A box from Jessica's Biscuit arrived today.
As a result, along with a book about someone named Hofstetter, I now have waiting on my nightstand:
The Automat: The History, Recipes, and Allure of Horn & Hardart's Masterpiece, by Lorraine B Diehl and Marianne Hardart. Title pretty much sums things up.
The Four Seasons: A History of America's Premier Restaurant, by John Mariani with Alex von Bidder. At the intersection of James Beard, Craig Claiborne, and the Seagrams Building.
With the Grain, by Raymond Sokolov. About wheat, corn, rice, oats, barley... Sokolov is a witty writer, so this should be interesting, not starchy at all.
Fragrant Harbour Taste: The New Chinese Cooking of Hong Kong, by Kenneth Hom. Again, the title pretty much says it.
James McNair's Favorites. McNair has been writing cookbooks for a long time, and has a good rep. He named the book after himself. Some people are like that.
The Way We Are, by Margaret Visser. A collection of essays by a self-described "anthropologist of everyday life." Does anyone who writes books lack an ego? Or a knack for self-promotion?
Fruitcakes & Couch Potatoes... and other delicious expressions, by Christine Ammer. She's a lexicographer, the book is about words and food. A trifle. In both senses of the word. Just for fun.
And, finally, Food, by Ogden Nash.
Well, that's what was ordered. It's not what they sent.
Instead, what arrived was Food: The History of Taste, edited by Paul Freedman.
Food, by Ogden Nash, runs about 78 pages. I was intending to give it to the younger grandlad.
Food, edited by Paul Freedman, runs about 368 pages, and is intended as a history of the connections between food and culture. It's not something I would give to either grandlad.
It turns out that the release date for Food, edited by Paul Freedman, is November 6, 2007. Food, by Ogden Nash, has been around for some time (just as poor Ogden Nash hasn't been around for a while). So I can understand the mix-up - why wouldn't someone ordering a book want the one that is just being released? And the Freedman does look interesting.
Still, it means we've got to go back and re-order the Ogden Nash, if we're going to have it on time as a Christmas gift.
And in any case, the Hofstetter has the priority position in my reading stack.