I think I learned to cook from the food section of the New York Times, but I soon moved on to the New York Times Cookbook and Joy of Cooking.  But I don’t really have a favorite cookbook.  I have over a hundred cookbooks, way too many, but I enjoy them all.  Ones I use the most often include Alice Medrich’s Cookies and Brownies, Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, Beard on Pasta, The Minimalist Cooks Dinner, Pasta Fresca, Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cooking, and whatever I check out of the library.  I used to do a lot of cooking out of the Silver Palate and the New Basics.

Recently I have made a set of three ring binders with plastic sheet protectors.  Into those, I put recipes I get from my family, the internet, the newspaper, wherever.  It is useful because I can organize it into sections that work for me.  I have a section on holidays, a section on family recipes, a section on low calorie cooking, and many more.   Sometimes I put notes in these sections that lead me back to a recipe in one of my cookbooks. There are a lot of great recipes on the Internet, but this binder section helps me make them more accessible to actually cook from.

Oh I love to cook and have since I was a little girl.  My favorite cookbooks are Alice Waters (I have 3 of hers) and then I have  more specific favorites for bread, muffins, international.  For the basics - as a good solid reference guide: Joy of Cooking (which has changed so much throughout the years since I give it as a gift to young people when they are starting out on their own from when I did 30 years ago) 

 I have a Nebraska Centential First ladies cookbook from 1967 which has great "comfort food" recipes from the cooks of the prairie, which my grandmother was one of the best. 

Being Italian, cooking comes naturally to me and so for Italian food- I don’t need any one elses recipes (and my family and friends don’t want to ever go to an Italian restraunt when they know they can get my cooking).   I enjoy Biba Cacciano and have one of her cookbooks Modern Italian Cooking . 

Through the years as trends in food change favorite cookbooks have also rotated in and out of favor with me.  Madeleine Kamman guided me through my french cooking phase. 

I am into Indian food along with the slow food movement  and like Nancie McDermott’s The Curry Book.  A great chef in Ann Arbor, Michigan , who is also into the slow food movement is Eve Aronoff and her cookbook has been used often - called Eve Contemporary Cuisine. 

For ethnic food a great resource I have used throughout the decades creating international meals for my little kids (they were required to make the country’s flag and select regional music) Creative International Cookbook by Charlotte Turgeon - not one single mediocre recipe in the book!  Atlanta Natives’ Favorite Recipes is tattered, Recipes and Reminiscences of New Orleans, Delectably Danish Recipes and Reflections, Southern Sideboards, The Fish-Lover’s Cookbook by Sheryl & Mel London and In Madeleine’s Kitchen have been cherished and used. 

I love that there is not a dish or pastry in the world that I am not able to make.  I have often gone on searches and numerous taste testings to find the best chocolate mousse, tarts, breads, etc.  My kids are discerning and wonderful adventurous eaters.  My poor husband has gained 30 pounds since being married to me. 

I do admire the infamous Julie Powell, who battled back against boredom and stress by embarking on cooking every recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking—and then blogging about it here: http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/ and writing a wonderful book about it, which Nora Ephron managed to write up a script from [impossible!] which will be a movie soon.

Myself, I am nervous when I pick up Mastering the Art.  Some of the recipes seem so intimidating.   Some are not, but even so.  Some of the recipes are for things I would never eat, so I wonder about how Julie got through cooking things she was not so crazy about. 

The Party Cookbook.  ( original, 1972, Southern Living Magazine).  It has complete menus, including menus from famous Southern restaurants during that time. 

 As a young bride, my first dinner for eight was taken straight from the Spanish Buffet menu in that cookbook.  The inland paella , gazpacho, essparagos con salsa, and sangria were big hits. 

That has been a much requested repeat menu.