Cozy in the Kitchen

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

A cozy kitchen can be a good place to find comfort as the days get darker and colder.  You can visit the library for new cookbooks to try out as you warm up your kitchen this fall and winter.

Taste of Home is a popular magazine that publishes recipes submitted by home cooks.  The company, which is part of Reader’s Digest, also publishes cookbooks.  One of their latest is Taste of Home Kitchen Hacks: 100 Hints, Tricks & Timesavers – and the Recipes to Go withThem.  This sounds like a unique cookbook, focused on tricks to make things easier in the kitchen, like how to chop six hardboiled eggs at once or how to hull strawberries with no mess.  Recipes accompany the helpful hints.  I’m intrigued to look at this one.

Award-winning chef Sean Brock’s second cookbook South: Essential Recipes and New Explorations has been named a best cookbook of this fall by a number of media outlets.  Brock covers the core recipes of Southern cooking here, along with a look at the different regions within the South and their history and specialties. Look for fundamentals like grits and fried chicken, along with less familiar foods like eggplant purloo and rhubarb-tomato conserve, in this artfully photographed book.

The smell of bread baking makes a house feel warm and snug.  The new cookbook Living Bread: Tradition and Innovation in Artisan Bread Making might inspire you to try out some new bread baking techniques.  Author Daniel Leader founded the Bread Alone Bakery in the Catskills in 1983 with help from a French expert.  He produces organic, wood-fired, artisan bread on a large scale using environmentally friendly methods, and he has been influential in the artisanal bread world.  Using this cookbook, you can bake basic breads or more complicated things like sourdough and sprouted breads.

Gathering with friends and family is another way to raise your spirits this time of year.  Author Alison Roman says, “It’s not entertaining, it’s having people over.”  In her new cookbook Nothing Fancy: Unfussy Food for Having People Over, Roman presents an array of trendy gourmet recipes that she says are easy to make and crowd-pleasing.  I would say it’s all fancier than what most of us are used to, but the ingredients don’t look overly intimidating.

For another trendy cookbook with recipes that sound a little simpler, you can look for Antoni in the Kitchen.  Author Antoni Porowski is the food and wine expert on the popular Netflix show Queer Eye, and he specializes in teaching people how to become more confident with their cooking.   The cookbook includes sections on vegetables, pasta and rice, meat, and baked goods, as well as a chapter called “weeknight healthyish.” 

For a cookbook with more exotic ingredients, check out Sababa: Fresh, Sunny Flavors from My Israeli Kitchen by Adeena Sussman.  “Sababa” is Hebrew for “everything is awesome” (cue the catchy song from the Lego Movie). This cookbook takes a cheerful approach to sharing the foods Sussman has learned about since moving from America to Israel, especially things she finds in her local outdoor market. 

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, with all of the delicious food involved in that day. Oscar Wilde said, “After a good dinner, one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relatives.”  Check out one of the vast numbers of cookbooks at the library and find some recipes for good dinners to make at your house.

Food, glorious food for our community

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

The Litchfield Library is again offering a Food for Fines program to support the local food shelf during Minnesota FoodShare month.  Our program will run from March 15 to March 31.  For each donated item you bring to the library for the food shelf, we will waive $1 of your late fees, up to a maximum of $5 per person.  This can apply only to late fees, not to replacement fees for lost or damaged items.  Last year, Dassel, Grove City, and Litchfield library patrons donated a total of 92 pounds of food to the Meeker County food shelf through Food for Fines.  It’s a good way to help your community and yourself at the same time.

While we’re talking about food, if you’re fortunate enough to be able to buy interesting groceries, you may want to know about some of our new cookbooks.  One that’s popular right now is by Oprah Winfrey: Food, Health, and Happiness: 115 On-Point Recipes for Great Meals and a Better Life.  While Oprah discusses her relationship with food throughout the book, it is also a cookbook.  It lists Weight Watchers points for all of the recipes and generally espouses the Weight Watchers philosophy.  The recipes have some fairly complicated ingredient lists for the ordinary cook, but that’s often true of cookbooks.

The London Cookbook: Recipes from the Restaurants, Cafes,and Hole-in-the-Wall Gems of a Modern City is a trendy new cookbook.  Author Aleksandra Crapanzano got incredulous responses when she told them she was writing a book about the food scene in London; England doesn’t have a reputation for stellar food.  However, she says things have changed so much in the past twenty years, with chefs like Yotam Ottolenghi and Jamie Oliver raising the bar in London restaurants.  The book blends travel information with recipes for the home cook. 

Based in a very different part of the world, Deep Run Roots: Stories and Recipes from My Corner of the South is all about American Southern cooking.  Author Vivian Howard is the star of PBS’s A Chef’s Life and the owner of Chef and Farmer restaurant in Kinston, North Carolina.  She based her restaurant’s menu on what was available from local farmers, even when that meant she needed to be creative with an overabundance of sweet potatoes and blueberries.  This cookbook combines her recipes with stories of growing up in Deep Run, North Carolina, and training as a chef in New York City.

Another PBS show, America’s Test Kitchen, has a new cookbook out called Bread Illustrated: A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving Bakery-Quality Results at Home. Baking bread can be intimidating, but this cookbook breaks the process down into steps accompanied by six to sixteen color photos per lesson.  Recipes range from easy to advanced.

Another one for the bakers, Art of the Pie: A Practical Guide to Homemade Crusts, Fillings, and Life teaches techniques that can challenge beginners. Author Kate McDermott teaches Pie Camps across the country.  People describe her as a pie guru who teaches life lessons like peace and forgiveness along with crust techniques.  Personally, I’ve been more peaceful when making pies since I started using lard, and it sounds like some of McDermott’s recipes go that way, too. This book is Overdrive's Big Library Read through March 30th, so you can check out the e-book no matter how many other people already have it checked out right now.

Food, glorious food!  Whether you cook it for your family or donate it to people in need in our community, food is a great way to show you care. 

Hygge: A way to feel better about winter

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

I keep seeing articles about trying to enjoy the winter instead of dreading it.  I have to admit I hate cold and dark, so finding ways to feel better during this time of year sounds like a great idea.  Many of these writings refer to the ways that Scandinavian countries embrace the season. The Danish word hygge loosely translates as “coziness,” but it’s one of those words that doesn’t really have an English equivalent, because togetherness and well-being are part of it as well.  It is associated with things like candles, fireplaces, hot beverages, blankets, friends, family, and food.  The Norwegians call it “koselig,” and they reportedly embrace the good things that come with winter instead of suffering through it.  I wonder if they have to drive on slippery roads as much as we do?  I should ask the people I know who used to live in Norway…

So what kind of hygge can the library offer you?  Well, the library itself is a pretty cozy place, especially now that the lighted Christmas trees are up.  To really add the social element, you could come to a book club. Talking about books with friendly, interesting people can give you a warm feeling of togetherness.  Our next book for Adult Book Club is A Christmas Blizzard by Garrision Keillor.  The title doesn’t sound warm and cozy, but it’s supposed to be heartwarming in the end.  The next meeting is on January 12th at noon.  Multiple copies are on hand at our front desk to check out.

The Mystery Book Club is reading Plum Pudding Murder by Joanne Fluke.  The murder part is not so snug and safe, but Fluke’s novels are considered cozy mysteries, which means the violence is downplayed, and the detective work happens in a small community.  This book club meets on the third Wednesday of the month, which will be December 16.

We normally offer a Fiber Arts Club on the fourth Thursday of the month at 4 p.m., but since that day will fall on Christmas Eve in December, you’ll have to wait until January to attend.  This group is a very informal way to gather with other people who are knitting, crocheting, or doing other handwork. 

If you’re looking for some recipes for comfort food, we have some new cookbooks that fit the bill: Brunch @ Bobby’s by Bobby Flay, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinnertime by Ree Drummond, and Sweets & Treats with Six Sisters’ Stuff.  

To get some ideas for making your home more cozy, we have a couple of new decorating/design books on the way: Country Living American Style and Cabin Porn: Inspiration for Your Quiet Place Somewhere.  Don’t be alarmed by the title of the second book; it’s just a collection of photographs of cabins in beautiful places that inspire fantasies of moving to the woods. 

Of course, just curling up with a book or a movie can make for a cozy evening (or day) anytime, as long as it’s something you enjoy.  Some of our very newest books include House of the Rising Sun by James Lee Burke, Irish Meadows by Susan Anne Mason, and Texas Hills by Ralph Compton.  Our latest DVDs include Jerusalem from National Geographic, Dope, and Bears from the Disneynature series. 

This winter, I’m going to look for opportunities for hygge.  I hope the library can help boost your well-being, togetherness, and coziness this season.  

Wine & Cheese is tonight, cookbook extravaganza on Saturday!

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

The library has two events this week for the food and drink lovers in the community.  One is a wine tasting to benefit the library, and the other is our book sale, which will feature a cookbook extravaganza this month.

The Litchfield Public Library Foundation is hosting a wine, cheese, and chocolate-tasting fundraiser tonight, Thursday, March 19.  This event will be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Litchfield VFW on East U.S. Highway 12.  

Those who attend will be able to sample 34 high-quality wines, plus three non-alcoholic wines, and nine regular and non-alcoholic beers and ales.  Bruce Cottington will be providing seven types of cheese to sample.  Edward Jones will be providing chocolate. 

The event will feature an exhibit of black and white photography by local artist Robert Wilde. 

The Foundation will also offer a silent auction with items from many local businesses.  The list so far includes donations from Peter’s on Lake Ripley, Parkview Grille, Carlito’s, Swan’s Café, Dairy Queen, Litchfield Natural Food Co-op, Stockmen’s Nursery, Prairie Drifter Farm, Open Sole Yoga, Cricket Meadow, and Rodan + Fields consultant Heather Guyan, plus Jackie Zender and NFL player John Carlson.  We are so grateful for their generosity.

Tickets can be purchased at the door, at the library or liquor store, or from library board members for $20 each.  All proceeds benefit the library’s Foundation, which is a nonprofit that supports our local library.

For those who want to pursue their food and drink interests at home, our next book sale will be a good place to stock up.  This month’s sale will feature a huge selection of cookbooks.  The Friends of the Library book sale will be held Saturday, March 21, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the library’s meeting room. 

There will be cookbooks by celebrity chefs, cookbooks from cultures around the world and around regions of the U.S., and books filled with quick and easy recipes.  The sale will also offer cookbooks featuring special ingredients, such as cheese, meat, game, fish, berries, and vegetables.  Books about coffee, tea, beer, and wine will be available, as well as cookbooks for special diets. 

The March book sale will also feature a 25 cent special on vintage mysteries.  The usual wide variety of books and movies will be part of the sale, as well.

Proceeds from this sale always benefit the Friends of the Litchfield Public Library, another nonprofit organization that supports our local library.  Library Friends groups are like booster clubs for school activities or auxiliaries for hospitals, which may help you to understand the difference between our Foundation and our Friends group.  We are grateful to have both!

Join us for the events this week and enjoy the finer things in life.  As Julia Child said, “People who love to eat are always the best people.”

Food, glorious food

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

Cookbooks are the most popular kind of nonfiction in libraries today.  I love to look through cookbooks with photos even if I never cook anything from them.  Food can be so beautiful!  Our library has a wide range of new cookbooks, from barbecue to Thai to meat to vegetarian.  You can search our catalog under the subject “cookbooks” for newer books or “cookery” for older things; the Library of Congress term changed not long ago.   You can also browse our library’s large cookbook collection in the 641 section.

 

Bobby Flay’s Barbecue Addiction seems a good choice for the 4^th of July.  This cookbook is a tie-in with the Food Network show of the same name.  Bobby delves into true barbecuing, which is slow and involves smoke, but he includes some grilling recipes in this book as well.  He also shares recipes for drinks and side dishes to serve with your barbecued food for a backyard get-together.  On Amazon, the customer reviews say it’s a practical cookbook that uses ingredients most people would have on hand. 

The Meat Hook Meat Book is written by Tom Mylan, the co-owner of the Meat Hook artisanal meat market in Brooklyn.  Mylan gives instructions on how to cut up whole birds (chickens, turkeys, etc.) as well as sides of beef and whole pigs.  He covers the topics of blending ground meat for burgers and making sausage, and he includes some recipes as well.  The professional reviews of this book are good, but the ordinary people on Amazon say that the recipes are odd. Apparently both the recipes and the language tend to be very salty.  Maybe that’s not unusual for butchers in New York City.

Simple Thai Food is a book I discovered on a list of bestselling cookbooks in the Midwest this spring.  The author Leela Punyaratabandhu is originally from Bangkok, and she has an award-winning Thai cooking blog.  Her recipes are said to be authentic rather than typical of Thai restaurants in the U.S., but don’t worry: pad Thai, spring rolls, curry, and satay are included.  The author simplifies traditional cooking methods and lets American cooks know which ingredients can be substituted with foods easier to find at the grocery store.  I may try this cookbook out myself since I enjoy Thai food but a peanut allergy in my family makes Thai restaurants too risky to bring the whole gang along. 

Food writer Mark Bittman says that you can lose weight and dramatically improve your health by eating vegan all day and eating animal products only at supper.  His new book, The VB6 Cookbook: More than 350 Recipes for Healthy Vegan Meals All Day and Delicious Flexitarian Dinners at Night aims to give people the specifics to make “vegan before 6” a manageable lifestyle. 

The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Vegetable Cookbook: 100 Delicious Heritage Recipes from the Farm and Garden  features seasonal recipes for vegetables.  The Beekman 1802 farm in New York is the basis for a TV show, a website, and a few books.  This trendy, vintage country-style cookbook for omnivores includes gorgeous photographs.

Speaking of vegetables, our library has added some new cookbooks with kale recipes in them to help you participate in this year’s One Vegetable One Community program.  We have Brassicas: Cooking the World’s Healthiest Vegetables, The Book of Kale: The Easy-to-Grow Superfood, and Wild About Greens.  You’re likely to find more kale recipes in other vegetable cookbooks, as well.  

Stop in to find beautiful cookbooks that will give you the recipes you need to make any kind of food you like.  The possibilities are endless.

Road Trip!

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

Here we are at the Fourth of July.  Are you enjoying your summer so far?  Are you looking for some new things to do?  We have new books at the library that can lead you into some fun summer activities.

Keep Out!  Build Your Own Backyard Clubhouse sounds like a fun time for kids and dads.  The book takes readers step by step from gathering the right tools and materials to building the roof and doing the finishing work.  It’s written for both kids and adults, with ideas for customizing your project.

If cooking is your idea of fun, check out Put ‘em Up! Fruit: A Preserving Guide and Cookbook: Creative Ways to Put ‘em Up, Tasty Ways to Use ‘em Up.  The growing season is behind schedule this year, but strawberries could be your first project out of the book.   Some of the recipes sound pretty interesting, like five-spice plum sauce, blueberry ketchup, and maraschino cherries.  Can you really make those at home?! 

For many people, summer means camping.  If you’d like some advice before you give it a try or if you want to improve your experience of roughing it, take a look at Camping’s Top Secrets: A Lexicon of Expert Camping Tips.  We have the 25^th anniversary version of the book, which just came out in March.  It covers the whole experience, including things like forecasting the weather, treating drinking water, handling animal encounters, and using maps and GPS.  Maybe if I read it sometime, camping won’t seem like so much work.  But I doubt it.

If you’d rather drive around and see interesting scenery on your vacation (me, me!), try the National Geographic Guide to Scenic Highways & Byways: The 300 Best Drives in the U.S.  The book describes 300 scenic routes all around the United States, including history and points of interest.  This one was also just published in March, so it’s very up-to-date.  Check out the department of transportation website for each state you’re visiting, of course, for the most up-to-date information on road construction, which could throw a wrench into your plan for a beautiful drive.

Looking for something different in your travels?  We have books that guide you to the less-traveled, less-crowded places.  We have brand-new Off the Beaten Path books about Connecticut, Colorado, and Georgia.  We also have National Geographic’s Secrets of the National Parks: The Experts’ Guide to the Best Experiences Beyond the Tourist Trail.  This book seems like a great idea for those of us who have seen the main areas of places like the Badlands and Wind Cave many times and would like to find something we haven’t seen before.

Do you like to go out to eat at interesting restaurants during your summer trips?  Guy Fieri’s new book Diners, Drive-Ins, Dives: The Funky Finds in Flavortown: America’s Classic Joints and Killer Comfort Food can give you plenty of interesting ideas.  A few of them are right in the Twin Cities because several of the people who work on his show are from there, so you can visit some of the Food Network star’s favorite restaurants with just a short drive. 

There’s plenty of summer left to get going on any of these activities.  Or just stop in to get some light summer entertainment in the form of a thriller, a mystery, or a romance novel.  We’ll have a display of some of those “beach reads” near our movies this month.

Spring is here... I think

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

It certainly doesn’t feel like it, but spring is here according to the calendar, and Easter is upon us.  If you’d like to read about spring before you can feel it, you can come to the library to get a fresh, new book to tide you over until the warm weather arrives.

An early sign of spring is maple syruping, which I hear is late to start this year.  The book Modern Maple by Teresa Marrone tells you how to make maple syrup in your backyard.  It covers the equipment you’ll need to get, when and how to tap the trees, and how to turn sap into syrup.  It even includes recipes made with maple syrup, from breakfast to dessert.

Are you waiting anxiously for the birds to come back?  The Bluebird Effect: Uncommon Bonds with Common Birds by Julie Zickefoose tells of the author and illustrator’s experiences rescuing birds of 25 different species.  The author tells of feeding baby hummingbirds every twenty minutes, playing bird songs to abandoned baby Carolina wrens, and caring for injured birds until they were healed.  The detailed nature writing is melded with the author’s personal experiences and illustrated with her sketches and watercolor paintings.  Library Journal named this book one of its top five science books of 2012.

Another of Library Journal’s top science books, America’s Other Audubon by Joy M. Kiser, celebrates the artwork of a young woman in the late 1800s. Genevieve Jones was an amateur naturalist and artist in Ohio.  She saw Audubon’s paintings at the 1876 World’s Fair and was inspired to document nests and eggs, because Audubon had not.  She started on a book, Illustrations of the Nests and Birds of Ohio, although her parents were concerned about the expense and size of the project.  When she became depressed over a broken engagement, her family began to support her project to help her cope.  Her father paid for the publishing, her brother Howard collected the nests, and Genevieve and her friend Eliza Schulze learned lithography and created the illustrations.  The book was issued in 23 parts and was sold by subscription.  When she released part one, ornithologists and book reviewers praised it as being on par with Audubon’s work, and Teddy Roosevelt and Rutherford B. Hayes became subscribers. 

Genevieve died suddenly of typhoid after having completed only five illustrations.  Her family continued working on the book for seven years until it was complete, as a way to honor her memory.  Both her mother and her brother nearly died from typhoid two years after Genevieve, and her mother lost her eyesight from effects of the disease along with eye strain from hours of working on the illustrations.  Her physician father spent all of his retirement savings to publish the book.  Fewer than 100 copies were ever produced, despite the fact that it won a medal at the Chicago World’s Fair. The new book by Kiser reproduces the color artwork of the Jones’ original volume.  It is beautiful.

Are you looking forward to the first things that grow?  The cookbook Eat More Vegetables: Make the Most of Your Seasonal Produce includes a section on spring:  April and May.  The book was published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press, so it’s even realistic for those of us who live in the north.  The author, Tricia Cornell, structures the book around things we can find at Minnesota farmers’ markets, beginning with things like rhubarb, asparagus, and dandelion greens.

Spring will come eventually.  In the meantime, read some good books that help you look forward to growing plants, nesting birds, and anything else you enjoy about the return of warm weather.

Books for the cook, the sci fi/fantasy fan, and the gamer

The Sprouted Kitchen

The Scourge of God

And for use by our gaming club:

Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook: Core Rulebook I v.3.5

Our newest additions

Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing

Forks Over Knives: The Cookbook

Bones Are Forever

Summertime and the Cooking is Easy

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian


Summer has begun and the Fourth of July is almost here. With some of the hot days we’ve had, you might have run through your arsenal of grilled meats and pasta salads and be looking for something new. Or maybe you have a family picnic or barbecue with friends coming up, and you’d like to find an interesting dish to bring. The library has several new cookbooks you can borrow to find some new, unique recipes.

The Fire Island Cookbook, by Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jenssen, is an entertaining-focused cookbook with complete menus intended for each weekend from Memorial Day through Labor Day. The authors designed the recipes to include seasonal produce. Some of the menus can be prepped early in the day before the hosts leave for the day, say for the beach, with last-minute things to be grilled when guests arrive in the evening. Others are very elaborate for those who love gourmet cooking. All include wine suggestions.

Martha’s American Food is Martha Stewart’s latest offering, called a “love letter to American food” by the publisher. It’s divided into sections by region, plus a section called “all-American” which includes basics like blueberry pancakes, mashed potatoes, and three-bean salad. The Midwest section features some regional products, like wild rice and corn, and some regional ethnicities, with recipes like sauerbraten and lingonberry punch. Never fear, Martha did remember to include a hotdish recipe.

Food Network fans may want to borrow Weeknights with Giada, by Giada De Laurentiis. This cookbook focuses on suppers that are quick to make – some in 15 minutes or less. I don’t know about you, but I take longer than that just to chop things. Quick cooking times certainly help keep the kitchen cooler, though. Giada includes breakfast-for-dinner recipes, meatless Monday vegetarian recipes, sandwiches, and hearty salads.

Another cookbook with quick recipes is Jamie Oliver’s Meals in Minutes. Jamie says that you can organize your kitchen for faster cooking and learn techniques that speed it up, as well. He gives complete menus with instructions listed in order of preparation to help you get the meal done as quickly as possible. I think I could use a cookbook that tells me to start cooking this first, switch over to that, and remember to go back and do something more to that first thing, especially when managing more than one new recipe.

Baking may not be at the top of your mind in the summer, but the cover of Cake Boy by Eric Lanlard features a berry-topped cake that looks perfect for this time of year. The cookbook goes beyond cakes to include recipes for macaroons, Key lime pie cheesecake, and rhubarb and apple tart, all of it with gorgeous photos.

The photo of raw pigs’ feet on the cover of Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal, by Jennifer McLagan, is not so pretty, but most of the photos inside look delicious. This cookbook captures the trend of cooking the whole animal, nose to tail, which is actually a return to traditional practices of making good use of resources. The book explains the history of eating the most economical cuts of meat and why and how we have come to avoid them in the modern world. The recipes include things that are not at all troubling, such as Brisket Braised with Carmelized Onions and Chile, and things that would give most of us pause, such as Minted Tripe & Pea Salad. Foodies who enjoy meat, this book is for you.

Our library offers a broad variety of cookbooks, traditional and trendy, to help you find new recipes – or just have fun looking at pictures of food. Have a great Fourth of July, and happy cooking!

I Am So Thankful

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

At the Litchfield Public Library, those of us on the staff are so thankful to work in our wonderful library. Thanks to the efforts and generosity of many, we have a beautiful library building in our community. People who visit from out of town often look around with wide eyes and say, “You have a beautiful library. Is it new?” It truly is something to be proud of, even ten years after it opened.

We are also thankful for the talented people from our community who come in to share their gifts with us. A few weeks ago, we hosted Herbert Chilstrom for a book event. Mr. Chilstrom grew up in Litchfield and is the retired bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Members of his graduating class donated a copy of his new book, A Journey of Grace: The Formation of a Leader and a Church, to our library. When it returns from processing, it will be available for you to check out.

On Monday, November 28, we will be hosting Litchfield author Nancy Paddock in our meeting room at 7 p.m. Nancy’s new book, A Song at Twilight: Of Alzheimer’s and Love, has gotten quite a lot of attention on the Minnesota literary scene. The memoir has been reviewed favorably, even glowingly, in the Minneapolis Star Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press. The Star Tribune reviewer described it as “lyrically powerful” and a “beautiful, fragile and unforgettably open-hearted effort”. Nancy has been interviewed about the book on Minnesota Public Radio and has made multiple appearances in the Twin Cities, including one at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. We are thankful to claim Nancy as a member of our local arts community and to have her kick off our new round of Legacy programming. I hope you’ll join us the Monday evening after Thanksgiving to hear Nancy discuss her book and, if you’d like, have a copy signed. Our library owns a copy, as well.

Personally, I’m thankful for the challenges and opportunities of my new job as head librarian this year. I am constantly learning new things, meeting new people, and looking for new ways to serve the community. This runs the gamut from the very serious information request to the entertaining community event. I hope you’ll join me for something new and fun: game night at the library. Starting on December 5th, we’ll have a series of game nights on Mondays from 6:30 to 8 p.m. We’ll start with chess on December 5th in the meeting room. Bring your own chess set and meet up with others who want to play. It’s open to all ages and ability levels, and you can come and go as your schedule allows. I’m planning to do evenings of card games, board games, Yu-Gi-Oh, Dungeons & Dragons, Wii Sports, Wii Rock Band, and any other likely candidates. If you have a request, let me know.

Finally, I know that many of us are thankful when new books come in. It’s like Christmas every time we get a delivery of new books, movies, or music. As you prepare your Thanksgiving dinners or make your Christmas baking and entertaining plans, take a look at some of the new resources we have available to you:

• Essential Pepin: More than 700 All-Time Favorites from My Life in Food by Jacques Pepin

• The Best of the Farmer’s Wife Cookbook: Over 400 Blue-Ribbon Recipes

• Mad About Macarons: Make Macarons Like the French by Jill Colonna

• Whoopies! Fabulous Mix-and-Match Recipes for Whoopie Pies by Susanna Tee

• The Apple Lover’s Cookbook by Amy Traverso

• Bite by Bite: 100 Stylish Little Plates You Can Make for Any Party by Peter Callahan

• Heartland: The Cookbook by Judith Fertig



Our library will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, but we will be open again on Friday and Saturday. Happy Thanksgiving!