Cooked Books
September 20th, 2007I am, honestly, a good cook. In a past life I regularly turned out apple pies with perfect crusts, three-cheese macaroni from hand-made pasta and shortbread with my own lemon custard. Ask my husband and three-year old about my cooking, however, and they will tell you that I dial with the best of them. A few weeks ago the kid said, “Mommy, I am going to get you some dinner from my kitchen.” She dashed to her bedroom, picked up a toy phone and parroted the previous night’s dinner order, including out area code and telephone number.
Rebecca Federman’s Cooked Books, All Things Culinary at the New York Public Library, makes me want to change my wicked ways. Federman is our cookery bibliographer and her blog digs in to NYPL’s vast food collections. This fall I am going to follow her lead and make her Swiss Macaroni and Melted Gruyere and Apple Compote recipe.