What is yours?

I got my favorite as "points gift" when I had a Tupperware party in 1977. It's a Better Homes and Gardens three-ring binder type. Red/white checked covers.

I use it for EVERYTHING from how to perk coffee to making Zucchini Cheese Casserole...and it SHOWS the years!

I have so many cookbooks it is hard to pick just one. But...I think Marcia Adams Cooking From Quilt Country has to be one of my favorites. There is lots of old fashion recipes in her cookbooks, which I like. I have made 2 picturesque cookbooks for myself over the last several years of all the recipes that I have made, and still make.

I got my first cookbook when I got married. It was a Betty Crocker three ring binder also. Matter of fact, I still have it. It's funny, though, because some of the receipes have to be updated now. It's about 37 years old.

Through the years, I've used different books or made some from the favorite receipes handed down through the family. I helped my mother make cookbooks for the grandkids of some of her favorite recipes as well as the ones the grandkids liked of hers. That was a lot of fun and they still have them although mom is gone now.

Lately, though, my favorite cookbooks are those of Paula Deen. I really like hers. She has such a variety.

I have about 30 but the only one I look at is the original Moosewood, "Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant." Multi-ethnic vegetarian, which is how I eat.

OH Gosh, choosing a fav cookbook is like picking one child over the other for me. LOL However, When we first married my DH suggested (don't know why? LOL) that I accept the Annual Southern Living cookbook offer. From there we got one every year for 10 years, plus a master index. Granted a lot of their recipes are way too long and fussy for my liking, but over the years at Thanksgiving when I pull out the 1st one and theres the messy splatered page w/ Texas Peacn Pie, or the one w/ our fav dressing/stuffing...those would be my treasures. Even my sons comment with loving/jokes at the obvious years of using those recipes. The Pecan Pie Recipe was requested by my DIL as one she'd like on her Wedding Shower Recipe Cards. I've probably got near 100 cookbooks, some my MIL gave me, some are handwritten by my Mom used when I was a kid, DH buys me one occasionally, one my sons gave me when they were in K. & 2nd grades (complete with their little "To Mom - From" notes), the community fund raisers are always fun too. I love reading cookbooks! LOL

Di, me too on maps and dictionaries, I even read the bi-lingual assembly instruction & compare them to the English version..in hopes I might learn something? When I see maps I look at fun routes off the interstates to get from point A to B, then research the towns that would be gone through. Seldom fo these trips happen but, it's fun to plan an escape even if it's only for an afternoon of considering it. I like my cookbooks that have personal stories or coments from the submitter with the recipes. Say, do you get the Kraft Food & Family magaizne? You can sign up for it online it's free & sent out 4 times a year I think. DH & I enjoy it and most recipes are reasonable & naturally using Kraft products. Speaking of DH, being paged! He so needs a hobby. LOL

Betty Crocker, Julia Child is not exactly part of my history nor my natural palate.

However I love some French dishes which we have done…such as from this cute book: http://www.amazon.com/Pedaling-Through-Provence-Cookbook-Sarah/dp/0761102337

I seem to have cookbooks, but don’t use many recipes from them. I guess I like the idea of creative cooking when I pore over the recipes.

Have some good Asian and Asian fusion cookbooks. I like a cookbook with many creative recipes which may combine the author’s travels in a foodie way, history snippets of the feature cuisine

http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/RevChanLegacyProject/_archives/2005/8/9/1122948.html Cookbook I bought as a gift for several family members. It has meaning because my father worked in a Chinese-Canadian restaurant his whole life. And the Chinese restaurant phenomena has a historical thread in North America..since that’s where many of the Chinese men went to work after the national railroads were built. Recipes are more homey..in tune.

I have a cookbook by Ken Hom, http://www.kenhomcooks.com/mystory/index.html where he goes back to China and learns/samples regional cuisine. The book is out of print..and now, valuable to me. Hom’s dishes are more traditional, authentic Chinese. Ming Tsai originally from Ohio, who is more well-known to some American audiences, seem to use more creams, sugars..more French influences in some pan-Asian fusion dishes, I find abit more heavy and sometimes more complex to prepare. But I would recommend as quality stuff fusion: http://www.ming.com/

Martin Yan has improved in his self-presentation and diversified his recipes…excellent in traditional Chinese recipes from China also from Chinese communities worldwide. You have to understand that Chinese cooking in Hawaii, Carribbean, Peru, Singapore and Malayasia, each get influenced by their locales. http://www.yancancook.com/

This Australian-Chinese chick-chef, is cool also. http://www.kyliekwong.org/home.aspx

All of the above people, cook and speak with passion about a cuisine …that is on par with French cuisine.

As for my cooking techniques..most of it is from memory…from my mother. My steamed savoury egg custards, steamed chicken, etc…seaweed soups. I’ve never consulted a recipe book for these dishes that I learned from mother.

Cook books are awesome and I have several. I love one called "Le Cordon Bleu At Home" and in the store the book looked user-friendly. Until I tried to make something...then I learned I had to go to page 'whatever' to make this ingredient...then to another page to make this or that and then another page with tons of ingredients to make this...all for one recipe. It's been sitting on a shelf with my other cook books that aren't user friendly. But, they can sure be pretty to look at.

Joy of Cooking has been my Cooking Bible over the years. I also found some of the best recipies on packages. And I used to love Cooking magazines...but alas;...Hubby has taken over that department.