Used

I have this thing about used bookstores. I just cannot stay away. Some used bookstores hold more interest for me than others, and while I have nothing against 'The Classics', seeing shelves full of nothing other really doesn't do it for me.

A good way to win me over is interesting cooking books. (I have a... compulsion when it comes to buying cooking books, I think it's glandular or something). So you can imagine my excitement when I founda book which claims to "[explain] things you need to know, and things to watch out for. There are plenty of things left for you to discover, learn, stumble upon." In my subsequent internet forays, I found that I did not stumble across some super-valuable holy tome of cookery, or some hitherto undiscovered work of genius. No, I found a very well known instant classic, apparently. But I do seem to have found a less common edition, because it has different cover art. And Oh! The art in this book! It is adorable, there are illustrations on almost every page (in a style reminiscent of my mother's, actually), and I would have nabbed this sucker for nothing else other than the pictures. It also looks to be a solid vegetarian guidebook (I am notorious for being poor at inventing good vegetarian dishes. They are usually... green, and kind of soggy.)





















Also, a book for sneaky organic cooks? I am so there! I am no nutritionist, but it seems to have at least a goodly amount of simple, sane, helpful health advice (it is about half chatter, and half recipes). It also has a chapter about reinvigorating one's... personal life through change in diet, not partners. The writer (Jane Kinderlehrer) seems to be pleasantly witty, and I am *so* sold on the idea of a culinary guerilla now.

Now, if there was one more thing I needed to cement this bookstore in my list of favourite time-sinks downtown, it would be books about knitting. While I didn't find any of those, I did find 'an introduction to natural dyeing'. I am not a dyer myself, but I know that there are people out there who are very much into natural dyeing, and this 37 page pamphlet from 1972 Santa Rosa, California looks like quite the little treasure. Oh, and if the colour plate doesn't lie, I wonder why people don't do this more, I am very taken by some of the colours shown.
















And lastly, it's sock weather!