Saturday, November 20, 2010

Seriously Selling Books

(My organic, buy-local hero,  Alice Waters)
      One of my dear friends is the brains behind our (now 2nd) annual Christmas Bazaar.  Last year she made me make chocolate covered pretzel sticks and cookies.  This year she asked if I would be in charge of a used book sale as part of the bazaar.  Well, that is right up my alley so it took about two seconds to say yes.
     So here I've been for the last three hours, selling books at rock-bottom prices.  We are a church filled with readers so the book selection is stellar-really!   I have a stack right next to me of excellent titles I just couldn't pass up.  Two are cookbooks:  Chez Panisse Desserts by Lindsey Remolif Shere with a preface by Alice Waters and illustrated by Wayne Thiebaud.  I'm buying it because I trust Ms Waters so much but also because it has recipes like Nutmeg Geranium Ice Cream,  Langues De Chat and an entire chapter on just chocolate. 
     The other cookbook is a spiral-bound book called Screen Cuisine with a really silly illustration on the front.  I couldn't find an image of it and I don't have a fancy phone to snap a picture to share.  I happened to browse through it and discovered it was published by the National Film Society.  The list of recipes arefrom  a cornucopia of famous people such as  Rosemary Clooney's Viennese Goulash, Newman's Own Marinated Steak,  Carol Burnett's Fresh Peach Souffle and Dean Martin's "Dean's Chix Dish."  Wow-this is a classic. After each recipe is their "signature."  I have to buy it just for the amusement.  Only at a church bazaar could you find two such amazing recipe books.    My husband, of course, rolled his eyes at the amount of books I brought home!  You can't beat 50 cents a book. 
     This post is part of Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking.  She reviewed The Wine Trials; 2011-a fantastic book about blind taste testing a variety of wines and their rankings.  I know it is a useful book because I have the first edition-2008.  My thoughtful husband gave it to me as a birthday and I still use it.  A gift that keeps on giving!  Even though I haven't tried all the wines in my version I'd love to take a look at this newer version.  Thanks Beth Fish for a great reveiw!

2 comments:

Beth F said...

Well Alice Waters is a must buy. She's a hero of mine too. I love what she has done to bring awareness to people and for children.

The Hollywood book is just too good to pass up. I think I'll keep my eye out for that -- but the chances of finding it in Pennsylvania are pretty slim, I bet.

Diann @ The Thrifty Groove said...

Well, it sounds like they put the perfect person in charge of seeling the books! The Screen Cuisine would have been snatched up by yours truly if I had seen it. It just sounds like a really fun read!