A Christmas gift!

In a brief moment during the summer when we were able to socialise outside I saw my friends from the USA albeit briefly.

My friend brought with her a recent gift and what a vast tome! Here it is :

 

I was warned at the time not to buy it – now I know why – a wonderful Christmas gift and I've promised myself time out to really savour (sorry about the pun) this beautiful book. I should say that there are 958 pages and the anticipation of making my way through is exciting to say the least.

During our regular email exchanges leading up to the holidays, my friend in the USA said she was using recipes from the book for a pre-Christmas Dinner – here are her comments :

from her partner … “it was the best tenderloin he has had in his life”. To clarify - what the USA call tenderloin we in the UK call fillet.

My only complaint with the book is that I sometimes have difficulty finding what I remember reading on my first attempt.

My friend's complaint about the difficulty in finding stuff reminded me of my golden rule. If I'm trawling through a new cookery book I always follow the same pattern – I have small coloured (post-it style) markers and use them to flag recipes that I'm interested in – I know I'll never find what I'm looking for later – it's quicker and you don't get frustrated! It doesn't matter if you flag a recipe you then change your mind – with 958 pages it's the easiest way to remember what caught your attention. I passed on my tip!

She replied … Oh and by the way, thanks for the coloured marker tip … I have some and just never thought of using them. I have stupid torn pieces of paper marking pages. Colour coding will be great.

Another idea – has just occurred. This is a huge book and it won't be easy to prop the book to use a particular recipe – it's far too heavy and will eventually, with use, damage the spine. Here's a thought - photograph a recipe :

 

I used my tablet for the photograph – you can

either use your tablet for easy access or print out the

recipe if preferred

In addition to protecting the book I ask the obvious question - are you a messy cook? Sticky fingers when you're flustered and it's too late, your beautiful book is spoilt!

Coming up – hints and tips for next year