My Favorite Cookbooks...

When I was growing up, I would watch my mom read and cook and read some more. What, you might be asking, was she reading? Well, COOKBOOKS, of course! So, I come by my obsession naturally. At this point, I really need more bookshelves to house all the cookbooks and magazines that I've accumulated.

After having read 100s of cookbooks, they fall in to some specific categories for me... The basic cookbook (think Joy of Cooking), Ethnic Cookbooks, Prose Style cookbooks (The New Basics), and then, those ANNOYING cookbooks that are arranged by whole menus instead of by food type (breakfast, veggies, meat, etc). I really don't like cookbooks that presume I can't figure out what to serve with what. Do they think that without their help I'd served spaghetti and meatballs with fried rice? Give the reader a bit of credit! But, maybe they DO have their place for the VERY novice cook, like my 13 year old, for example.

My FAVORITE cookbooks as of late are: Julia and Jacuqes Cooking at Home, by Julia Childs and Jacques Pepin; I'm Just Here for the Food, by Alton Brown; The Cook's Book, by Jill Norman; and USA Cooking, by Sheila Lukins. All of these cookbooks offer more than recipes. They either have detailed instructions, small bits of history or both!

If you don't have these books, go now to your favorite bookseller and buy them.

What are some of your favorites? Let me know, so I can expand my library.

Peace and Happy Eating....

WELCOME!!!

Greetings fellow Miamians! My name is Elizabeth and I'm a professed foodie. I love to cook, talk about food, read cookbooks, and learn about new foods. I'm originally from Louisiana, grew up in the Midwest, and moved to Miami about 10 years ago. My food experiences have been varied to say the least... from Cajun, Creole, traditional Southern, Midwestern (is that really even a cuisine?!) and now, Latin American. I created this blog to chat with others about great food happenings in and around Miami. Especially interesting to me are the "out of the way" restaurants, food shops, etc, that seem to be constantly ignored by the bigger news outlets. At times one would think that there are no good restaurants west of the Gables. Now, while I can agree that it's a bit harder to actually find really good food in West Dade, and the plethora of chains is staggering, there are some truly GREAT places to dine!

Some of the other things I'll be posting are recipes that I love, and cookbook reviews.

I can't wait to hear what you all have to say!