I love to read cookbooks. So, I was happy to receive two for Christmas. Mr. MarthaAndMe bought me a wonderful local cookbook written by the recently retired food editor of the Buffalo News, Buffalo Cooks. I’ve only read a few pages, but am loving it. It contains recipes for local specialties (yes, that includes chicken wings, but also things you might not know about like chocolate covered sponge candy, kummelweck, fastnachts, and more) as well as recipes for many favorite Buffalo News recipes.
The other cookbook I received, from my mom, is Sarabeth’s Bakery, a famous restaurant/bakery in NYC, which has come out with their own cookbook. I haven’t looked through this one very much yet, but the pictures are great and I know I’m going to enjoy reading it and trying some things from it. 
It wouldn’t be the day after Christmas if I didn’t do a little shopping for myself, picking up the things I wanted that no one bought, so I bought myself Cooking in the South with Johnnie Gabriel. I love Southern food and am looking forward to going through that book (it hasn’t arrived yet).
I gave only one cookbook as a gift this year. I bought Teen Martha Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. She wants to “learn” how to cook. I don’t think she realizes she already knows how to cook, but just needs to develop some favorites and some techniques. This book ought to help. It’s a really nice book, with lots of interesting things mixed with standards. I might have to try 
a few things from it myself!
Last year I made a family cookbook for Christmas and gave it to my aunt, cousin, and her new daughter-in-law. It was made up of my grandmother’s recipes (she passed away last year and left me all her handwritten cooking notebooks). That was a big hit. I’m planning at some point to make up a big cookbook for my kids that will have recipes from both of my grandmothers, as well all of my recipes and the few recipes I have from Mr. MarthaAndMe’s family.
Did you give or get any cookbooks for Christmas? I would love to hear about them if you did!
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I did not do the cookbook thing this year, but what I want to tell you is that my husband went to law School in Buffalo and then practiced there for 3 more years. And I worked for the congressman who represented part of it and Niagara Falls for 7 or 8 years (insane=me). (One aside. That’s how I met my husband.) So we both know all about Buffalo food, my husband especially. Beef on weck was one of his favorites. He lived there during the blizzard of ’77. You are probably younger than us, so you may not have been there for that. When they were flying medicine and food and dropping it on people’s roofs, as the snow came up to their roofs. I guess you guys in NJ & NY can’t complain now after hearing that! Just wanted to mention it…
Oh those books look great. Love the Sarabeth’s Bakery one 🙂 I got a gift certificate to order what I wanted and selected “THE CLEANER PLATE CLUB”, “WHOLE GRAIN BREADS BY MACHINE OR HAND” (I saw her guest-star on a Martha’s Kitchen episode & loved this book when I got it from the library, “MAD HUNGRY!” is another I’ve been waiting to order. The only one I’d still like to get is HEALTY BREAD IN 5-MINUTES A DAY 🙂
Oh I remember it! I was in 3rd grade during the blizzard. In fact, My elementary school had to stay overnight but my uncle came and got me in his dump truck! Of course at the time I was upset to miss all the fun! We had no power for days at my parents’ rural home and slept in front of the fireplace and cooked in a chafing dish. It was quite an experience. We have photos of some of the snow banks. That was the storm when a dog decided to have her puppies under our porch and we ended up keeping them inside for a week until the animal shelter could come get them. I too went to law school here. As they say here, there’s always a Buffalo connection!
I have Mad Hungry – it’s great. I have to admit I returned Sarabeth’s. I looked through it and everything was infinitely complicated – first you had to make a special kind of dough then you made the recipe. I’m not into making my own puff pastry and it was all just too much for me. I read the Cooking in the South one last night though and OMG I am going to make half the book. I didn’t realize she is Paula Deen’s cousin. That says it all!
Looks like you made a wonderful haul this year! I didn’t get any new cookbooks, but my husband did get me a food processor for my birthday, which is just before Christmas. Now I need to learn how to use it!
I got one too. My Cuisinart broke over the summer. I’ve been making pie crusts by hand, and chopping everything. Huge pain. So I was thrilled to get a new – only to find out it was broken! I just took it back today and got a replacement so am finally ready to roll.