Today was the first day of my local library's used book sale. For
once I got there early and joined the ranks of the hard-core used-book
sellers and random townies like me who hope they can get the good
stuff before someone else does :-)

Twenty minutes and $15 later, I waltzed out with ten cookbooks.

Now, when you "shop" at a fund-raiser like this and at high speed,
competing with the pro's for books, you end up with some strange and
wonderful stuff. For instance,

_Fondue_Cookery_ by Alison Burt, ~1970. The very first recipe is the
standard traditional cheese fondue with kirsch. Much of the rest
looks yummy. Fondue: out of vogue not long thereafter, back in again
in the '90s, ignored again in the oughts, destined to be back in again
as soon as the next time I fire up my fondue pot again :-)

_The_Best_Bagels_ by Dona Meilach, 1995. Good basic bagels and the
thinking behind them and a host of good variations to try and
toppings.

_An_Encyclopedia_of_Chinese_Food_and_Cooking_ by <a bunch of authors>,
1970. A weird book with a weird recipe format:

A. Ingredient A
B. Ingredient B
etc.

Preparation:

Do something with A.
Do something else with B.
etc. with C, D, E, and so on.

Cooking:

Cook A like this
Add B like this
etc. with C, D, E, and so on.

Literally: As, Bs, Cs, used to compress the recipe into text so that
1000 of them fit into a 1 1/2 inch thick cookbook. A modern computer
nerd would be proud.

And a bunch of other cookbooks not worth mentioning particularly.

What I wanted to emphasize is simply this: Support your local
library. Especially In these tough economic times, they are frugal
and valuable oaseses of information.

--
Silvar Beitel
(very occasional poster)