Last summer, a close friend of mine passed away. She was a brilliant person who had a knack for collecting unique things. Last week, her sister was cleaning out some of her books and asked that D and I come take some stuff if we want it. Although I never knew her too cook anything (like me she seemed an expert on buying bags of pretzels and heating frozen french fries) she had a slew of cook books. The one that really caught my attention was Betty Crocker’s Cookbook New and Revised Edition (subtitled with: “Including Microwave Recipes”) copyright 1980.  This was like finding recipe GOLD for me because this is the actual cookbook my mom used when I was a kid. I was born in 81 so this book would have been my mom’s kitchen manual. Sure enough, I found my mom’s recipe for green beans, my favorite Christmas cookies, as well as some new things I am dying to try. Like pumpkin bread! My favorite thing about the book is that the photographs are hilariously bad. Have you ever watched a cooking show from before they invented Food Network? Thank god someone figured out that food photography is 90% of why we eat and cook certain things. Some of the photos in the book look downright disgusting. Still, it’s a fun read and something I will take care of forever. For you food-ooglers like me who enjoy some pretty literal eye-candy I recommend Eating is Art – a place I like to go and eat with my eyes.