Peg Bracken (1918–2007)

My mom had the original version of this book in the kitchen. When we sold the family house, I took a photo of the one recipe I had used, wacky cake (called cockeyed cake here) and gave it a well-deserved burial. (It went through a lot!) But I had never read the whole thing. So when I saw there was a 50th anniversary edition, I took it out from the library.

It's written in a funny, breezy style and while some of it's dated now (the chapters on dinner parties and ladies luncheons especially), there is still a lot of great things in it. What's fabulous is that none of the recipes require fancy ingredients (although it's pretty funny to see lamb considered a cheap meat and assuming everyone has a well-stocked bar of liqueurs) or long prep times. A lot of recipes here use either cream or mushrooms (I hate both) but I still found some simple recipes that I want to try.

If you're like me, who doesn't want to spend ages cooking, I'd recommend checking out this classic.… (meer)

The I Hate to Cook Book is an amusing recipe book for people (like me) who aren't good at cooking. The recipes are fairly easy and simple. Although I still don't cook a lot, just looking through this book and at the titles is funny. It can be fun looking through the humerus 440 easy, and well known recipes and the aesthetically pleasing retro illustrations. I got this book because the title was funny. I wasn't disappointed looking through the recipes either. Now that I have this fabulous cookbook, I can finally cook without feeling like it's homework. It's a good meal that comes with a good laugh.… (meer)