LIBRARY! The Poor Person's Internet?

LIBRARY = FREE! Go get a library card!  If you haven't already done it, SHAME ON YOU! It's FREE and remains free as long as you can get all your items back in on time, or renew them.

What's available for check-out at the Library today?

• Books, of course! I found culinary books that were released this year! 
• Magazines
• DVD's
• CD Rom - computer software
• Free internet use, and free Wi-Fi (most libraries today even small ones!)
• Free lectures like the one I attended: 'Myths in Food Nutrition Today' hosted at the library by a woman who had multiple degrees in nutrition and diet.

Here are a couple of examples of how to use a library:

• I have found instructional DVD's from Jacques Pepin to Julia Child cooking and technique.
• I surf thru http://ecookbooks.com and http://amazon.com to read reviews and see what culinary books I would want next and then find 80% of them at my local library! (that saved me some money!)
• When obtaining the culinary resources I want I 'check-in' online and reserve or request books from other branches - an alert is emailed to me when to pick them up!
• Some libraries have online resources for downloading audio, video, and pdf/digital books.
• Food & Wine related magazines that are up-to-date (they have monthly subscriptions at the Library) for example Savour, Gourmet, Cooking Light, Taste of Home, Food & Wine...
• Sometimes an additional used book store (in, or attached to the library) that sells used books and magazines for pennies on the dollar. In the age of new technology where people are purchasing more books in digital format, I am finding excellent, classic, high-dollar books (of all genre) by the dozens in the library used book stores.

Above (in the picture) I found On Food And Cooking by Harold McGee $2, Yes two dollars! The Soul Of A Chef by Michael Ruhlman $0.50, fifty cents! I had previously purchased these books a long time ago, read them, and re-read them and then passed them on to others. I may re-read The Soul Of A Chef and even keep On Food And Cooking for reference in my library, but at this price, I would gladly buy them and give them away again!

What All Libraries Have Today This link goes to a government site that explains in more detail than my brief listing above what can be found at your local library. One of the greatest FREE resources on the planet that dates back BEFORE the internet and still includes the internet.  GET YOUR LIBRARY CARD TODAY!

Help with your Doughs and Batters

Do you know who Michael Ruhlman is? He writes about many subjects in magazines and newspapers, but mostly in books and mostly about food, chefs, and cooking—issues also covered in his blog. His most recent book,

Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking

as the title states – gives you many simple codes behind cooking. If you have no intentions of reading the book, or just want a sample of what knowing ratios can do, Michael has posted a PDF of the Doughs & Batters ratios that you can print and hang in your kitchen or put in your ‘cookbook’ to try your hand at…a word to the wise, the ratios are based on weight, so you need to have and know how to use a kitchen scale for this to be useful to you. But I promise you will become a better person by cooking/baking with a scale for precision.

Just click this link to his blog and look on the left hand side for the above picture and you can download his PDF for FREE! Black & White photos on the PDF are by his wife Donna, excellent!

[I don't link directly to the PDF because I think its fair that if he offers something for free, you can at least visit his site to get it...and of course permission, laws, and things of that nature tend to slow things down]

Free yourself, cook with confidence.

Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking: Michael Ruhlman

I am currently reading this book.  I have read all the other books (that are NOT cookbooks) about Chefs that he has written about...that is a recommendation.

For me, it's a reminder of how I started cooking long ago and trying to train myself to be independent of recipes.  It is important to have consistency - so I still develop recipes for personal, commercial, and business use.

If you have any talent for cooking this book can help free you to move beyond the cookbook and experiment.  It can free you to be spontaneous in the kitchen, on the grill, or in any cooking experience that might bog you down looking for a recipe.

If you don't, won't, or can't read thru the big books of Larousse Gastronomique and/or The Professional Chef buy the Elements of Cooking and Ratios by Michael Ruhlman, this should get you started with a pleasurable education to get you cooking daily like a pro in your own kitchen.