Betty Lives!

A Treasury of Great Recipes
Mary and Vincent Price
1965

It was necessary to give this book another chance after the semi-failure of the Konigsberger Klops.  My daughter requested veal  and this recipe was one of the few veal preparations that was not in stew form.  It comes from The Four Seasons in New York where Price describes […]

The Gourmet Cookbook, Volume I
1963
If Betty Crocker’s Quick & Easy Cook Book or  The General Foods Kitchen Cookbook are on one side of the mid-century spectrum in that they have mass appeal and a lot of Jello, books like Vincent Price’s or the Gourmet Cookbook are clearly on the other side.  This is the side […]

Woman’s Day Encylopedia of Cookery Vol. 12
1966
I am really hearting this Encylopedia because after tonight I am three for three with winning recipes.  Volume 12 covers Tortes through Zucchini and contains chapters on such esoterica as Western Cooking (10 pages) and West Coast Salads (4 pages).  There is also a little booster in the back […]

Amy Vanderbilt’s Complete Cookbook
1961

Although this is a very cool cookbook I only bought it because when I opened the inside flap I noticed that Andy Warhol had done the illustrations.  That’s right folks.  Andy. Freakin. Warhol.  How cool is that?  But in all fairness to Ms Vanderbilt, it is a wonderful book and the person […]

The Fireside Cook Book
James Beard
1949

Doug and I cannot figure out why the secret isn’t out yet.  Every Saturday morning we go to the farmers’ market and buy a pack of turkey thighs from Dipalo Farm and they are SO FABULOUS.  Moist, meaty, flavorful, versatile, they are by far the best part of the turkey.  […]

A Treasury of Great Recipes
Mary and Vincent Price
1965

It’s not that I haven’t been preparing recipes from old books, it’s that I haven’t been writing about them because some of the preparations have slipped so seamlessly into our menus.   In fact, last week I prepared Dr. Martin’s Mix AND fresh rolls.  This time I used […]

This morning I went about my frenetic activities in the usual way: make breakfast, make lunch, dress my daughter, dress my son, pour Doug’s iced coffee to go, make my tea, pack the knapsacks, get myself dressed, brush teeth, buckle shoes…and so on.  We rushed with the kids to school and then I walked Doug […]