Foodie's Faves

Sigh.  My four day weekend is rapidly coming to a close, but it's been an awesome few days.  Basically its consisted of a lot of hanging out with Hubs, blogging, watching mucho television and reading - sooooo wonderful.  I've been really trying to make an effort to get back to reading...ever since I was a little kid, I've always loved to read.  Every weekend my dad would drop me off at the local library and I'd spend all day there, rummaging through all the books.  I actually taught myself how to crochet from books I borrowed from the library!  Not that I can remember how now, but that's OK - that was over 30 years ago so whatev.  Anyways, with all the busyness that comes with building a career and going through the CGA program, I stopped reading...I'd would mayyybe read one book a year if I was lucky, hence one of my goals for 2010 was to read a book a month.  So happy to report I've hit my dozen, and might even make 15 if I'm lucky.  Go me! 

Anyways, along with my love of "regular" books, I loooooovvvee cookbooks.  LOVE.THEM.  I actually read them like books, flipping through page by page poring over the recipes and imagining what the recipes taste like.  Through the years I've collected close to a hundred...and the collection is growing bigger and bigger each year.  Hee hee.  Some women collect shoes, I collect cookbooks!  I thought I'd share a few of my favourites that are my go-tos, where pretty much everything I've made from them has been a success:

Eat Shrink and Be Merry (Janet and Greta Podleski):
I'd read a lot about this cookbook through one of my favourite internet sites so decided to pick it up - and sooo glad I did....it's awesome.  The recipes are easy, use commonly found ingredients and focus on tasting good while being healthy.  I would say I've made about half the recipes out of this book and they've all been winners.  The second cookbook in the series called Crazyplates has the best manicotta recipe - whenever I've made it, people go crazy.

The Joy of Cooking:
If anyone were to ask the one cookbook that every person should own, this would be it.  Lots of how-tos, and the recipes are great.  I would imagine they've been tested over and over again to make sure they're good.  I made the pasta e fagioli and oxtail soup recently and they were both delish.

The Best of Bridge/The Rest of the Best of Bridge/basically any of the "Bridge" Series:
My go-tos for good, homey stuff that's really tasty...everthing I've made has turned out and the desserts and baked goods are to die for.  There is a killer carmelized onion dip that will make you pass out from happiness.  Fo' real.

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking (Marcella Hazan):
Definitely a must have if you like Italian cooking - there's lots of instructions and valuable information - it's kind of like the Joy of Cooking for Italian food.

The America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook:
I'm a HUGE fan of the America's Test Kitchen/Cooks Illustrated folks...they're all about things tasting good, but a lot of the recipes are kinda high in fat.  Liberal use of bacon fat used - and while I love bacon, I don't love the artery clogging effect!  I picked up this cookbook recently at Costco and the stuff I've made so far has been really good...without the bacon fat!

Joy of Wokking/Yan Can Cook (Martin Yan):
So who does a little Asian lady turn to when she wants to cook Chinese?  My man, Martin Yan.  I bought these two cookbooks at a used bookstore and they have pretty much every Cantonese dish known to man in them.  I love scouring used bookstores for cookbooks - I always look for really old, out of print cookbooks and have found a few real gems along the way.  Ssshhhh...it's our secret now...

Vij's at Home (Vikram Vij):
I've waxed poetic about this already, so I won't go on and on and on again.  Buy it.  Now.

UPDATE:  I just bought the Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That?  cookbook tonight and I can't decide what to make first.  It may make my list of faves soon!  Costco always gets the new cookbook releases and the prices are fantastic.  Just sayin'.