Cookbooks for 2010

Before I get into our books for 2010, I wanted to report on the efficiency and accuracy of the SleekSlice mandoline that I now own. Hurray! I found one that works and is only $20! The serrated blade does the trick to create very thin slices. It does NOT have a variety of blades that the OXO mandoline has so it's a single function mandoline, but I have graters of all sizes already and use my different Cuisinart blades as well. I purchased mine at Sur la Table. Their return policy is that if I'm not happy with their equipment or device I may return it at any time. This policy has allowed me to experiment with mandolines until I found the one I was happy with. They are having a sale right now so it's a good time to shop there.

The votes are in and we have chosen our cookbooks for 2010. We are only doing 3 cookbooks this year because of a planned trip to the Grass Valley area to have a brunch and dinner at Sharon’s home by the lake.

For our first dinner on March 20, we will be cooking from New Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies, Najmieh Batmanglij or her other book, A Taste of Persia. A Taste of Persia is in the Santa Clara County Libraries and is only $13.57 at amazon.com. The New Food of Life book is not at our local library, so if you want this book, you’ll have to ask the library to purchase one for you. Or you can buy one, $29.67 from amazon.com.

Our second event will be a weekend in Lake Wildwood sometime in May-June. We will be preparing foods from our own repertoire or from cookbook magazines. Members will bring recipes of their dishes to share and we will reprint them in the blog after the event. I believe the group wants to make the brunch a bakery themed meal. We had considered The Village Baker’s Wife book by Gayle Ortiz of Gayle’s Bakery in Capitola, CA. but it turns out to be a pretty expensive book, $35 for a singly themed book so we decided to forgo this one.

Our August dinner will be from another Thomas Keller cookbook, Ad Hoc at Home. This book is available through the SC Co. Library and is $28-31.50 from amazon.com. Keller’s books are always written in great detail down to the kind of salt to use. This guarantees that our versions will be pretty close to his. All we need is time since his dishes typically have several steps to them. This book should be easier than his French Laundry book however!

Our October dinner will be from an old favorite: Zuni Café Cookbook by Judy Rodgers. It’s available through the Santa Clara County Libraries or $2.98 plus shipping, used, from amazon.com (or $23.10 new). If you haven’t purchased this book, you’ll now learn how to make her amazing roast chicken! Zuni Café is a very popular restaurant in San Francisco that has survived several economic downturns so you know the food is good!

Our last dinner in December is always a Holiday Buffet and spouses/guests are invited. We each bring a dish that does not require a knife; from one of the cookbooks we’ve used this past year.

I may try to put together a restaurant field trip again this year. I’ve met some new chefs who are interested in working with us.