Holiday Gift Ideas

06-Dec-2006

Have a foodie in your life that you’d like to find a great gift for? Last night K and I spent some time sampling little bites and talking to local chefs who have released cookbooks. The event was held at the Palace Ballroom so, of course, Tom Douglas and his books were part of the offering but there were several other chefs there, too.

Although the event is over, nearly all of these cookbooks are available at the chefs’ respective restaurants or through Amazon and other booksellers.

The following titles are all books I own, cook from and love:

Ray’s Boathouse: Seafood Secrets of the Pacific Northwest, Charles Ramseyer, et al

Tom Douglas’ Seattle Kitchen, Tom Douglas

Tom’s Big Dinners: Big-Time Home Cooking for Family and Friends, Tom Douglas

Dishing With Kathy Casey: Food, Fun, and Cocktails from Seattle’s Culinary Diva, Kathy Casey

Entertaining in the Northwest Style: A Menu Cookbook, Greg Atkinson

Rover’s: Recipes from Seattle’s Chef in the Hat, Thierry Rautureau

Pure Chocolate: Divine Desserts and Sweets from the Creator of Fran’s Chocolates, Fran Bigelow

Best of Taste : Flavors of the Pacific Coast John Sarich

The following are books I own and have yet to specifically make something from them but they hold great promise!

Kathy Casey’s Northwest Table: Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Southern Alaska Kathy Casey

I Love Crab Cakes! 50 Recipes for an American Classic Tom Douglas

Leslie Mackie’s Macrina Bakery and Cafe Cookbook: Favorite Breads, Pastries, Sweets and Savories Leslie Mackie

Tini Bigs Big Martinis Keith Robbins

And the following are books I may need to buy. I’ve really been trying to keep my cookbook habit under control but these might cause me to fall off the wagon…

Assaggio Ristorante Cookbook: Mauro’s Passion Mauro Golmarvi

The Herbal Kitchen: Cooking with Fragrance and Flavor Jerry Traunfeld

And this really just scratches the surface. They are lots of other Seattle or Northwest authors. But those listed above are some I can (and do!) personally recommend.

3 Comments

BH permalink

20-Dec-2006 3:48 pm

GReat ideas. The book list is fantastic.
Culinary permalink

21-Dec-2006 7:32 pm

Hey BH! Nice to hear from you – I hope your holidays are going well. Too fast if you ask me but no one ever does! We are lucky to have some talented chefs in the area that still know how to create recipes that are approachable. Even the Rover\’s cookbook is really nice. The main thing there is you need to add a bit more time – okay maybe a lot more time, but just in some cases. The actual steps aren\’t hard though.
~ B