Cookbook Finds Along the Coast

My favorite places to find used cookbooks include thrift stores, garage sales, hospital auxiliary stores, Goodwill, antique stores, and library book sales.  Here in Point Reyes near my mom's house is a small thrift store where I found a couple shelves of cookbooks.  A hospital auxiliary store I passed on the way to my mom's also had some cookbooks.  Here are my finds so far.

 

These made me want to bake breads of all kinds.

 

 

Recipes from top San Francisco chefs.

 

 

Two of my favorite cookbooks that I already have at home, but I couldn't resist mint condition new ones for $2 that looked like they had never even been cracked open.  I have made almost everything in these books and many of the recipes are among my staples.

 

 

I don't have any Wyoming books, but now I do!  And who can resist grilled cheese?

 

 

Nick Stellino cookbooks.  My Italian food obsession continues.

 

 

I love books in their own special binders.  One is just recipes, and the other is a history of food.  So interesting and will probably be its own blog soon.

 

 

Who doesn't like waffles or sausage?

 

 

 

Ah, but here is the piece de resistance I found at the Point Reyes thrift shop.  A hippie cookbook from 1970.  This is probably the most amusing cookbook I have ever found.  I don't even know where to start. The authors tell us the first thing any good hippie does is plant a garden.  This is, they say, a must, and if you don't have room for a garden, move.  On the subject of food itself, they say that "Your food has vibrations.  Listen to your food.  When your chickens are crashing or your fish is freaking out, feel your food.  Your food needs you and needs to be felt." Got that?  Now someone please tell me how chickens crash and fish freak out. 

 

 

Let's start with some "Age of Aquarius" tea, specifically catnip tea.  It's a "very relaxing, calming, and peaceful tea.  It is not only good for a giddy groovy high, but if you sprinkle it on your rug, it might help get rid of the fleas.  A word of caution:  don't keep it in your sleeping bag unless you dig being mauled by a puma." 

 

 

The Peace Food chapter has recipes for brown bagging it for peace marches, paddy wagon rice patties, moratorium march muffins, peace symbol pie crust, and peace pancakes, which actually sound good using buckwheat flour and wheat germ.

 

 

Are you ready for cooking in the nude?  The authors say that "while your pores are flashing on the air, the rest of you will get behind turning on the food, and it'll taste like it." What?  There are also a few helpful tips:  "Nude cooking is a trip in the summer months, but it's always quicker in cold weather.  Also, avoid frying bacon or french fries, and be sure to cook enough for unexpected guests if downtown San Francisco overlooks your kitchen." 

 

The only recipe in this book that has completely splattered pages is the "Earth Mother's Bread," which sounds like a basic white bread with honey and wheat germ added.  Someone loved it.  Although I hope the splatters are bread dough and not something from the fish freaking out.

 

Far out.