Not sold as a cookbook but one of my new faves about food is Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral." It reflects growing your own food, something our family has done.The recipes are good and the memories finely tuned. The title harkens to the road trips of my youth in the back of a station wagon playing the hand game of rock, paper, scissors and twenty questions with my family.







DaughterChelsea gave me The Foster's Market Cookbook after I visited her in Chapel Hill where she lived while attending the University of North Carolina. We both enjoy the healthy recipes in this cookbook that reflect a regional cuisine that is both traditional and new.







Mother-in-law Nell gave me two new cookbooks for my birthday from The Inn at Little Washington.One, A Consuming Passion and the other Patrick O'Connell's Refined American Cuisine are inspiring and I know I'll enjoy them for years to come.





My first cookbook is the Australian and New Zealand Complete Book of Cookery. Given to me in 1974 by Bruce and Janet Adams, my favorite Rotary host family, the cookbook reminds me of the year I learned to eat lamb, tomatoes, mushrooms and strawberries and had my first Chinese "takeout" meal.

Another favorite is Of Magnolias and Mesquite a Menu Cookbook of Simple Elegance by Suzanne Corder and Gay Thompson. This one I borrowed from my cousing Terry in 1985. I have often doubled the "Twosome for Lunch" menu that features Chicken Imperial with Asapragus and Spaghetti and a Red Leaf Lettuce with Creamy Vinaigrette salad. Whether it's dinner for two or twenty this cookbook offers great ideas and menus.

A trip to Texas netted my introduction to The Dove's Nest in Waxahachie and their famous Goat Chese and Pesto Torta. Other favorites from their cookbook include The Dove's Nest Chicken Apricot Salad and White Chili.







Our annual Christmas Turkey Fry features Bloody Marys from Tom Perini's Texas Cowboy Cooking Cookbook. The Cowboy Bloody Mary can be made by the glass or the pitcher. I make it in a coffee urn to serve a crowd. It includes horseradish and is garnished with pickled okra! I enjoyed the food and atmosphere at the Perini Ranch Steakhouse in Buffalo Gap, Texas in 1994.




Back in the 1980s a favorite restaurant was La Casa Sena in the historic Sena Plaza in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico. I bought their cookbook and have adapted their Catalina Enchilada recipe to suit our family's love for Mexican dishes. I don't think they serve it anymore but it's a favorite for all of us.