641.5 with Julie

641.744 Young: Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge

2011-09-06T12:44:00.005-04:00

I have an unnatural fondness for Westernized Asian food. It may have to do with working for four years in a "Pan-Asian" noodle shop that was owned by Midwestern Jewish dudes. When you work full-time in a restaurant, you eat pretty much all your meals on-site, straight off the menu. Even if I picked up an egg sandwich from the diner next door on my way in, I'd top it with Sriracha and soy-ginger

641.5784 Flay: Bobby Flay's Grill It

2011-07-20T12:31:00.000-04:00

It's blazing hot outside. Food, especially hot food, is not on my to-do list these days. With 90 degree temperatures, and a serious lack of air-conditioning both at home and at the under-construction library, "what to cook next" does not appear on my radar. But cold fruit and Sauvignon Blanc cannot sustain this girl for long. I would gladly sit in a pleasant, air-conditioned restaurant every

641.5784 Perry Lang: Serious Barbecue

2011-06-06T15:00:00.000-04:00

It's now officially gorgeous outside, for the most part, and that means it's time to pull out the grill. There's nothing better than making a fantastic dinner outside, in the sun, beer in hand. Maybe we'll play a little croquet too. Or lounge on a blanket with a book. Nap in the hammock? Why not? This is my favorite time of year, and barbecuing is a huge part of that. One of the most interesting

641.631 Sass: Whole Grains for Busy People

2011-05-16T13:22:00.001-04:00

The term "junkie" gets thrown around a lot. Adrenaline junkie, shoe junkie, cookbook junkie... But we should never forget the true junkies out there. You know the ones: dark, shifty eyes, guilty looks on their faces, sleeping too much, but jumpy, hyper, almost elated when they are awake. And they're always thinking about their next fix. Is the break room empty yet? Who's up there? Did they eat

641.5944 Wells: The Paris Cookbook

2011-04-04T14:29:00.000-04:00

For the past few weeks, I've been completely ignoring the fact that winter is still following us around, blowing freezing air down our collars and keeping the skies gray and dark. Yet lately, I go without hats, gloves, scarves, even socks. I've packed away my down comforter, my ice scraper, and my humidifier. I've said my goodbyes to starchy root vegetables, heavy red wines, and beef bourguignon.

641.59763 Spicer: Crescent City cooking

2011-02-27T15:45:00.000-05:00

I can't remember the first time I saw this book, or why I even bought it. Perhaps The Husband brought it home one day, though that doesn't really clarify anything about how it ended up in our kitchen. We'd never heard of Ms. Spicer before, never been to New Orleans. But, and I think The Husband would agree with me, if I were to be stranded on a desert island with only three of my cookbooks (and

The Best Apple Pie Ever, Revisited

2011-02-09T11:55:00.000-05:00

Introducing Guest Blogger Adam Delaura! (Normally found over at The Labryinth Librarians).Adam tested out my apple pie recipe at home...not once, not twice, not even thrice -- but five times! Here is his story: Once in awhile I am inspired to do something I have never done before. This past holiday season I was inspired to start baking by Julie’s The Best Apple Pie Ever. I thought it would be

641.5944 French: The French Culinary Institute's Salute to Healthy Cooking

2011-01-07T12:10:00.000-05:00

The other night, the Husband decided to make me dinner. A nice piece of fish, actually. I'm not the best fish cooker, but the Husband is great with the proteins. I offered to make a nice salad to go along with it. We have a great cookbook at home, one that masterfully balances flavor with virtue, that I decided to use for this. It's called The French Culinary Institute's Salute to Healthy Cooking

The Best Apple Pie Ever. Part 3.

2010-12-20T12:39:00.000-05:00

At Thanksgiving, I asked my two older brothers what they remembered about Mom's Apple Pie. "The best pie I've ever had," Chris told me. "So good," Billy added. Yeah, dudes. Thanks. I got that. After a bit of prodding, one of them remembered that Mom used good ol' Red Delicious apples. I was surprised for a minute - Red Delicious rarely ends up on best-apples-for-pie lists. But we grew up in 1970s

The Best Apple Pie Ever. Part 2.

2010-11-18T22:20:00.000-05:00

Taking on the task of recreating a decades-old pie recipe is a daunting one, especially when the recipe exists only in the memory of a scatterbrained librarian-slash-culinary imposter. And not even the recipe itself, but the mere memory of the finished pie and all it stood for. The light in all the flour-coated darkness is, of course, the opportunity to sample lots of baked goods. For pie number

641.5 Better: Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook (or, The Best Apple Pie, Ever. Part 1.)

2010-11-01T15:55:00.000-04:00

@font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Many people claim to have enjoyed the Best Apple Pie, made by their sister, or uncle, or grandmother. Or that diner off of I

641.5944 McNally: The Balthazar Cookbook

2010-10-04T16:45:00.000-04:00

When we were a-courtin', the Husband called me up at work one day and told me he'd like to make me dinner that night. These were out waiting-tables years, and dinner often meant a plate of whatever the tired cooks were willing to throw together for me after 12 hours of cooking for other people. Otherwise, it was delivered pizza or takeout, or leftover pizza or takeout. I was impressed and giddy

641.815 Lewis: Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

2010-09-14T11:56:00.000-04:00

A library is a busy, bustling, lively place. The Avon Library is particularly known for its friendly, energetic, helpful staff. This is in part due to the wonderful individuals we've hired over the years, but it's also helped a bit by the fact that we don't open our doors to the public until 10 am. This gives most of the staff plenty of time to get the lights turned on, the computers and printers

641.563 Swanson: Super Natural Cooking

2010-09-01T23:34:00.003-04:00

The other day I peered into the fridge. Then the freezer. Then the pantry. "There's nothing to eat," I said, petulant, staring at the pile of foil-wrapped, unlabeled, frozen mystery meats, the bags of frozen veggies, boxes of grains and noodles, miscellaneous half portions of fresh produce. The Husband is currently immersed in back-to-school madness, so I couldn't rely on him to whip up a

641.5944 Child: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

2010-08-12T15:48:00.004-04:00

Yeah, so, my name is Julie. I have a cooking blog. I have a husband named Eric. And I've decided to cook from and write about the Julia Child masterpiece, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Sound familiar? It was inevitable, that's all. It's not even a coincidence, really. "Julie" and "Eric" - very common names. Food blogging? Yawn. It's been done. So done. Overdone. And how can anyone who

641.5982 Mallmann: Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way

2010-08-05T15:14:00.000-04:00

I love going to the Farmers' Market. I love that the food is grown nearby, harvested recently, and that the money I'm spending is going directly to my neighbors. Recently, Husband and I visited the Millerton Farmers' Market in Millerton, NY - just over the state line from our town. Along with a bunch of fresh veggies, we picked up some ground lamb and steak from the folks at Moon in the Pond

641.5945 Batali: The Babbo Cookbook

2010-07-12T18:41:00.001-04:00

This post is dedicated in memoriam to an amazing friend, cook, and eater, Lisa Clay Styles. Food can mean so many different things to people. It can be celebratory, comforting, restorative, energizing, even dangerous. It is the cornerstone of many holidays. Traditions of food and cooking are passed from generation to generation. Friends and relatives bond when preparing food together. It is part

641.5979 Flay: Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill Cookbook

2010-06-11T17:05:00.003-04:00

Bobby Flay is everywhere. He's got multiple restaurants spreading all over the U.S., cookbooks sprouting up all the time, and I swear he's on every show on the Food Network. It can be a bit much. A few of my gastronomically-minded friends can't stand him; they even go so far as to use bad words to describe his personality. I don't mind him so much, but I can see their point at times. That said,

641.5636 Pensiero: Hudson Valley Mediterranean

2010-05-17T16:02:00.002-04:00

I am fortunate to live in the northwest corner of Connecticut, giving me easy access to both the Hudson Valley and the Berkshire areas. Both offer a wealth of culinary resources, from farms and dairies to wineries, breweries, and wonderful restaurants. I love that I can get super fresh, local ingredients, often directly from the farms themselves. I can bring my visiting city slicker friends to

641.662 Tramanto: Steak with Friends

2010-05-06T11:45:00.004-04:00

I'm a bit of a chef groupie, I have to say. Not that I linger, desperately, out in the alleys behind well-known restaurants, waiting for the chef to come out discover me as his newest muse. But I'm drawn to a few names, and when I see one of them on a new cookbook, I have to try it out. Rick Tramonto, of Chicago's Tru fame, has just come out with Steak with Friends, a cookbook about...well, steak

641.5945 Stitt: Frank Stitt's Bottega Favorita

2010-04-27T15:13:00.004-04:00

I haven't posted in a while, and I really have no excuse. Sometimes a girl just needs take-out. Am I forgiven if I tell you this next recipe took me a whole week to make? We had a Big Fancy Dinner Party recently, The Husband and I, for a special occasion. I wanted to make a truly amazing dessert, incredible in both execution and deliciousness. And when I laid my eyes on the "Aurora Tart" in

641.5972 Bayless: Mexico; One Plate at a Time

2010-04-12T14:58:00.002-04:00

Here at the library, we like to party, as you may have heard. Luckily, April is a month full of birthdays. We take turns hosting little afternoon parties in our break room to celebrate each one. Last week, our lovely and talented reference librarian, Alice, was celebrating her birthday. And it was my turn to make sure some of the revelry occurred during working hours. Not sure what to make, I

641.813 Kafka: Soup: A Way of Life

2010-03-30T14:08:00.005-04:00

The Husband came back from a Habitat for Humanity trip he went on with 8 of his students bearing airport-purchased gifts, a sore throat, and the sniffles. Since I didn’t have the heart to make him sleep and eat all his meals in the guest room just to prevent catching anything myself, I did my best to avoid him all week in more subtle ways. This proved to be more difficult than I thought it would.

Chicka Chicka Bake Bake

2010-03-24T15:39:00.009-04:00

We interrupt Julie’s regularly scheduled blog posting for a storytime adventure from Tina Panik….It began with a party, as these things always do. Or rather, it began with the preparation for a party. To celebrate some recent staff changes in our Children’s Department, our Director, Ginny, and I organized a celebration. All good parties need a theme, so we chose Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, since

641.5973 Keller: Ad Hoc at Home

2010-03-18T16:17:00.009-04:00

Thomas Keller is a god in our house. The Husband leapt into culinary stardom (in our social circle, that is) not long after we acquired the gorgeous, heavy, intimidating The French Laundry Cookbook. The French Laundry is arguably one of the world's best restaurants. And the cookbook is not for the weak, focusing on truffles, foie gras, and "the importance of offal.” The recipes are not easy, the