• My Picks. - My two top picks for books are The Seasons On Henry’s Farm, and New England Soup Factory Cookbook.

The first book is not really a cookbook. It’s more about your food, and the constant planning, planting and picking that goes on in a farm, specifically Henry’s Farm.  The book The Seasons On Henry’s Farm – A Year of Food and Life on a Sustainable Farm by Terra Brockman was a fascinating peak inside the lives of Henry Brockman, brother to Terra Brockman and the entire Brockman family (including Terra) as they work Henry’s farm for a whole year.  The book starts out talking about the soil and whether they will get the garlic in, and ends the next fall talking once again about whether they’ll be able to get the garlic in the ground in a small space of time when the ground dries out enough to plant, but hasn’t frozen yet. In between, we learn about preparing the vegetables that are going to the market, planning the farm market stands, gathering vegetables for the csa and the downtime  of taking a nap in the truck on the way to the market for an extra hour of sleep. The winter time is still very filled with work, building the hoop houses for planting the seeds early in the year in order to have a head start on the other gardens.  Then into the Spring and the Olympic summer gardening where they’re racing against time and daylight to get everything done during their heaviest producing part of the growing season.

Throughout the book Terra has sprinkled some family recipes to go with the produce they grow.  I love how she defines the vegetables and fruit that are a little too ripe, or have a bad spot as forus.  They save it for themselves, clean it up and use whatever they can.  This part always reminded me of my grandmother’s toy and card store – the toys with the broken boxes, or having a missing piece (nothing important) or a ripped lid, became forus also. Terra Brockman has a way of describing what she sees, smells and feels as she works the farm, that makes you fall in love and yet feel all the aches at the end of the day from all the hard work.  It’s not a book that romanticizes the garden, but it makes you know how they feel about the land they work.  The Brockmans don’t use the chemicals for pesticides, or fertilizers, they encourage you to bring your own bags for your groceries, and try to find ways to work things out for the long run betterment, not the quick fix. 

The farm is family run, and family is such and important part of this book.  Terra tells about her father and his physical health issues that plague him, about the death of her grandmother, and her relationships with her siblings.  It’s important to see how important even the kids are to the farm and how much of an impact it has when they go back to school at the end of the summer, but also how even the smallest can do small things to help out – big things too.

My words for describing this book are so inadequate for how I feel about it.  I want to own this book, and keep it forever, but also share every word, it’s that good.  Terra Brockman is such a gifted writer.  My Grade – A and two dozen pluses wouldn’t be enough.  This book is a treasure.

New England Soup Factory Cookbook: More Than 100 Recipes from the Nation’s Best Purveyor of Fine Soup by Marjorie Drucker and Clara Silversteinis a great book too.  Soup is a staple in my home and it’s one of my favorite meals to prepare. This book is very well laid out, starting with the basics of broth making.  It has all the favorites when it comes to soup, like chicken, tomato, chowders, all the soups you would expect.  Then of course there is the pumpkin soups, the bisques, the vegetarian soups – soups different enough to feel like you’re really trying something new. The last part of the book deals with sides, and sandwiches, because soup needs a little something on the side.  The photos are fantastic and drool worthy, the pages glossy and the book nicely laid out.  Here’s something –  I made the Pumpkin and White Bean soup.  My idea of what this soup would taste like was no where close to the actual results.  This soup raised our expectations to a to a higher level, seriously. These people are the experts at developing the flavor of soup. My grade A+

• Baking - I have two baking books on my list. Baking Books should be an essential in every person’s library.

The Baking Answer Book – Solutions to Every Problem You’ll Ever Face, Answers to Every Question You’ll Ever Ask by Lauren Chattman . I liked this book, though I only got to see a pre-published copy that was a little rough looking.  However, the important part of the book had to do with every baking problem you can think of.  It is laid out in a question and answer form, but also it is divided into sections. The sections are ingredients, equipment, science for bakers, know your oven, and then into all the different type of baking products – quick breads, cookies, cakes, pies, etc, and ending with metrics and high altitude baking. Each section addresses the basics of that section and gives a recipe.  Sprinkled throughout are drawings.

Baking to me is more science than the other forms of cooking and more precise in the order, quantity, and quality of ingredients, as well in which ingredients to use. Sometimes you can follow directions – and still somehow end up with a different product than intended.  This book will help you see where you went wrong and how to correct any issues.  That’s the real value in this book, figuring out how to make it come out perfectly the next time.  My grade B +.

The Food Allergy Mama’s Baking Book: Great Dairy-, Egg-, and Nut-Free Treats for the Whole Family by Kelly Rudnicki  The title pretty much covers it.  These are baking recipes that don’t use dairy, egg or nuts.  It basically takes the recipes you love and substitutes for those ingredients you need to avoid. I actually like that it shows us how to redo blueberry bread, or pizza, or cookies.  Kids are wary of strange looking meals and foods.  If a kid has an allergy, sometimes they feel alienated from others.  If you provide baked goods that look like what they have in their own homes, they won’t think twice about eating it. I’m serious, I’ve made plenty of meals the kids just rolled their eyes at.  Soft cover book, with beautiful glossy pics.  My grade A.

• Elegance and Entertaining – these books are for making meals that you would serve when you want to create something with a wow factor or maybe you just like to look at food creations with a wow factor.  The sales of each of these books will benefit a charity of their choice.

Park Avenue Potluck Celebrations: Entertaining at Home with New York’s Savviest Hostesses Compiled by Florence Fabricant and the Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.   The recipes in this are organized by holidays.  First you get a menu, lovely table setting pictures, and then each recipe in the menu along with a little paragraph about the special remembrance when this menu item was made and some personal serving suggestions. While the book exudes Elegance and Entertaining, the recipes look reasonable and not too difficult to prepare, using ingredients from your local grocery store.  This is a nice size hard cover book, with lovely pictures and very clear directions.  There are pictures, but I wish there were more. It focuses more on the table settings than the food.  Sprinkled throughout are entertaining tips, and ideas.  The sales of this book benefits Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Society.  My grade A-.

The Bryant Family Vineyard Recipes From Great Chefs and Friends by Barbara Bryant and Betsy Fentress – This is more of a coffee table size book than a regular cookbook. I love that every recipe is paired with a wine, so you know exactly what to serve.  All of the recipes were provided by acclaimed chefs and friends, inspired by the Cabernet Sauvignon that the Bryant Family Vineyard is known for.

First produced in 1992, the Bryant Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys the reputation of a "cult favorite" among wine connoisseurs and has a waiting list of over 6,000. As Park B. Smith of Veritas Restaurant noted in the foreword: "All of the chefs who have contributed to this book are artisans of their vocation. Their culinary delights are best appreciated, however, when teamed with the art of a winemaker. Food and wine are natural complements to one another." The Bryant Family Vineyard Cookbook helps readers achieve the ideal marriage of food and wine with helpful information on pairing each dish with a complementary wine.

The recipes are well laid out and anyone can prepare them.  Great vineyard and wine pictures throughout.  Lovely recipes, good for entertaining.  I didn’t count, but I think there is a high percentage that involve mushrooms.  So if you like mushrooms, this is definitely the book for you, they aren’t in the desserts though. No pictures of the actual food to judge by, which is a negative for me, but the book is really a quality book. Some of the proceeds will be donated to the Bowery Mission. Great Gift for the wine, fine food and mushroom connoisseur.  My grade B +.

Elegant Entertaining Seasonal Recipes From the American Ambassador’s Residence in Paris. - This is definitely a coffee table book.  It combines the history of the American Embassy with the idea of entertaining in France with French Chefs.  Plenty of the Residence pictures, plenty of food and entertaining pictures.  The book is organized by holidays and it describes all of the different traditions with a French twist to the menu.  These recipes are  elegantly prepared, and displayed using out of the ordinary ingredients.  Nice book for someone who likes history and traditions along with French/American cooking.  My grade A-

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