Food books, glorious food books!

Okay, that was a lousy Oliver Twist, but I did want to show off the new additions to my cooking library. I hear from my sister that I am a hard person to buy for in the kitchen department, though she did manage to find an adorable little sushi set for my birthday that I love. But cookbooks? Ah, I do have definite favorites as far as authors and subjects. But I am also a sucker for deeply researched or gorgeously photographed books by authors unknown and cuisines uncooked.

I’ve been collecting the Könemann Culinaria books for a few years and I was having trouble finding three or four of them. I had even written to the publisher in Germany to find out about the status of the books. The public relations person sent me a lovely email and told me about Daedalus Books. They have a wealth of titles in all fields and they are apparently the main buyer of the Culinaria series in the U.S. Anyway, I mentioned it to Keifel and told him which ones I didn’t have and lo and behold (despite the fact that he told me they were out of stock on those particular books and he had gotten other titles) the last three I wanted were under the tree. Plus, he had found the Könemann book on wine on the remainders table at Davis Kidd and bought that as a true surprise (as I didn’t even know it existed).

My other big gift was a Ken Onion Shun chef’s knife. I drooled over it at work at the Pannery. It is a thing of beauty and sharp, sharp, sharp. It has the perfect curve and I love the way it rocks on the board. It’s one of those knives that is so beautiful it makes you think maybe you should paint the cabinets.

Yum!

I love the books from Keifel and my mom and the three I purchased for myself (The Cinnamon Club, The Illustrated History of French Cuisine, Eggs) and I am over the moon about my knife, but the gift that made me cry was the mug the boychick painted for me to replace the one I dropped and broke.

I tried to get it at the right angle but inside it says, “The Best Chef and Mom”

That makes a girl feel truly special.