Vegetarian Epicure

Anna Thomas’s book is apparently a classic. I haven’t read it, but I’ve been hearing about it for some time. This one also seems harder to find – at least in new condition (maybe it’s out of print?). Powel’s has book two and what looks like a revised version of the original. Amazon seems to have used copies of book one for sale.

Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

I received this book by Deborah Madison from a friend as a birthday gift. It is fast becoming one of my favorite cooking guides – surpassing both the carnivorous and the meatless options in my library. It’s thoughtful look at ingredients and techniques, in addition to it’s variety of simple and accessible recipies, makes it an indespensible addition to any kitchen. If I was going to start my kitchen library from scratch, this would be one of the first ones there.

The Moosewood Cookbook

Molly Katzen’s Moosewood Cookbook is another legendary title whose original edition appears to be out of print. We have the new version, which sounds like it is significantly different from the original. While we do enjoy cooking from it, I’ve been keeping an eye out for a copy of the original. Amazon seems to have used editions the original, but you might be just as well off looking in your local used book shop.

Shop local

If you are in the viscinity of Real Portland (the one with a view of the Atlantic), the local foodie bookstore Rabelais might have copies of the out of print versions of these books, in addition to Madison’s work. As an aside (as in not-a-veggie-cookbook aside), they also have a stack of signed copies of David Chan’s Momufuku. Get ‘em while they’re hot!

Update: Casey Rosenthal submits the Veganomicon for your consideration. With a title like that, how can you go wrong?

Do you have a favorite veggie cook book? Any leads on where to find out of print or hard to find cookbooks?

We’re leaving in a few days for a week in Seattle, then shortly after that I’m off to Michigan for a wedding and some visiting. So I’ll have some solid travel time in between vacations. Here are a few I’ll be taking with me, and a couple more that have moving bookmarks this summer.

• I’ve got the last issue of Monocle (it appears issue 5 hasn’t hit shelves in Burlington yet). This turned out to be a great read on my last adventure, and I’m really looking forward to it.
• William Gibson’s Count Zero. I love the gritty feel of his other books. This should be some fun cyberpunk goodness.
• The next (for me) installment of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series has been sitting in the queue for some time. I might pack it along this time.
• Robert Bringhurst’s Elements of Typographic Style is a beautiful book and is turning out to be an absolute pleasure to read.

There are more, but that’s my short list. What are you reading this summer?

The books come in a few different sizes. I got one of the smaller rectangular shaped ones, which fits wonderfully in the back pocket of my bag. It’s built sturdy, with heavy stock for the pages and black construction paper wrapped around it in a folding kind of cover. It’s partially bound with glue (for the back of the pages) and strips of rubber bicycle inner tube, which doubles as a strap to keep the book closed. Since the cover folds and wraps around the book to protect the pages, there’s enough room to fit a pen in between the outside of the pages and the cover.

I’ve begun to draw, sketch, or doodle in mine every day. I’m enjoying this thing so much that I’m considering purchasing more in case I can’t find them again. Mr. Wilcox doesn’t seem to have any web presence that I can find, just a phone number printed on the books. Maybe I’ll give it call. Does anyone know where you can buy these things, other than by phone? Is this guy still out there making them? I’d love to find out more information about this fellow and his work.

I’ve posted a few more pictures of the book on Flickr, tagged with bicyclebrandblankbooks.

So, as dry as it may sound, I think this is going to be my next read. After re-reading some Gibson (I’m just realizing that I’ve never read Count Zero) this past week, and Gaiman the week before, perhaps it’s time to switch gears anyway. Incidentally, I think it’s time I started keeping track of my reading. We’ll see how that goes.