Cookbookaholic

Trip to Boone

So, I’ve now been up to Boone, NC, several times now to help get our oldest, Duncan, moved into his room up at App State. These were all very quick trips, up and down stairs….in and out. Not much in the way of exploring or hanging out.

This last trip was completely different: a social trip to meet up with Dunc and meet his new lady.

Thankfully, it was not a gameday but it was during the peak leaf-viewing weekend so there was definitely a large crowd walking around. And it seemed like we all wanted to eat at the same time at the same place: Lost Province Brewing Co.

After lunch we all jumped in my car and visited the nearest thrift store: Ram’s Rack. And, of course, you know what I did….

There were a ton of cookbooks! I took my time and wanted to concentrate on quality, not necessarily quantity.

I settled on only two:

Cooking with the Two Fat Ladies (Clarissa Dickson Wright and Jennifer Paterson) and Cooking with Too Hot Tamales (Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger with Helene Siegel). Hmmm….it’s just now hitting me that both had “Cooking with” and were by a team of two cooks. Interesting…..and the Too Hot Tamales cookbook was wrapped in a thick plastic cover like you’d find in a library.

Dunc and Claire walked over and joked that I had found the cookbook section. And then I showed this this….

Too Hot Tamale Autographs!!!

Nice finds! Plus, I found three serving pieces from my wedding china and two Tom Clark Christmas gnomes. This thrift store is magical!

Used Bookstore Chain?!

Oh my! I did a day trip up to Greensboro to buy a framed Bob Timberlake print early last year and discovered the used bookstore McKay Books & CDs. I bought a ton of cookbooks. Not sure where those are right this very moment….but, on a trip to Winston-Salem last year, I found that there is a McKay’s Books there as well.

My husband was with me for this trip through the store, so I had to chose sparingly and with caution.

I love, love, love the cookbooks I found. Plus, I can’t believe the variety that they had…there were some well-traveled cookbooks in there.

The Seasonal Palette (NC’s Taste Full Magazine). These were recipes inspired by Bob Timberlake and when I opened the cover…boom…Bob Timberlake autograph!

Not Afraid of Flavor: Recipes from Magnolia Grill (Ben and Karen Barker). These two chefs met at culinary school. Rick is a chef and his wife, Karen, is a pastry chef. Both are equally celebrated with a James Beard Award and Bon Appetit’s Best Pastry Chef Award respectively.

If memory serves, I believe Karen Barker recently passed away. So this cookbook is a great legacy for her vision. And as I began flipping through…boom…autographs!

Now it is inscribed to someone named Lee, but I’m thinking this is an important cookbook to pick up.

How many times have I written about my trips to Hilton Head and the island’s amazing thrift stores? Look what I found:

Twice Treasured Recipes (The Bargain Box).  

Who knew The Bargain Box compiled and published their own cookbook? It’s on the grounds of The First Presbyterian Church since being started in the mid-1960s. So, I guess it could have recipes from the church members? I’ve been going to Hilton Head for a long, long time and never knew about this cookbook. And here I find it in Winston-Salem?! Plus, this is a first edition!

Lastly, I came across this beautiful cookbook:

Christ Church Frederica Cookbook (St. Simons Island, Georgia). I love the watercolor of the church and trees. I think it’s wonderful when a congregation can get an artist to do a watercolor of the front of the church and landscape. What an amazing way to celebrate (and fundraise) with a gorgeous watercolor print on the wall. That could even turn into a heirloom piece to hand down generation after generation.

And it was the bargain of the bunch at $1.

So, next time I’m in Greensboro or Winston-Salem, I’ll have to swing by and visit McKay Books!

Yet Another Copy of the Pat Conroy Cookbook

I don’t know why, but I always feel like I need to snap up copies of The Pat Conroy Cookbook (Pat Conroy with Suzanne Williamson Pollak) when I see them at yard sales, online, etc., for a dollar or two.

Maybe because he’s a native South Carolinian, like myself? Or, maybe I think he was such a famous celebrity writer that chefs would hand over their secret recipes to him. Hmmm…that might be possible.

He lived a good portion of his life in Charleston and traveled all over the world. A quick read through the dust cover flaps tells you that Conroy himself was determined to learn how to cook by jumping head-first into learning the basics of French cooking. So, maybe…just maybe this cookbook could be a collection of short stories written by a master storyteller capped off with his own recipes.

I found this particular copy on Facebook Marketplace. It was listed as signed by the author. Now, I’ve passed over inscribed copies just because those have had higher price tags. This was a reasonable $15 with shipping included.

And, it’s also a First Edition.

I know I need to sit down and actually read this cookbook!