My All-Time Favorite Cooking Related Gifts

I know that my cooking mojo has subsided somewhat over the last couple of years.  I blame work, but maybe that isn't quite right.  I don't cook as much as I used to even when I have time off from school.  But when I do, I know where to look for inspiration -- and that brings me to five awesome gifts, all from family members over the years,which motivates me to put a delicious meal on the table without resorting to pulling something from Costco out of the freezer.

Let's start with three awesome cookbooks. 

My sister Margie gave me the Mexican Cook Book.  I was just starting to get into Mexican food when she gave me this sometime in the early 1980's.  As you may be able to tell, I have it held together with a rubber band because it has completely fallen apart.  I have searched online and can no longer find this particular book, and no other Mexican books have such delicious and easy recipes (even ones I bought in Mexico).  By far my favorite recipe is the Arroz con Pollo, but I also love Huevos y Chilaquiles, Mole Poblano, and Bistec Enrollado. Tasty Tasty Tasty!

In 1984, my brother Martin went to San Francisco and visited the California Wine Country before it was "THE California Wine Country."  He brought me home a bottle of Sebastiani Pinot Noir and the Wine Lovers Cookbook.  God, I love this book.  I have a dozen or so recipes in it at one time or another, and some over and over again.  I love the taste of wine in food, and these recipes rock.  The recipes range from soups to desserts, with everything in between. The cookbook available here and well worth it! 

My favorites from this book: Limehouse Chicken, Party Chicken Cacciatore, Spanish Fish,  Big Guy's Beef Stew, Stifado (Greek Stew), and San Francisco Crabmeat Spaghetti.  These are all terrific recipes when having guests.

And a side note.  Somewhere over the last few years there has been a quote drifting around attributed to Benjamin Franklin about beer being a sign that God wants us to be happy.  Well, in the Wine Lovers Cookbook the actual quote is presented.  Here it is:

We hear of the conversion of water into wine at the marriage, in Cana, as a miracle. But this conversion is, through the goodness of God, made every day before our eyes. Behold the rain, which descends from the Heaven upon our vineyards, and which enters into the vine-roots to be changed into wine; a constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy. -- Benjamin Franklin

Yes -- it's WINE, people.  Not beer.

The Fannie Farmer Cookbook is my cooking bible, and my true companion in the kitchen. It is an authentic cookbook because it tells you how to prepare every kind of meat, fish, vegetable, fruit, and more.  It provides all kinds of measurement equivalencies, and gives tips for storing and freezing every kind of food imaginable.  More than once I purchased some exotic looking vegetable at the grocery store or farmer's market and knew I'd be able to find out a whole variety of ways to cook it -- and even identify it if I didn't quite know what it was.  (Okay, sure, there is the internet.  But I love my cooking bible!)

My parents gave each of their children one of these cookbooks in 1979. Here is the inscription:

I didn't just add this to my library.  I have used it to the point several pages are spattered and stained; I have recipes collected from friends and relatives stuffed into the front cover as well as stuck in various places in the book.  When I see this book at one of my sibling's houses, I am always amazed how pretty and clean their cookbook is.  Guess it sat in the library as suggested.  Mine is a workhorse!  Chicken Marengo, Hungarian Goulash, Swiss Steak -- all those good comfort foods represented and more.  Every kind of pie and cookie and punch recipe.  How to cook up that perfect Thanksgiving turkey (okay, I admit -- that job usually falls to my husband or brother-in-law -- but I could do it if I wanted!!!)

Anyway, you get the idea.  

Now on to my favorite cooking implements.

For my 23rd birthday, my family pitched in and bought me this electric wok.  I was really into Chinese food and collected a ton of recipe books and found many favorites over the year.  These books taught me a lot about how to cut and cook food in different ways, and I loved blending the flavors and the ease of use.  Somewhere along the way my Chinese cookbooks have gone missing, so now I mostly use my wok for stir-fry.

This is by far my favorite way to cook. I have a wok that can sit on the stove, but it isn't as sturdy, nor is it as easy to use.  I love that I can control the temperature exactly on this thing, and that it is coated with Teflon, making it easy to clean.  I pray this wok never goes belly-up, because they no longer seem to make them. I have searched, but no longer can find electric woks anywhere.  I am glad this one was made in the 1970's when they were still making things to last.  If it were made even 20 years ago, I'm sure it would have been toast by now.

Here is a picture of the pork stir-fry I made for our Sunday dinner.

And finally, for Christmas 1984, my sister gave me a Crock-Pot (slow cooker).  It has been our Christmas Eve companion ever since. See, she gave me the gift on the 23rd of December that year, and I immediately planned a meal -- Boeuf Bourguignonne -- for Christmas Eve dinner. Ever since then, this Crock-Pot version of Beef Burgundy has been a standard.  I make it every Christmas Eve morning (sometime the day changes, depending on what is happening with the holidays that year), and it cooks all day.  Easy and delicious.  I use it throughout the year as well -- just made Beef Stroganoff last week when a recipe popped up on Facebook. I know slow cookers will continue to be popular, and I'll always be able to get a new one.

Consider this an entry under "C" for my Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life Collection.  For an explanation on exactly what that is, see my post Reflections on Kindness