'cooking'

Cookbook Club // Tues, July 13 @ noon
Each month, a cookbook from the library collection is selected. Each person brings their dish to share with the group and talk how they made it, what they thought about the recipe they chose, and if they would do anything differently. Enjoy lunch and good company! Sign up at the library or email Robyn. More information...

Home is where the eggs are

Farmhouse food for the people you love
by Molly Yeh 

641.5 YEH 

A beautiful, intimate book by a beloved Food Network host and new mom living on a sugar beet farm in East Grand Forks, MN. They’re low-maintenance dishes that are satisfying to make for weeknight meals to celebrate empty to-do lists after long workdays, cozy Sunday soups to simmer during the first (or seventh!) snowfall of the year, and desserts that will keep happily under the cake dome for long enough that you will never feel pressure to share. 

The Naked Chef

by Jamie Oliver 

641.5 OLIVER 

In this extraordinary cookbook, Jamie takes all of the trade secrets he has accumulated since he started cooking at age eight and distills them into a refreshingly simple style that works for people who are passionate about food, but don't always have a lot of time, money, or space. The Naked Chef sums up the idea of stripping food back to the bare essentials.  

From Crook to Cook

by Snoop Dogg 

641.5 DOGG 

You've seen Snoop Dogg work his culinary magic on VH1's Emmy-nominated Martha and Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party, and now he is up in your kitchen with his first cookbook. Snoop's giving a taste of the high life with remixes on upper echelon fare such as Lobster Thermidor and Filet Mignon. And of course, no party is complete without that Gin and Juice and other platinum ways to entertain. 

Gilmore Girls: The Official Cookbook

by Elena P. Craig 

641.5 CRAIG 

Features dishes from every corner of Stars Hollow and beyond, including the Dragonfly Inn, Weston’s Bakery, Al’s Pancake World, Luke’s Diner, and Emily and Richard’s dinner table. Fans will delight in recreating iconic dishes from the beloved series, such as Sookie’s Risotto, Mrs. Kim’s Flaxseed Muffins, Luke’s Cheeseburger and Fries, and, of course, the perfect cup of coffee! This official cookbook also includes clever cooking tips from Sookie, hosting tips from Michel, etiquette tips from Emily Gilmore, and the wisdom from Lorelai and Rory for cooking fast and talking faster. 

If you need help accessing any of these titles or using front door pickup, email or call us and we will be happy to assist you!

Check out new arrivals in our catalog: Books | Audiobooks | DVDs | Videogames | Library of Things | Libby

How important is the title and cover of a book? The title is first seen as part of the cover. How much does that cover influence the reader? Who makes the decision about how that will look. Is it the author or publisher?

Remember, the old adage of not judging a book by its cover? In the explanation of that English idiom, the word ‘alone’ is often added. So go ahead and take a good look at the cover and let that help decide if a deeper look will follow. It won’t be the only factor, but it does influence our choices.

That sounds so easy, but there is a huge amount of time, talent and thought that goes into a cover design. The author has lived inside the book for months, maybe years and knows the story inside and out and upside down. Publishers take a different approach by wanting a cover that will attract potential readers. An illustrator will add a creative talent that takes the words and puts flesh on them or creates an abstract concept of the story line. Publishers often win out though the more bestsellers an author creates, the more influence she’ll apply to the design.

Sometimes covers will change if books are reproduced. Publishers will want them to be more timely or if a movie has been produced then a still picture might be placed on the cover. Books considered classics may see many covers as different publishers take turns at reviving them, such as The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. 

Cookbooks with colorful covers of food catch my attention every time such as The Elder Scrolls by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel. There are also books that I can’t take home because I find the covers too scary. 

Yes, I’m easily influenced by covers but what about titles?

Titles are influential also. Authors with their publishers will decide on a title. I have an author friend who agreed to change the title of her book when the publisher thought her choice wasn’t mysterious enough.

Too many titles are the same or so similar that readers get confused. I prefer titles that are more distinct like The Poppy War by R.F. Kuan (great cover) and Ancestor Approved edited by Cynthia Leitch Smith.

The individual words in a title can catch a reader’s attention. For me some favorites are tree, sand, herbs or seeds which is why I picked up The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson. The cover is a picture of beading which is beautiful. The book is about seeds and plants. After picking it up and looking at it, I found that it takes place close to home--a good find for me based on a cover and title!

As you’re lacing up your shoes, ready to go outside and enjoy the sunny day, you see a bright flash and then – one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi – hear the low rumble of thunder. Rain? Today?! What a bummer! Lucky for you, your grown-up has just come back from the library and has a whole bunch of books they promise will keep you busy. Let’s see what they have, shall we?

Bigfoot: Spotted At World-Famous Landmarks by D.L. Miller (Easy 001.944 MILLER) You take a peek inside this book. Oh!  Look at the detailed pictures! And you have to find a teeny tiny Bigfoot hidden in each picture! These are just like mom’s falling apart, old Where’s Waldo books, but cooler and new. You could spend hours looking for Bigfoot, footprints, tour guides, and more. As you turn the page, you see that there’s facts, history, and real pictures of each world-famous landmark that Bigfoot visits. Did you know that the Statue of Liberty’s index finger is 8 feet long?

After you’ve found all of the Bigfoots, you turn to a goofy looking chapter book: Your Very Own Robot Goes Cuckoo-Bananas! by R.A. Montgomery (Junior MONTGOMERY) Hmm…The first page says “Read this first!!! Watch out! This book is different than every book you’ve ever read. YOU get to choose what happens next—and even how the story will end.” You like this idea. Nobody ever lets you choose anything. So you start reading about a whacky robot and his faithful kid until two things happen at the same time. Do you a. run toward the sound of a braking car? or b. go to Robot Cloning classes? For A. go to page 8, for B. page 10. You get to choose what happens through the whole book! You can even go back and re-read to see what COULD have happened. This is cool!

Okay, those were neat, but you’re getting a little antsy since you had to sit still for SO LONG. Your grown-up grabs Locomotion: March, Hop, Skip, Gallop, Run by Michael Dahl, illustrated by Beth Hughes (Easy 612.78 DAHL) and queues up some music from the book on their phone! You can read AND move along with the book!  

When you’ve made it through the whole book, your heart is racing. Your grown-up suggests that you try out Unicorn Yoga by Gina Cascone & Bryony Williams Sheppard, illustrated by Jennifer Sattler (Easy 613.7 CASCONE) to cool you off. Cat pose, cow pose, tiger and plank, there’s even one especially for you: child’s pose!

Whew! That was hard work. Good thing it’s time for lunch! You’re famished. You pull out Fish and Fowl: Easy and Awesome Sandwiches for Kids by Alison Deering and Bob Lentz (Easy 641.84 DEERING) and start paging through. Lox? EW! Tuna melt? Maybe. Chicken and waffles! YES! Your grown-up helps you gather ingredients and uses the oven to heat up the chicken. You toast the waffles, add some cheese, honey mustard and lettuce and then put it all together. YUM.

Now that you’ve refueled, you want to do something hands-on. You pull the last book out of the library tote bag. The Secret Files of Professor L. Otto Funn: Or Stop Being a Slug, Open This Book, and Make Your Brain Happy (745.5 GORS). This looks like fun, or should you say FUNN? You look through the projects and choose three to do: The Crayon Rock Cycle, Create Your Own Masterpiece, and Minotaur Mask. Your grown-up asks if you deliberately chose the messiest projects. (You did). You creates new things from old things and learn about earth science, painting, and mythology along the way.

The next thing you know, it’s time to clean up for supper. Where did the time go? You ask your grown-up about the forecast for tomorrow. Will there be rain again? 

Extra Rainy Day Book Suggestions:

• The Dangerous Book for Boys by Hal Iggulden (031.02 IGGULDEN)
• C.R.A.F.T.: Creating Really Awesome Free Things by Jamie Dorobek (745.5 DOROBEK)
• Knights and Castles by Christopher Gravett and Andrew Langely, Photographyed by Geoff Brightling and Geoff Dann (940.1 GRA)
• The Haunted Sanatorium: A Chilling Interactive Adventure by Matt Doeden and Mari Bolte (133.1 DOEDEN)