We found the results interesting when a group of local friends and food lovers submitted their Favorite Cookbook recommendations. Of the 87 cookbooks, these are the recipients of more than one vote. Please take the time to leave a reply with your favorites and as a reward we will email you the list of the most popular cookbooks.  The Jame Beard Foundation recently published a list of “The Baker’s Dozen,” a list of the thirteen best baking cookbooks of all time.  You can examine that list here.

4 Votes: “Silver Palate Cookbook” by Rosso and Lukins
3 Votes: “The Best Recipe and The New Best Recipe” by Cook’s Illustrated
3 Votes: “Joy of Cooking” by Rombauer
2 Votes: “Molto Italiano” by Batali
2 Votes: “The Better Homes and Garden Cookbook” by BH&G
2 Votes: “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” by Child
2 Votes: “The Way to Cook” by Child
2 Votes: “Crème de Colorado” by Junior League
2 Votes: “Emeril 20-40-60 Cookbook” by Lagasse
2 Votes: “Favorite Recipes of American Home Economics Teachers” by Stovall, Carlson et al.
Tim’s Submission: “The Art of Eating Well” by Artusi

What’s your Favorite Cookbook? Post a Comment with your picks!

Click the Comments link below to submit.

I came across this at neatorama.com. – tg

I’d better make a quick disclaimer on this one: sometimes there are many theories as to how a phrase came about. These 12 explanations are just some of the possible origins. We’ve been using some of these phrases for so long that we’ve lost the original meanings, so our explanation of them is based on the the best guesses of linguists and historians. Take the explanations with a grain of salt (haha).

1. “Not worth his salt.” In Roman times, salt was a highly valued commodity used for trading. To say a soldier was not worth his salt was the same as saying he wasn’t worth his salary; he was absolutely worthless. Photo from What’s Cooking America.

2. “Pie in the sky” is actually only half of the phrase – the whole thing is “there’ll be pie in the sky when you die,” and it’s a sarcastic remark that means heaven is a silly notion.

3. Money is sometimes called “dough” or “bread” because money is what puts the bread on the table. By that logic, the two are basically interchangeable.

4. “Egg on your face” may come from the times of Victorian live theater. While we’re most familiar with the fall guy getting a pie in his face, Victorian theater had the embarrassed party getting raw eggs cracked over his head. However, another explanation suggests that people who eat eggs often get yolk all over their faces, which is embarrassing. Photo from DippingEgg.com.

5. “Won’t amount to a hill of beans” (or the like) comes from the practice of planting bean seeds in clumps in a mound of soil (the hill). This is a very small hill indeed, so saying you won’t amount to a hill of beans is pretty insulting.

6. “Apple of my eye” is thought to have originated from an old English idea that the pupil of the eye was solid, like an apple. So the “apple of my eye” is the pupil of my eye. I guess that sort of poetically means what catches my attention most.

7. “Cool as a cucumber” exists because the high water content of a cucumber keeps them pretty cold. Lettuce and celery both have high water contents as well, but I guess “cool as lettuce” doesn’t have the same ring to it. Photo from FoodMomiac.

8. “Cream of the crop” is because if you have a pail of freshly-squeezed milk, the cream will rise to the top of the pail because of the high fat content. Since cream is so rich and delicious, it’s considered the best – so if you’re the cream of the crop, you’re obviously the best!

9. “Top banana” and “Second banana” probably come from the same place. The term comes from the early 1900s vaudeville days, and may have come from comedian Frank Lebowitz, who used bananas in his act.

10. “The greatest thing since sliced bread” is pretty self-explanatory – how great is it to just pull out a couple of pieces of bread and not have to be bothered with getting out a knife and trying to cut even slices without hacking up the loaf? It’s hard to believe, but pre-sliced bread actually wasn’t really a practice until 1928 and wasn’t marketed until 1930 by Wonder Bread.

11. “Cut the mustard” has always seemed pretty strange to me, but it actually makes sense: it means to be up to a challenge. And if you think about it, cutting mustard? Pretty difficult. Photo from English Shop.

12. “Dollars to doughnuts” means “most assuredly,” which I explain because I’m not sure how common it is. I use it, but I don’t know if it’s weird midwest slang or what. An example would be, “Dollars to doughnuts, Heath Ledger is going to win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.” Anyway, it comes from the fact that if you’re willing to bet dollars to something that’s essentially worthless (although Homer Simpson would probably argue with you), you must be pretty sure that you’re right. Variations include dollars to buttons, cobwebs and dumplings.

Here in Bend, particularly interesting is the rumor that some those formerly employed by Jody Denton will be taking over the old Merenda space. They hope to reopen by mid-March.  There is also a rumor that McCormick & Schmick’s will open in the old that space.  I hope that downtown will not become dominated by the chains.  The first McCormick & Schmick’s started in Portland in 1979 and now have over 80 locations nationwide.

A Deschutes Brew I'm Sure

The most recent issue of Forbes magazine has ranked American cities on how much their citizens drink and how often they drink. The West Coast was well represented with San Francisco in second place (Austin, Texas got first), Seattle tied for eighth, and Portland in the thirteenth spot. Portland has more microbreweries per capita than anyplace else in the USA, or so I’m told. With the addition of the fine wines now being produced in Oregon, the ranking of Portland in the Nation’s top 15 is probably well deserved.

On a related note, I ran across a blog “Beer for Chicks,” written by Christina Perozzi. Christina Perozzi is considered by many to be one of the top female beer experts on the West Coast. She is also an industry consultant and beer sommelier. When asked what her favorite alcoholic beverage was, she replied, “I always answer the question, but I always preface it with what I’m about to say to you now: I refuse to be bound by this choice, and I reserve the right to change or modify this favorite beer choice at any point in the future, including five minutes from now. That being said, my favorite beer right now is Deschutes Black Butte Porter from Bend, Ore.” Score one for the home team!

Every so often, someone will say the have a son, daughter, or acquaintance who is interested in a job in the culinary field. Often the advice I give is very simple. “Do they like long hours and hard work?” But recently I came a cross a good article in the New York Daily News. I particlarly liked Marcus Samuelsson’s comment: “In the beginning, it’s as simple as life skills: Showing up on time or early, making sure you dress properly, addressing people that you work for properly. You’re an assistant in that kitchen, so really what matters is for you to have a great attitude. Somebody’s going to take notice of that and give you a chance.” Read more here.