Spring by Kathryn White
Showing posts with label Cookbooks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cookbooks. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Summer Cookbooks and other Library Lovelies

If your summer includes canning, you will love this book!
Canadian author, Yvonne Tremblay, spent summers on a farm in Saskatchewan where canning was a normal part of growing up.
Yvonne recalls that it all started with her grandmother, Margaret Stefan, 'whose kitchen was a source of warmth for body and soul and of good things to eat.'
Yvonne concludes her introduction this way:
"We want to capture summer tastes to savor in the off-season. We want to reconnect with some of the simpler things in life, and feed our souls too.
We want to give presents that reflect a part of ourselves.
We love homemade. We love bread and jam."
This cookbook is so detailed with simple to understand instructions, mouth-watering recipes accompanied by fabulous photos of jams, jellies, marmalades, conserves, fruit butters and chutneys.

If you want to preserve the essence of summer, you will love this home preserving cookbook. Although this book is from the library, I plan to invest in my own copy to use and hand down to my daughters:


Have you heard of the modern Pioneer Woman?
If you love down on the farm goodness you will love this cookbook as well as Ree Drummond's blog,
The Pioneer Woman

I love what Ree shares in her introduction:
"I love cooking. I love raising a family. And I love country life. It isn't worry free or cushy. It isn't seamless, easy or without challenges. But it's perfect for me....It's a daily reminder of a simpler time-a time when folks worked the land, when take-out food was the exception, not the rule, and when decency, kindness, and hard work were the measure of a person's success..."

And my library book pile which is filled with wonderful reading, including cookbooks and food memoirs both of which are favourite reads of mine:

(click to enlarge for titles, all of which can be found with reviews at amazon)

Monday, June 28, 2010

Summertime and the livin' is easy....or is it?

It seems that just when I think the days are going to be more relaxing, there is something else on the agenda. It has been three weeks of busyness both during the day and in the evenings with extra shifts at the library, library course assignments, doctors appointments, dental visits, graduation of my niece K, end of school functions, birthdays, church activities, getting together with friends, helping our son get ready for his big adventure in Alberta where he will be working
for the summer before heading off to university in the Fall.
Thankfully he is in the wonderful hands of our friends, Brian and Carmen,
who will take him in like he is family!
He phoned us yesterday to say that he is settling in
and enjoying the drier climate in the beautiful city of Edmonton.
Today is his first official day of work.
I left the house this morning at 8 am for another dental appointment (youngest daughter's braces), went grocery shopping and garden centre browsing/buying, came home to do laundry and put groceries away, then prepare a lovely lunch to enjoy with my three girls
, who all happen to be home during the lunch hour
which is rare due to their shift work.
I am telling you...
it is revolving doors around here:)
So we took advantage of this opportunity to have a relaxing lunch outside and enjoy some visiting, dining, chatting and reading before two of us head off to work again.
I have to leave for the library soon and am anticipating a busy afternoon shift
due to the TD Summer Reading Club that officially starts today at the library.
We had such an enjoyable lunch and all agreed again that salads are the way to go in the summer months. The temperature is around 27'c with a gentle breeze and just perfect for outdoor dining. Here's a quick peek before I head off...will share more about the books the girls are browsing through tomorrow...the joys of a library!

Great grilled chicken salad with fresh strawberries,
mandarin oranges and raspberry dressing:


A good strong cup of hazelnut java
and a wee bit of chocolate completes the lunch:

Fabulous Library Finds...stay tuned: