume a regular every-other-week theme after the crazy season is over. Happy December, Happy New Year, and Happy Blogging!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Harvest Time

Thank you to those of you who posted to our Warm & Cozy theme. I had a lot of fun reading the posts that you shared.

The new theme will be "Harvest Time." Here in the US, Thanksgiving is around the corner. Even though the true harvest has passed in parts of the country (it certainly has in New England), we're still celebrating living in a land of plenty.

So, crack open your cookbooks and find a recipe to use celebrate the harvest. Of course, what that means is up to you. Are you still working your way through a bushel of pick-your-own apples? Cracking into a hard-shelled squash? Or just opening a can of pumpkin and a bag of frozen corn, and enjoying the symbolic foods? Whatever your style, come share your harvest recipes with us. After all, sharing and eating is what this season is all about.

Use the Mr. Linky below to link to your post. Please post a permalink to the post, not to the front page of your blog. Share on or by December 5. Happy cooking, baking, and blogging!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Warm & Cozy

Well, the clocks changed yesterday.  The days are getting shorter.  Here in New England, the air is getting colder.  Last night, I stepped outside and smelled the crisp, clean smell of impending snow.  It didn't snow, because it wasn't cold enough, but it's not far off.

Given all of this, I thought a good theme for these two weeks would be "warm and cozy."  Choose a recipe from your cookbooks that is warming.  Something you want to come home to on a dark, cold night.  Or something you want to stay in and bake while the wind whips outside. 

Use the Mr. Linky below to link to your post.  Please post a permalink to the post, not to the front page of your blog.  Share on or by November 21.  Happy cooking, baking, and blogging!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Your First Love: Our First Theme

For our first theme, I want to hear about your first love.  It wasn't necessarily the first cookbook you ever owned.  It might not even have been the fourth or fifth.  You know the one I'm talking about.  It's the first cookbook you ever really fell in love with.  It's the one that ignited the spark for all the other books to follow.

Even though I have over 200 cookbooks now, I will always remember the first one that started the obsession.  Let's hear about yours!

In order to kick things off, I'm posting this theme early.  Normally, the theme will be posted every other Monday.  I'm tacking on an extra few days to get things rolling.  Please add your link to the Mr. Linky (a permalink please--meaning to the post, not to the front page) by November 7.
Happy cooking!

Intro

Are you a cookbook lover?  I know I am.  I own over 200 cookbooks, and I'm always up for acquiring more.  I love cookbooks for their design, for the way they feel in my hands, and for the possibilities they hold.  I love hunting for cookbooks at used bookstores, flea markets, and yard sales.  I love browsing the cookbook section at new bookstores, touching the pages, and making lists of titles I hope to own one day.  I love keeping tabs on all the new titles coming out on Amazon.com.  I love reading reviews of cookbooks I don't own yet, and reading blog entries about recipes from books I already own.  Really, I love all things about cookbooks.  And I think there are probably lots of other people out there that feel this way, too.

So, I thought we should all join together to blog about our cookbooks.  Our entries will be about recipes that we've made, of course, but will also talk about the books themselves.  For me, looking through my cookbook shelves is like reading a diary.  Each book reminds me of a time and a place in my life.  Each recipe I've made brings me back to moments--some of them big like anniversaries and holidays, and some of them small, like a Tuesday night in April when I was 23, and had just gotten home from work.  I find that my taste memories are some of my strongest, and would love the opportunity to share this with other bloggers who are just as passionate about their cookbooks.

The rules to this group are loose and simple.  All posts that are submitted must be about a recipe that comes from a printed cookbook--that means no recipes from the internet, magazines, or on little cards passed down from friends and relatives.  Just from books.  I will post a theme twice a month.  Make something from one of your cookbooks that goes with the theme.  No one will chide you if your recipe is a little out of bounds for the theme--as long as it comes from a cookbook, and you've tied it in to the theme somehow.  The posts should mention something about the cookbook itself, whether it is a story about how you got the cookbook, a comment on what you like/dislike about the book, how stained the book is--whatever.  We just want to hear something about the book itself, in addition to about whatever you made from the book.

When you complete a post for the theme, put your link up through the Mr. Linky at the bottom of the post.  Simply add your name and a permalink in the appropriate fields, and the link will be available for all of us to see.  (To see a description of a permalink, click here.)

Happy cooking, and thank you for joining me!