Literary Quote of the Month

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies," said Jojen. "The man who never reads lives only one." - George R.R. Martin, A Dance With Dragons

Sunday, June 20, 2010

The Sunday Salon... "Feeding your Soul" with a Great Cookbook!


Happy Father's Day! To all you men out there today, I hope your day is relaxing and the food is good! Grab a cup of joe and relax a bit with me, as we sit around and gab a bit about books!

It's been a while since we've chatted about FOOD, and I just love tooling around in the kitchen & I LOVE cooking, so I thought this week's Sunday Salon would be about feeding our souls with a good cookbook!

I've spotted some great cookbooks this week at my local bookstore, and I even received a cookbook in the mail to review this week, so here are a few books to "feed" the soul...


The Frankies Spuntino: Kitchen Companion & Cooking Manual by Frank Falcinelli, Frank Castronovo and Peter Meehan... What I first noticed when I saw this book was a bright green wrap around what appeared to be a leather bound book with a distinctive message- "100 Recipes", and "Grandma never broke a sweat. Neither should you." It didn't look like a cookbook, and it wasn't in with the cookbooks. I just had to pick it up though and open it up. What I discovered was that "The Frankies" are friends and cooks, owning two restaurants (Frankies in Brooklyn & Manhattan) and that this cookbook is the "manual" for the food served in their very popular, authentic Italian eateries. This book is beautifully illustrated, is really informative ( from equipment,what to have on hand in your pantry to how to's), and the recipes are simple, easy to understand and they look delish! The Frankies share recipes such as Roasted Eggplant to Pork Braciola Marinara. There's a recipe for Sunday sauce, meatballs and even desserts. I've got this sitting on the counter waiting for me decide what to make first. I'll have a full review for this cookbook that doesn't look like a cookbook soon!

Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook (Revised & Updated) by Phyllis Pellman Good... I love my Slow Cooker! I go through these phases of using it like a demon to not using it for a while. But it's a cookbook like the Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook that reminds me what a great cooking tool my slow cooker (crock pot) is! This cookbook has 700 (yes I typed 7-0-0) Slow Cooker recipes! Recipes range from Dips, Chilli and Salsa to Barbecued Chicken wings and Casseroles! No need to heat up the whole house for a great meal! And Slow Cooker recipes are usually very easy to throw together without a fuss. I'll be cooking up something from this cookbook this week and have a full review of the cookbook too! Thanks to the publisher for sending this one along!


Recipes from an Italian Summer a collection put together by the Editors of Phaidon Press... A Beautiful FAT cookbook with warm weather recipes. The emphasis here is fresh, wonderful ingredients that are abundant in the summer. Fresh produce, fruits and berries, and herbs. 380 recipes for lighter, easy-to-follow summer dishes with big beautiful photographs. The cover caught my eye, and I love big cookbooks that almost seem like a meal in themselves, so this is one my wish list! *Update! Thanks to the publisher, we'll be cooking from this cookbook this next weekend!

What are YOU cooking up this sunday?! What are your favorite cookbooks?! Share them here, I'd love to hear about them! If you missed it, I have a review of Lidia Matticchio Bastianich's cookbook Lydia Cooks From The Heart of Italy, AND with permission of the publisher I have included her recipe for Baked Penne & Mushrooms, which my family devoured and yours should too! Plus here's the Review of I Know How to Cook by Ginette Mathiot and her recipe for Navarrais Chicken, which is an easy chicken recipe in a tomato sauce. Stop by tomorrow for Memoir Monday, because I have a review of a memoir filled with great recipes!

The week in review...

Review of Knight of Passion by Margaret Mallory, a great historical romance I just loved. If you haven't all ready, enter the GIVEAWAY for 1 of 5 copies! Giveaway ends June 28th.

Review of the Kid-friendly, Adult enjoyable Alison Dare graphic novels by J. Torres & J. Bone, as part of the Alison Dare Blog Tour hosted by Tundra Books. You can enter to win an Alison Dare prize package by taking Alison on her own adventure! Get all the details on my post, plus take a peek at what adventure I found Alison Dare climbing to!


The Kobo eReader has landed in homes around the US this week! One landed in mine too! This week I'll let you know what I think of this new eReader- the good, the bad & the ugly! So far, I'm liking it! I don't think it's going to "kill the Kindle", (why are industry people always looking for that eReader that will "kill the Kindle"?) But it's seems to be a great "bare bones" eReader at a great price. More on that this week...


And I know it's Father's Day, but don't forget the women today... there's still time to enter the GIVEAWAY for the unabridged audiobook of Put Your Crown On by Queen Latifah. That giveaway ends June 26th.

Hope you've found something to whet your appetite this week! In the meantime... Happy reading!

6 comments:

Book Bird Dog said...

Waiting for your review of the Kobe eReader! I like the price and if it's reader friendly and non-glary, then I might just get one!

Suzanne Yester said...

Hi Helen!
Yes, it's really much nicer than I thought it would be. I've been playing with it for the last few days and enjoying it. The design is similar to the Kindle 2 and the back of the Kobo is a quilted design which makes it nice to hold... (mini review):-) Am going outside to read with it today...

Wendy said...

Thanks for sharing your cookbook favorites. I love cookbooks, too. I have the Fix It and Forget It ...and it is quite dogeared now. I need to go find Recipes from an Italian Summer - that one is really calling out to me!

bermudaonion said...

I've got Fix-It and Forget-It and I'm anxious to try out some of the recipes in it. Recipes from an Italian Summer looks really good to me. We're having a cook-out for Father's Day, but it'll just be the two of us and a neighbor.

Aisle B said...

Great give aways and after reading the first bits of recipe books, I'm salivating at the mouth! Love to cook but LOVE to EAT MORE!

Have a great Father's Day!

PK Reeves
Aisle B

PS the graphic novel for Alison Dare looks great!

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

These all sound delicious! I'm glad I just ate, or I'd be searching for snacks! Plus, I just made a big potato salad for later...a combination of my mother's and my daughter's recipes.

Today my daughter called and wished me "Happy Father's Day," which is sweet. She has always said that I was both mother and father to her.

Even though she has a father...

But we won't go there!

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