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I’m not gonna lie…I was less than impressed with my latest order from the Cook’s Illustrated people.  This one was for a book/DVD combo for the second season of their Cook’s Country TV series.  It was only twenty bucks plus shipping, but it included the companion cookbook for the second season, plus the DVD set of the entire second season.

I knew that the book was a softcover one, which explained the lower price.  After all, I paid just $29.95 to get the first season of Cook’s Country along with the HARDCOVER companion book.

As usual, they took forever to ship.  You can’t really choose your shipping options on their site, it is always “pony express”.  So don’t expect to see anything for 2-3 weeks after you order it.  This sucks, but in order to get the book-with-free-DVD-set deals, you have to order via their site.  And then look for them to decline your credit card and ask you to mail a check instead.  Very screwed up!  But just ignore that, place the order again, and eventually you will get your stuph.

Anyhoo, after waiting about three weeks, I got my package today.  I opened it, and wondered where the cookbook was.  I thought that the magazine that was enclosed was a sample copy of Cook’s Country, trying to get me to subscribe.  But no, that WAS the cookbook!  It had an overlay cover, as all their magazines do, with a million ads for their other books and stuph.  Sheesh, I love these people, but the aggressive marketing really has to go!

Still, I can’t complain too much.  $19.95 for a DVD set and a magazine-like book is not bad at all.  But still…I would have been more than willing to pay ten bucks more if it were a real book, as they have offered for America’s Test Kitchen, and the first season of Cook’s Country.  At least they weren’t trying to sell me something to relieve joint pain, which didn’t work. But still…

It’s been a while since I updated this blog, hasn’t it?  No, I haven’t been out on a utilities job search or anything like that…I was having trouble with my old computer and recently got a new one, then I was busy getting our home wireless network set up.  And now that baseball season has started…well, you know!

Anyhoo, I want to talk about a fabulous new cookbook that I recently bought.  It’s Daisy:  Morning, Noon and Night by Daisy Martinez.  You may know Daisy from her cooking shows…Daisy Cooks!, which can still be seen on the PBS Create channel, and now, ¡Viva Daisy! (site has auto-play video) on the Food Network.  She is the author of Daisy Cooks:  Latin Flavors That Will Rock Your World, the companion cookbook to the PBS series.

As the title indicates, the book is organized into sections for morning, noon, and night recipes.  So whether you are preparing breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner, appropriate recipes are easy to find.  There is also a section with suggested menus for entertaining, each containing timelines to assist you in preparing in advance.  Also of note is a “Basics” chapter, with recipes and notes about items that are commonly used in Daisy’s cooking, and a glossary of ingredients, some of which may be unfamiliar to some people.  In some cases, Daisy gives info on websites where harder-to-find ingredients can be purchased.

The book itself is beautifully done, pretty and glossy, with lots of full-color photographs.  Interspersed among the recipes are entertaining stories about Daisy’s family and travels.

So far, I have made two recipes from this book…the Tuna “Chilindron” with Penne, and the Cuzco Roast Pork Loin with Onion & Pepper Stir-Fry.  Both were excellent, and dishes that I would want to make again.  And there are so many other recipes that I want to try, including the Chicken Enchiladas (recipe) that Daisy made on the Rachael Ray show today.  That’s the next recipe I want to make, it looked so tasty on TV!

The recipes range from quick-to-prepare weeknight meals, to dishes that are designed for entertaining or weekends.  They are all easy to prepare, because Daisy does an excellent job in explaining everything you need to know.  The emphasis is on what Daisy does best…bold, Latin flavors that the whole family will enjoy.  It’s not all hot and spicy, but it’s all full of flavor.

I recommend this book to anyone, from beginning cooks to experts.  Once you see how easy and inexpensive it is to prepare such good food in your own home, you may never go through the fast-food drive-through again!

I posted a few weeks ago about this, and now that I have it and watched the whole thing, I wanted to do a full review of it.

The Way To Cook, on DVD is indeed a video version of the classic book of the same name.  The set includes two DVDs, each with three of the six parts of the video series.  Disc One includes “Poultry”, “Meat”, and “Vegetables”, and Disc Two discusses “Soups, Salads & Bread”, “Fish & Eggs”, and “First Courses & Desserts”.

I was mistaken when I said that this aired on PBS years ago, now I don’t believe it ever did.  It was produced by the same people who did Julia’s TV series, but it was designed to be a direct-to-video project, to tie in with the book, and indeed you can see and hear Julia talking about “tapes”.  Lucky for us, we have DVDs now, and you’ll soon understand why!

The content is NOT regular TV show episode-like, it is short segments in which Julia demonstrates a specific recipe or technique.  Each segment is numbered…the “Poultry” ones are in the 100′s, the “Meat” ones are in the 200′s, and so on.  If Julia uses a technique that was demonstrated in another segment, it will say on the screen where to find it.  Now that this is on DVD, it is wicked easy to just go to the menu and find the exact segment you want to see.  Must have been a royal pain when the only way to get this was on VHS tape!  It was harder than getting an instant life insurance quote, back in the days before the internet!

To make things even easier, the DVD set includes a rather thick booklet that includes all of the recipes and techniques that Julia demonstrates in the DVDs.  They all have the coordinating numbers that they do on the DVD, so you can easily find them and follow along.

This set is highly recommended for anyone learning to cook, especially if you need video instruction.  You do not need to buy the book version of  “The Way To Cook” to benefit from it, as all recipes and techniques are included in that booklet.  But if you can afford both, go for it.  The two work together to show you…well…the way to cook!

So I’m not much into talking about food at the moment, being that I was sick all of last week, and haven’t cooked or eaten any.  I’m telling you, who needs a weight loss supplement after a week of being sick like this?  Anyhoo, I’m finally feeling alive again, and was able to go to that beer dinner up in Portsmouth on Sunday night.  But still, no cooking news for a while.

So what do some people do when sick?  Read trashy novels, like this one, called Butterfly, by Kathryn Harvey.  As you can probably figure out from the photo on the book’s cover, this is NOT a nice wholesome G-rated book.  It’s loaded with sex, so if you don’t like this sort of book, then don’t read it.  Srsly.

I first read this book back in the 80′s.  I was working at a bookstore at the time, and one of the other women there had picked it up, and was raving about how good it was.  So I bought myself a copy (we got a 40% discount), and agreed, it was quite delightfully trashy.  I re-read it yet again when I was sick.

Beverly Highland is a self-made wealthy woman who is the mysterious owner of a high-priced women’s “club” called “Butterfly”, located upstairs from a ritzy Rodeo Drive men’s shop.  Membership is restricted to only the most beautiful, wealthy, and powerful women.  At Butterfly, women can experience any fantasies they wish, and yes, they mean sexual.

The storylines alternate between three of Butterfly’s members, Trudie, Linda, and Jessica, each of who has her own reasons for seeking what Butterfly has to offer.  But the main storyline focuses on the life of the mysterious Beverly.

Born Rachel Dywer to impoverished parents, with a twin sister who was given away at birth, the then-homely young girl runs away from home at age 14, after being brutally raped by her own father.  On the roads, she meets a guy named Danny Mackay, who she quickly falls in love with and starts sleeping with.  But Danny is not a nice guy, first, he forces Rachel to live and work at some sleazy whorehouse, while he keeps most of her pay.  He also gets Rachel pregnant, and he cruelly forces her to get an abortion, even though she desperately didn’t want one.  She vows that one day, somehow, some way, she WILL get her revenge on Danny Mackay.

Rachel transforms herself into Beverly by getting plastic surgery, as she begins her climb to the top as a successful businesswoman.  As time passes, she surrounds herself with people who were either screwed over by Danny somehow, or by men like him.  Meanwhile, Danny is on his own ascent to greatness, first by becoming a very successful televangelist, and later, as a Presidential hopeful.  Of course, he’s running as a conservative Republican, speaking out against stuff like prostitution and abortion (two things that he forced upon poor Rachel, what a hypocrite!).

Beverly and her close circle of friends and associates keep a very close eye on the comings and goings of Danny Mackay.  Beverly actually supports his campaign, financially and otherwise; Danny, of course, does not recognize her as homely little Rachel Dwyer.  Beverly is simply setting him up so that he takes his fall from grace from the highest point possible.  As you can imagine, she is seriously pissed at this sleazebag, and it’s well deserved.

You will have to read the book to see how it all goes down…why did she open Butterfly?  Does she succeed in her lifelong mission to destroy Danny?  How did things turn out for Trudie, Linda, and Jessica?  And what about the twin sister?

If you enjoy this book, then you must read the sequel, called Stars.  This book not only continues the war between Beverly and Danny, but the twin sister gets into the picture, as well.  The twin has a rather interesting history of her own, so it’s well worth reading.

If you have kids who can read, do NOT leave these books laying around on the coffee table!  Graphic sexual content, and some violence mean that you should save this for when the kids are in bed.  Enjoy!

I was searching on Amazon.com for Julia Child DVDs, to see if there were any new “French Chef” box sets out yet (in addition to the three I already have).  And I came about this – The Way To Cook on DVD.

This is apparently based on the book of the same name, and was a six-part series on PBS back in the eighties…although I don’t remember it.  Maybe the PBS station where I was living at the time didn’t carry it.

Anyhoo, I am very much familiar with the book.  I have it, and I’m always saying that if you could only own one cookbook, this would be the one.  In the book, Julia gives simple, step-by-step instructions for basic, or “master” recipes.  And then she expands upon those with variations.  From the description on Amazon of this DVD set, this looks like pretty much the same idea.  So, if you feel you need a little extra instruction beyond what still photos in a book can provide, this would be a great companion to the book.  Just remember that Julia was never into counting calories, so you may want to look for a good diet pill review along with it. But then again, Julia lived to be almost 92 years old, so eating as she did wasn’t so bad, after all!

I ordered it, just because there is not allowed to be a Julia DVD set that I don’t have. I just love her, and can never get bored watching her!