This weekend my daughter and I were strolling through a spice shop in Raleigh and she picked up a couple of books Mighty Spice Cookbook by John Gregory-Smith and Healing Spices by Gharat B. Aggarwal with Debora Yost.

Earlier this year I was sent a cookbook by Maria Filice, the author of Breaking Bread in L’Aquila, a lovely cookbook created after the death of her beloved husband Paul Piccone. All who know me know I am a connoisseur of cookbooks and will literally prepared everything in a book before giving my opinion. This book is not exception. Over the next few weeks I will be preparing a few recipes from Maria’s book. We are going to start with the Bruschetta and end with the Pizzelle, an absolutely lovely Italian waffle cookie.

We all know that Mardi Gras is just around the corner, Tuesday March 8 and for those who have never visited the great state of Louisiana, Chef Carolyn Shelton is sharing information about Louisiana food and what makes is so unique.

Mardi Gras is just around the corner, on March 5th this year and most visitors will plan to arrive no later than Saturday, March 5, 2011 in order to enjoy an extended weekend of festivities. If you have never been to New Orleans and you would like to “Laissez les bons temps rouler” (Let the good times roll) there is one place you must go and one chef you must see.

Hanging out at Border’s Books is one of my favorite pastimes, and wondering the bargain books leaves me in a constant state of euphoria. I recently ran across a little book titled 1 Dough 100 Cookies: Take 1 basic recipe and make 100 kinds of cookies by Linda Doeser.