Weekend Cooking

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Recipes grouped by menus usually come with a bit of frustration. You
have a chicken to cook: will the inspiration you seek be in the
Mediterranean Lunch, African Safari, Afternoon Grill, or Campfire
Cookout section? While the excellent index goes a long way to offset
that problem with this Company’s Coming collection of 200 new recipes,
the extremely high quality of the book does even more to push that small
irritant to the background. It’s a book so successfully designed for
browsing that grazing through the 40 “theme packages” becomes a
compulsion. Finding a chicken recipe can wait while you get caught up in
the intriguing possibilities of a Tailgate Party, Rainy Day Supper,
Boating Fare, Curry Night....

Part of this page-turning lure can be attributed to the fresh ideas and
imaginative approaches captured in the recipes. The beautiful colour
photos must also claim part of the credit. Every recipe is illustrated.

While most of the recipes fit the traditional Company’s Coming
formula of being easy to prepare and using only readily available
ingredients, there are a few ventures into the more complex world of
gourmet cooking, and in a few cases the reader is directed to a
specialty market for an ingredient. The ingredients list for each recipe
is given in both imperial and metric measures. Directions are clear and
given in easy-to-follow steps. A nutritional analysis is included for
each recipe.

The book generates excitement. It will do much to bring tired cooks
back to the kitchen with renewed enthusiasm and open doors for those new
to preparing food for family and friends.