Foodie Publications

The day we returned from 'The Wilds' I was treated to an ad free magazine. Cuisine at Home is a well pictured and detailed recipe magazine with not an ad to be seen. No more the fifteen pages of ads before one gets to the meat of the publication; it's in your face home cooking and I ordered it on the spot. I love the way it is set up and photographed. It is fifty-one pages of interest and enticement and I am already planning to use at least three of the recipes in the near future. You will be surprised how thin and comfortable (to handle) fifty-one pages can be to use without all the ads.

The next day I received Betty Rosbottom's Sunday Roasts, a new book that so far I am less enthusiastic about. Betty is detail oriented and a great cook and I like both of those features that she always offers. Her writing style is pleasant and interesting, as usual. I also feel secure that the recipes have been tested and retested and are delicious-- but the book lacks the instant thrill that a new recipe book usually gives me. Betty Rosbottom taught cooking classes at Lazarus Department store in Columbus, Ohio for many years and was a contributor to Cook's Corner in The Columbus Dispatch until about a year ago when the entire section was limited in space. So I am a great admirer of her work, but if I don't 'feel it' then it will take a little more investigation before I am pleased with the book. Had I seen it and leafed though it before I bought it (from Amazon,) I would not have spent the money. I am no way near the cook that Betty is. She is the author of several cookbooks, some of which I own and I wish I liked her latest effort more, but this blog is written for our family (mostly) and friends and so I tell it as I see it. (And, I must add, I felt the same way about the Barefoot Contessa's last book. I won't be buying her next book without a good first look either.)
Note: The food pictures are all from the magazine Cuisine at Home. The single cover picture is from Betty's book Sunday Roasts.

The Wilds

We have the wilds of Africa in our backyard. Yesterday Joe, Glenda, Andy and I boarded a bus at The Ohio State University for a trip to The Wilds of Cumberland. It was a nice ride for a couple of hours outside of Columbus with retirees from The Ohio State. On arrival we then got on an open air bus for the safari and it was amazing to see animals such as the ones shown here in Cumberland, Ohio. There are 25,000 acres of conservation land with only a tiny portion being used to date but with big plans for expansion for the reclaimed mining area with only a few inches of top soil. (Hence few trees but lots of grazing grassy area.) It took two hours to circle the area which sported many contented animals who have found themselves in a strange country. Right off the bat the camels came to investigate the open air bus. One decided to use his friend to straddle and scratch his under carriage. (We were relieved that's all he did.) After two interesting hours we had a buffet lunch and were preparing to reboard the bus for John and Annie Glenn's old home in New Concord, Ohio, when Andy saw two people whom we had not seen in years. Mary Maraffa, who was the wife of one of my very best principals, was seated on the terrace. It was so good to see her. Andy then saw someone else he knew and he seemed to be the official greeter for the trip.

One of the highlights of the trip to view the endangered animals was the newly born baby zebra. This species is very rare and nearly extinct. These zebra have very thin lines of color, almost like pinstripes. Now the area is a breeding ground for these rare animals that are sent all over the world as they mature.