On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 09:16:50 -0800, "SteveB" <toquerville@zionvistas>
wrote:

>I have a friend in California who is a real chef. She's a dear, and a hard
>worker. They are retired now, and her kitchen is like on TV. Viking,
>Dacor, Wolf, you know. BUT THE WOMAN CAN COOK.
>
>Coming from a medical career, she also is very conscious of fats and
>cholesterol and everything else that tastes good, sometimes being annoying.
>We go visit them a couple of weeks a year, and it is like going to a resort.
>Playing golf, eating good on the hilltop patio, driving around in a Ferrari,
>Maserati, or Porsche.
>
>I come home and have this thing that I'm going to eat healthier, and learn
>to cook like her. Lots of her stuff is very simple, but tasty beyond
>description. Lots of it is Italian or European in nature, as they traveled
>there a lot.
>
>Are there some starter cookbooks and ways I can get headed in a new
>direction away from pork chops and fried potatoes and gravy? I do cook lots
>of more complicated stuff, but at times, I just have a mental block when
>thinking of what to prepare for dinner, and grab what's easy and I know.
>
>Maybe I'll ask for a particular cookbook this Christmas. Which one?
>
>Steve
>


I have found "Williams-Sonoma: Essentials of Healthful Cooking" a
delightful collection of recipes. It is also easy to find a used copy
searching on half.com or Abe Books.

Boron