HCLS offers many resources for supporting students: skill building activities on our website, research materials and guidance, Brainfuse online tutoring, and free access to computers and printing, to name just a few. Explore a new place to look for homework help – the cookbook aisle!
Why not start the school year with a plan to do more family cooking that fosters math learning and fun? Cooking with kids builds a wide range of math skills — from counting, sorting, and measuring, to sequencing, fractions, ratios, and budgeting. Best of all, instead of a completed worksheet, cooking produces something delicious to eat and share!
Start early and involve even the youngest children in kitchen tasks and food conversations. Ask them to count the ingredients or compare the measuring cups to find the biggest or smallest. Talk about the steps in the recipe and let them name what goes first, second, third, last. Make a pattern with cookies on a pan or fruit on a plate.
To get some great ideas for things to make with the littlest cooks, check out Look and Cook Breakfast: A First Book of Recipes in Pictures by Valorie Fisher. With simple recipes presented visually, pre-readers can decipher what happens at each step, while the grown-up oversees the sharp tools and oven. You’ll soon be feasting on Tasty Toast, Choco Pillows, and Topsy-Turvy Eggs! Older chefs can tackle more involved tasks. Challenge them to double or halve the quantity of one ingredient or work out the fractions involved in dividing a pizza equally. Let them help with grocery shopping, evaluating the price of ingredients for value or the correct quantity for a recipe.
Even cleanup can be a math game – your student builds spatial reasoning skills by puzzling out the best way to fit dishes in the dishwasher.
Cookbooks + Kids + Math = a win for everyone! This fall, strengthen your student’s math skills, create new and interesting meals, get help in the kitchen, and inspire a young chef!
Jean is a Children’s Instructor and Research Specialist at HCLS Central Branch. She loves talking about books with people of all ages, but especially enjoys leading the Heavy Medals book club for fourth and fifth graders, exploring award-winning books of all genres.
Wishing you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving! If you wish to do some reading about gratitude, please stop by a branch and ask for recommendations – our staff loves sharing their favorites.
If you’re still in need of recipe ideas for the coming weekend or the holiday season, the library has a considerable collection of cookbooks at every branch – and some great magazines available on Libby.
On behalf of all the HCLS staff who write and edit for Chapter Chats, enjoy your celebrations this holiday season with family, friends, and loved ones. Happy Thanksgiving!
If you’ve ever felt like a lost soul in the kitchen, fear not, because Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything (also available as an e-book) is your culinary guardian angel. This book is a lifesaver for those of us who often find ourselves struggling to whip up a decent meal or decode complex recipes.
With its straightforward approach and comprehensive coverage, it’s like having an understanding, all-knowing mentor guiding you through the culinary maze. Recently, I got a new stove and it has inspired me to cook full-heartedly again. In some ways I feel like I’m starting over from scratch with cooking and baking, and this book is helping me get back on track.
One of the most remarkable aspects is its clarity. Mark Bittman breaks down each recipe into simple, easy-to-follow steps that even the most inexperienced cook can grasp. From basic knife skills to advanced techniques, he covers it all with patience and precision. As someone who often struggles with what seem like convoluted cooking directions, I can’t stress enough how much I appreciate his straightforward approach. How To Cook Everything lives up to its name. It truly covers everything you’d ever want to cook. Whether you’re a meat lover, vegetarian, or somewhere in between, this book caters to all tastes and dietary preferences. The recipes range from classic comfort foods to international delights, making it an priceless resource for any chef, amateur or otherwise.
Bittman provides valuable time-saving tips and shortcuts. He gets that not everyone has hours to spend in the kitchen, so he offers matter-of-fact suggestions to streamline the cooking process without sacrificing flavor. These tips are a windfall for those days when you’re short on time but still crave a homemade meal. One of the biggest challenges for a helpless cook is not having the exact ingredients a recipe calls for. Bittman encourages flexibility, offering alternative ingredients and substitutions. This approach inspires you to experiment and adapt recipes to suit your pantry’s contents, making cooking less stressful and more enjoyable.
Perhaps the most crucial aspect of How To Cook Everything is how it boosts your confidence in the kitchen. Bittman’s writing style is encouraging and motivating. He makes you feel like you can conquer any recipe, no matter how intimidating it may seem.
Angie is an Instructor & Research Specialist at Central Branch and is a co-facilitator for Reads of Acceptance, HCLS’ first LGBTQ-focused book club. Her ideal day is reading in her cozy armchair, with her cat Henry next to her.
Come talk food with us! Wednesday, May 24 at 7 pm | Savage Branch Register here.
In Asian American households, food is a love language. Sliced fruit, set gently next to a workspace, is an invitation to take a break, or an apology. Homecomings are ushered in by welcome feasts, and almost every restaurant occasion ends with a polite battle over the bill. Food is affection, and especially in immigrant households, it is a connection to family, to a far-away home, and it is a consistent way of showing (but not telling) love.
Growing up with my Bengali mother, rainy days off meant khichdi (a mix of rice, lentils, and vegetables) and aloo bhaja (thinly sliced fried potatoes) for lunch. My brother and I would scrap over the last few aloo bhaja in the bowl, before our mother would smile indulgently and take a few from her plate to split between us. I’d sit in the kitchen as my mother cooked big, elaborate, multi-course meals, watch her season and spice, and wait for the oil to sputter specifically, never once consulting a recipe. She would have one of her aunts on speakerphone, talking about family back home and interjecting with quick questions on what to substitute to make our American ingredients taste as close as possible to the Indian ones.
I grew to appreciate food, to understand cooking, and to have a standard repertoire of recipes after learning from my mother. It was a common language we shared, this mutual culinary interest. And it’s only grown. I cook with and for friends, I follow cooking blogs and sites and social media accounts, I favorite every restaurant I pass by with an interesting-looking menu, and most of all, I like to talk about food with people. On desk at the library, I’ll see someone flipping through a cookbook I’ve read, and I’ll want to stop and talk. I’ll notice someone looking at a book written by one of my favorite food personalities, and I can’t help but smile at it. And most of all, I love when people share their recipes with me, when I can hear about the food, the stories, and the cuisines that influence them.
It’s important, also, to know about innovators. To know about the people who are pushing the cuisine, who are changing it, who are going back to the roots of a tradition or practice to better understand it. There are so many Asian American chefs who are pushing the envelope on what elevated Asian American cuisine looks like, and there are just as many Asian American chefs who are looking to create the most traditional experience they can with their food. All of that is what makes the cuisine not just Asian, but Asian American. It’s the blend of respect for culture and tradition, and the simultaneous push to the modern that makes Asian American food so unique.
To celebrate all of the above, we’re having a Recipe Exchange on Wednesday, May 24, from 7-8 pm at the Savage Branch. It’s themed around Asian American chefs and Asian American cuisine, where we’ll look at a few highlighted chefs and some of their most popular recipes. I’d love for you to join us and bring a recipe of your own to share. We’ll discuss our favorite tips, tricks, and techniques in community, and do it all the way food was meant to be enjoyed – together.
Sahana is an Instructor and Research Specialist at the Savage Branch. They enjoy adding books to their “want to read” list despite having a mountain of books waiting for them already.
With temperatures falling outside, there is no better time to get cozy inside with some comfort food cooking. If you’re looking for inspiration, consider one of these new or new-to-our-collection cookbooks to liven up your repertoire.
In Tasty Total Comfort: Cozy Recipes with a Modern Touch, the minds behind the food site Tasty.co present a whimsical collection of comfort food from around the world. With 75 easy-to-follow recipes, this vibrantly photographed cookbook has you covered from breakfast to midnight snacks and all the little (or not so little) meals in between. The tone is approachable and playful (tater tot casserole on the cover) and, in addition to providing the reader with such tempting recipes as Korean Hot Dogs, Fried Chicken Adobo, and Spumoni Sundae Brownies, it gives reassurance that cooking, like eating, should be fun.
With Natural Flava, brothers Craig and Shaun McAnuff showcase the vibrant vegan Ital cuisine of Jamaica’s Rastafarians. According to the publisher’s website, “Ital means clean, natural, and unprocessed as much as possible. Rastafari is an expression of unity with all things, and the Ital diet reflects that through a sense of peace and togetherness with the natural world.” Although Caribbean cuisine may be famous for meat-centric dishes such as jerk chicken, the region is abundant with fresh fruits and vegetables such as plantains, yams, jackfruit, and guava that lend themselves to many tasty plant-based recipes. From coconut pancakes with warm blueberries to potato and chickpea curry with roti, the McAnuff brothers share a bounty of quick and delicious recipes that highlight the rich culture of their Jamaican heritage.
For me, nothing says comfort food like dumplings. And I think Top Chef alum Lee Anne Wong, author of the cheekily-titled Dumplings All Day Wong, might agree. Like a proper dumpling, this 2014 cookbook is stuffed with tasty goodness, featuring recipes for such tempting bites as Kimchi Mandu and Miso Short Rib Dumplings. Wong begins the book by covering the basics, in this case, dumpling wrappers, and provides suggestions for both store-bought and homemade. From there, she describes various dumpling folds and offers several recipes for each dumpling type as determined by fold/shape. Now that you’ve read the word “dumpling” eight times, don’t you want to try to make and eat your own? With Chef Lee Anne at your side, you can’t go wrong, (but you might go Wong)!
In the follow-up to his acclaimed 2020 celebration of Mexican-American cooking, Chicano Eats, Edwin Castillo shows us his sweeter side. In Chicano Bakes, southern California-based Castillo shares recipes that featured in his childhood in Orange County: pan dulce, tres leches cake, and panque de nuez (sweet pecan loaf), as well as creative twists on Mexican classics such as red velvet chocoflan. Through the 80 recipes and vivid color photos featured in this book, Castillo opens a window onto the delicious, vibrant world of his life, family, and Mexican-American culture.
Whatever region of the world or section of the Dewey Decimal system your appetite takes you to, come browse our cookbook collection for a read that’s sure to bring you warm, delicious comfort.
Holly is an Instructor and Research Specialist at the Miller Branch. She enjoys knitting, preferably with a strong cup of tea and Downton Abbey in the queue.
Try new recipes, new techniques, and new cookbooks in the New Year!
The New Year brings new resolutions, fresh starts, and the perfect time to try new things. This year, while you are still getting into a brand new routine, here are a few cookbooks to use as inspiration.
Dinner in One: Exceptional & Easy One-Pan Meals, for example, is great for folks who are trying to keep things simple but aren’t willing to sacrifice on flavor. Melissa Clark makes sure most, if not all, are ready within the hour. For those who are into the chemistry of cooking, J. Kenji López-Alt has come out with one of the most comprehensive texts on using woks in your kitchen. The lessons in The Wok: Recipes and Techniques extend beyond just the wok, with tips and tricks for knife skills and how to brighten up any dinner.
For those who have decided to take up home-made bread-making and baking as their resolution this year, The Best of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: Favorite Recipes from Bread In 5 keeps things both exciting and reasonable in the midst of everyone’s busy lives. This book has been touted as the “only one a baker needs,” and it’s still the best place to start for novices looking to get their foot in the door.
While last year was big for board-style meals and decoration (with charcuterie, butter boards, and hummus boards trending on social media), America’s Test Kitchen provided a perfect introduction and inspiration for making boards at home. Boards: Stylish Spreads for Casual Gatheringsis incredible inspiration for grazing tables and an easy way to feed guests when hosting, while keeping the actual work of preparing food to a minimum.
In the spirit of including new recipes in your repertoire, we invite you to join us on February 22 at the Savage Branch for the first of our Recipe Exchanges! We discuss our favorites, learn and borrow from others in the community, and then look specifically at the evolution of African American cuisine and soul food.
Cookbook Corner Wed, Jan 18; 7 – 8 pm HCLS East Columbia Branch For adults. Register here. Explore various culinary cuisines/chefs of the world. A new cuisine/chef every month.
Recipe Exchange: Black Chefs and African American Cuisine Wed, Feb 22; 7 – 8 pm HCLS Savage Branch For adults. Do you want to learn more about Black chefs and the history of African American cuisine to find out where your favorite soul food dish originated? Indulge your culinary curiosity at the first of our recipe exchanges. See our events calendar for more information.
The Thanksgiving holiday is an opportunity for families to gather at the dinner table, express their love, enjoy each other’s company, and give thanks for what life has to offer. On Thanksgiving Day, people watch the parade in New York, the national dog show, and football games, but the holiday feast is the main event. Many families showcase a variety of food choices from their respective regions or countries.
Some families could decide to have mashed potatoes with their turkey instead of macaroni and cheese. Many people prefer collard greens to green bean casserole, or sweet potato pie over pumpkin pie. Apple, cherry, and blueberry pies might also make an appearance. Even though turkey, ham, and other meats can be served during Thanksgiving, plenty of plant-based or meatless options are now available for vegans and vegetarians. Many pescatarians will have seafood as one of their main entrees for their feast.
Being thankful for the time that you spend with your family and friends is vital. Our society has had its recent share of trials and tribulations, especially with the Covid-19 pandemic. We as a nation have a lot to be thankful for. So please, cherish the people you love and the time you have to celebrate together during this holiday season.
Brandon is a Customer Service Specialist at HCLS Central Branch who loves reading, football, and taking nice long walks around his neighborhood.
End of summer blues? Turn to the colorful fruits and vegetables of autumn for a mood lift. Filled with nutrients, seasonal produce offers a culinary treat.
The Complete Autumn and Winter Cookbook by America’s Test Kitchen includes side dishes, main courses, and desserts filled with the flavors of fall. An entire chapter is devoted to pumpkin, a low-calorie, vitamin-dense treat. The antioxidant beta-carotene in pumpkin lends it that beautiful orange color and blocks the free radicals that cause cells to age. The body converts beta-carotene to vitamin A which is essential for healthy eyes, skin, and bones. Try the slow-cooker creamy pumpkin-chai soup for a treat on a chilly day.
Winter squash, another rich source of beta-carotene, can be fun to prepare with the guidance of Cara Mangini’s The Vegetable Butcher. Squash is low in carbohydrates, for those monitoring sugar intake, and high in potassium, for those following a heart-healthy diet. Recipes include kale and spelt berry salad. Lutein gives kale its dark green color and helps protect the eye from developing cataracts and macular degeneration. Cranberries are high in vitamin C, which strengthens the immune system and helps shorten the duration of cold symptoms.
As temperatures drop, the grill is a wonderful way to prepare vegetables. In Green Fire: Extraordinary Ways to Grill Fruits and Vegetables from the Master of Live-Fire Cooking, Francis Mallman shares his unique Patagonian recipes. Prepare his salt-baked beets for a dish rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Diets high in fiber have been associated with fewer digestive issues and lower colon cancer risk. Betalains, responsible for the purple-red color of beets, reduce inflammation and cell damage. Beets are also high in folate (vitamin B9), which has been linked to lowered risk of heart disease and stroke.
In Naturally Sweet Baking: Healthier Recipes for a Guilt-Free Treat, recipes include fall fruits such as pears as alternative sweeteners. High in fiber, pears have some sugar but do not have the high glycemic index that contributes to diabetes risk. The vitamin C, potassium, and antioxidants in pears add to their health benefits. Authors Carolin Strothe and Sebastian Keitel include a seasonal calendar as part of their guidance in baking without artificial coloring or processed sugar. Explore the baking collection at Elkridge’s DIY Education Center to find specialty cake pans available for checkout.
Cherise Tasker is an Adult Instructor and Research Specialist at the Central Branch. When not immersed in literary fiction, Cherise can be found singing along to musical theater soundtracks.
Produce from weekly farmers market at HCLS Miller Branch.
By Holly L.
Low-Fat. Mediterranean. Atkins. Whole 30. Keto. Paleo. Vegan. Pegan. Pegan? (That’s paleo meets vegan.) While there is little consensus as to which diet is the best, there is near universal agreement that a healthy diet includes abundant produce – fruits and, especially, vegetables. But most of us still aren’t getting enough. According to the USDA’s most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 90 percent of the US population does not get its daily recommendation of vegetables.
Whether you are already getting your five servings a day, we have a cornucopia of titles in our cookbook collection to help you incorporate more plant-based foods into your diet.
Meera Sodha’s East: 120 Vegan and Vegetarian Recipes from Bangalore to Beijing is an inspired collection of vibrant recipes, many originally published in her Guardian food column,”The New Vegan.” In her introduction, Sodha recalls when she first agreed to write the column that not only was she not vegan, she was in the middle of a major life change, having recently given birth to her first child. Excited by the writing challenge when she was seeing the world anew through her daughter’s eyes, she embarked on a journey to discover vegan recipes that would satisfy not just vegans but meat-eaters like herself. With a culinary background (and two prior cookbooks) rooted in her Indian heritage, Sodha broadens her horizons in East, with vegetarian and vegan recipes inspired by her travels in East and South Asia. The book is divided into chapters such as Snacks & Small Things, Curries, Flour and Eggs, Legumes, and Sweets. A few pages of “alternative contents” are also helpful, with categories such as Quick Dinners and From the Pantry, in addition to seasonal categories for those who like to cook by the calendar. This fall, I am tempted by Autumn Pilau with squash, lacinato kale, and smoked garlic, perhaps followed by some Pineapple Love Cake or Salted miso brownies.
The title Mostly Plants echoes a line from author-journalist Michael Pollan’s 2008 book In Defense of Food: “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” While recognizing the nutritional and cultural value of meat, he champions a diet of moderation composed mostly of whole foods, with meat being demoted from star to supporting player. In Mostly Plants: 101 Delicious Flexitarian Recipes from the Pollan Family, Michael Pollan’s mother, Corky, and sisters Tracy, Dana, and Lori have created a cookbook full of healthy, flavorful recipes designed to be on the table in 35 minutes or less. Each Pollan has her own dietary preference, some eating meat and others not. Their goal with the book is not to promote one particular diet but rather to shift “the ratio from animals to plants.” Each recipe features easy-to-read icons indicating if it is vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, and/or fast, as well as helpful hints for adaptations (to make a vegetarian recipe vegan, for example). Beautiful photos fill the pages, highlighting such recipes as Mesclun greens with persimmons and Manchego cheese and Udon Noodle Soup with miso-glazed vegetables and chicken. The book finishes with a chapter devoted to sweets, the Apple Galette Rustique with apricot glaze sounding to me like a perfect fall dessert.
Fans of chef-activist Bryant Terry may know him as the author of the celebrated 2014 cookbook Afro-Vegan: Farm-fresh African, Caribbean and Southern Flavors Remixed. In his more recent book Vegetable Kingdom: The Abundant World of Vegan Recipes, Terry explores the realm of vegetables in all their glorious parts, from seeds to roots. In his introduction, subtitled “Fennel for Zenzi,” Terry credits his two daughters as his inspiration. “I wrote this book to make a diversity of foods from the plant kingdom irresistible to them, to inspire their curiosity.” Even the structure of the book, with recipes sorted into chapters based on which part of the plant is used (flower, bulb, etc.) came from his older daughter Mila’s gardening class assignment. The recipes exhibit a further geographical reach than his previous books, with influences from East and Southeast Asia, reflective of his wife’s heritage. The book offers a feast for the senses, not just for the eyes and the palate, but for the ears, too. Terry includes a song pairing for each recipe. Before I prepare Dirty Cauliflower with tempeh, mushrooms, scallions, and parsley, I will be sure to queue up the suggested track, “Flat of the Blade” by Massive Attack. Terry does not include a chapter on sweets, but I imagine that he would approve of my default easy dessert—a few squares of dark chocolate which is, of course, vegan.
If you are interesting in healthy plant-based cooking, consider joining HCLS Elkridge Branch for Plant-Based Nutrition: Everything You Want to Know and More! on Thursday, October 7 at 6:30 pm. University of Maryland Extension teaches participants about plant-based nutrition, the benefits of a plant-based diet, and how to shop and plan meals using plant-based foods.
Holly L. is an Instructor and Research Specialist at the Miller Branch. She enjoys knitting and appreciates an audiobook with a good narrator.
If you’re familiar with Korean cooking and YouTube, chances are you’ve heard of Maangchi. Originally born and raised in Korea, she now lives in New York City and has been uploading Korean cooking videos to YouTube since 2007. Always cheerful and armed with her trusty knives, she’s taught her 5.5 million subscribers the ins and outs of Korean cooking and the recipes she grew up on. And she is just fun to watch. Even if I’m not cooking, I will watch her videos just because she is a breath of sunshine; by the end, I always want her as my Korean auntie.
I work at the Miller Branch of HCLS which is in Ellicott City and home to Route 40, or Korean Way as it is designated by the state. Here, there is no shortage of great establishments that serve the most delicious cuisine that Korea has to offer, but if you’ve ever wanted to cook Korean food at home, I wholeheartedly recommend watching Maangchi’s recipe videos or checking out her books: Maangchi’s Real Korean Cooking or Maangchi’s Big Book of Korean Cooking. Through these books I have learned just how EASY it is to cook many of the staples I’ve had in Korean restaurants over the years. Bulgogi, kimchi, numerous jjigaes or stews, bibimbap, you name it; she has taught me all. Her recipes are so simple and so easy to make that you’ll be hosting your next get-together with her recipes and wowing everyone with your cooking prowess. I can personally attest to that. I recently hosted a small Korean BBQ party (where everyone had been fully vaccinated) and everyone was so impressed and so full by the end.
Both of her books are available to check out or reserve through the Howard County Library System. Believe me, you won’t be disappointed.
See you next time! Bye!
Maangchi at the end of every video
Peter is an Instructor and Research Specialist at the Miller Branch and just loves to eat.
CHAPTER CHATS 