where it all began...

this is the book that started my luv affair with cookbooks, the Betty Crocker New Picture Cookbook, circa 1960's. with it's highly over colourized photos to it's whimsical drawings this was the cookbook i pondered over when i was a girl. flipping from page to page, dreaming... lingering over the cake and cookie pages. watching my mum measure, pour and add ingredients with ease. that was kitchen magic at it's best! there was always a lot of baked goods in the house... not only because of Betty Crocker, mostly because of my mum! she enjoyed baking and cooking and i can assume my grandmother, her mum, did as well. i know for a fact that my other grandmother, my dad's mum did. many times a year we would receive an assortment of her delicious homemade baking. scones, shortbread and peanut butter marshmallow squares i seem to recall the most. Betty Crocker was the essential. for me Betty Crocker is a reminder of days gone by.

this coconut cake can give Marianne's coconut cream pie a run for her money!

this is one of the many whimsical drawings that grace the pages of this cookbook. they almost have a Ronald Searle feel about them. well to me they do or at least remind me of his drawings. a bit of highland dancing anyone?

suggestive drawings and the highly colourized photos, like this one shown below, make the food pop right off the page if not slide right off. - jw