Another Independence Day has come and gone. And what's more American than binge eating, manual labor, antiquing for cookbooks and listening to musicals about transsexuals?
This week I found myself up north on the muggy July shores of Lake Superior with Just Joni. Casually trying to ignore my work while getting odd jobs done around the house. As I wrapped up the first coat of paint on the back deck and blaring the soundtrack to Hedwig And The Angry Inch, Just Joni suggested we take a mini road trip to the interior of the Great State of Minnesota to the old family cemetery plot. And if you are anyone who knows me you know I don't pass up a chance to check out a cemetery.
Once in McGregor we found ourselves slowly crawling down the main street (which is named after us and I wanted to point that out to every one of the five people who were on the street) we came across Molly's Antiques. From the road this run down yard sale with walls was a gold mine of crap everyone needs. There are two things that I am always looking for when I find myself side stepping creepy clown dolls and back issues of Time: green milk glass that is wrongly priced and first editions of cookbooks. I don't have a huge collection of cookbooks but the few I have I cherish. Save for the beautiful set of Gourmet Magazine Cookbook given to me under the false pretense of caring (mind you I would never give them up - I just sacrifice a goat for good luck before using them).
My present Neverending Story search of a cookbook is for the first edition of Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook. As I kept my hands free from touching anything that looked like it might at one point have been on the set of Honey Boo Boo I finally saw the Holy Grail of cookbooks. I maneuvered myself over a suitcase I imagine to have the remains of some farming mistake and quickly picked up my find. This musty fourth printing of Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook was as close as I'd ever come. And for $8 I wasn't going to pass it up.
This gem has everything you need. The classic recipe for "Burning Bush" - Form softened Cream Cheese into a ball and roll in minced dried beef. Mmmm....
It also comes with advice for every domestic diva inside us. Tired from housecleaning?!? Just lay on the floor, hands over your head for 3-5 minutes. Do your 'headwork' while doing your housework. Multitasking was thing even in the 40's.
In a time when cookbooks are almost obsolete I am sure many of you are wondering why I even bother. Well someday when the zombie apocalypse comes someone needs to know how to make a Burning Bush. If you need a cookbook I highly suggest the new Betty Crocker Cookbook. And it has nothing to do with my name being in it. If there was a shameless plug emoticon I would maybe consider using it here.
I have to get back to painting the deck while exposing the new neighbors to the trials and tribulations of German transsexuals trying to make it big in the music business.
What's your go to cookbook? and will it prepare you for the zombie apocalypse?
