There is a new bible out for serious cooks. It is The New Best Recipe by the editors of Cook's Illustrated Magazine (ANF 641.5 NEW 2004).
The magazine and this book concentrate on the science of cooking rather than flashy pictures and the eating of the results.
There are one thousand recipes in this 1028 page book, all tested for choice of utensils, choice of ingredients and method of preparation.
Also included are 800 illustrations that show the best way to do everything from carving a turkey to frosting layer cakes.
I checked my method of beating egg whites and found out I should always use cream of tartar, and not just when I think of it.
Another little hint, my bake stone should be heated in the oven BEFORE I put the pizza on it to cook. No wonder my pizza results are so dismal.
If you are not a cook, you might want to try some of these books instead.
Say The Magic Words : How To Get What You Want From The People Who Have What You Need by Lynette Padwa. 2005. (ANF 658.812 PAD)
Here is a guide to all those daily encounters with the doctor, the school teacher, or the mechanic. This is the guide to the "magic words" that result in information and cooperation from 18 different professionals.
Away With The Fairies : A Phryne Fisher Mystery by Kerry Greenwood. Mystery. 2005. (MYS GRE).
It's the 1920s in Melbourne and Phryne is asked to investigate the puzzling death of a famous author and illustrator of fairy stories. One of 14 in the Phryne Fisher series, this is a mystery along the lines of Lord Peter Wimsey.
You Belong In A Zoo! : Tales From A Lifetime Spent With Cobras, Crocs, And Other Creatures by Peter Brazaitis. 2003. (ANF 636.0889 BRA)
Brazaitis went from high school directly to a job at the Reptile House of the Bronx Zoo and never looked back, ultimately becoming the curator of the Central Park Zoo. Catching alligators in New York, giant frogs in West Africa, and cobras on the loose were just part of a day's work to him.
Fires In The Dark by Louise Doughty. Fiction. 2004. (FIC DOU)
Set against the backdrop of the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, this story follows the lives of one Gypsy family trying to survive Hitler's plan to exterminate all of Europe's Gypsies.
The Darkest Part Of The Woods by Ramsey Campbell. 2003. Horror. (HOR CAM)
The lives of the Price family have been inextricably entwined with the fate of the ancient forest of Goodmans wood and its hallucinogenic moss. None can escape its demands.
Charlemagne's Tablecloth : A Piquant History Of Feasting by Nichola Fletcher. 2005. (ANF 394.12 FLE)
This is an eclectic collection of feasts from the flamboyant to the eccentric to the humble.
Included here are many historical incidents and anecdotes accompanied by numerous illustrations.
Crofton's Fire by Keith Coplin. 2004. Fiction. (FIC COP)
Crofton begins his military career in 1876 as a lieutenant at the Battle of Little Big Horn and over the next three years fights in a rebellion in Cuba and experiences the horrors of the Zulu war in East Africa.
Inventing Memory by Anne Harris. 2004. Fantasy. (FAN HAR)
Shula is a slave in Sumer until Inanna, Queen of Heaven appears before her.
Wendy Chrenko is a graduate student doing research for her dissertation on Inanna.
- For more information or to request books online, go to www.virl.bc.ca