When Anthony and I were in San Diego last summer, we explored some new areas of the city. I had read about Hillcrest and Kensington, and was really anxious to see what was there. There was supposed to be a store that only sells cookbooks and I couldn't wait to see what it was like. The Cookbook Store is in a small plaza with carts of books outside the entrance and stacks of books covering every surface of the store. We could hardly walk through the piles throughout the tight space but there was so much to look at that we barely noticed. There were thousands of cookbooks, new and used, featuring every type of food, any type of drink and even cooking techniques. I kept picking up books, flipping through them and falling in love. For $12, we walked away with ten books, which included one of the best things I have ever come across: a two-inch thick spiral cookbook from the 1960's with recipes that were collected from home-economics teachers all over the country. The teachers' names, schools and states are listed and the recipes in there are classic. I had a hard time parting with it but I brought it back for my mother as a souvenir and hope she is putting it to good use.
This article from The Star features another Cookbook Store, this one in Toronto. It looks beautiful, nothing at all like the store in San Diego, but just as wonderful. I'd love to visit some day. They book well-known chefs for signings and in this feature, the staff offers dirt on some big stars. Jamie Oliver acts fake and Martha Stewart has a surprising sense of humor.
How lovely would it be to own one of these stores? And does anyone else get as excited as I do about cookbooks?
Picture courtesy of Treehugger
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