I’m in a major game of catch up right now. I have been doing this whole cooking blog thing for a little over a year now and this culinary school thing since July 2009 and this restaurant thing for a few months now.

I am way behind so I’m trying as hard as I can to catch up.  Cooking is not enough, culinary school is not enough, and work is not enough.  I don’t have time/money to go to the restaurants that I want to work at one day so for now I just buy their books. $150+ for dinner or $50-$60 for their book and I can stumble my way through the book…..I’ll take the book for now.

At school we have a pretty nice library but it’s not enough for me. I find a few books I like then I end up buying them; mostly second hand (amazon, ebay, half price books).  It’s pretty rare that I find a book that I buy that’s brand new because like I said, I’m trying to play catch up. There are books that are standards that I can buy after they have changed hands a few times and this is ok with me…..a little sauce or stain on the book….well, you know it’s good!

I have seen some new books go for around $950 and I have seen some older collection books go for over $2500. I have purchased a book for $2.99 and I have spent $1200 for books from the Art Institute (not too happy about the way they package their books together but oh well).

Where does this take me? What does it do. I hope you’re starting to see a difference in the way I present and cook things. I notice it, the camera may not pick up the little things but I hope you’re able to see the bigger picture. I look back at old posts and I laugh. I look at posts two days ago and I critique the hell out of them……..”this needs this, that is unacceptable”.

I pick it all apart, throw ideas out, draw things, read, read, and read. I’m not just posting to post something. I’m not cooking to cook something. I’m not doing this all just to do something. I can’t explain it all yet or show you what I can do because I’m just not “good” yet.   I get it, I just can’t execute it.

These books help. Here is a list of my culinary book collection (I will add more to the list as I receive them, if you have any recommendations then just post a comment)

Escoffier-The Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cookery (click)

Harold McGee- On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen

David Chang: Momofuku (click)

Heston Blumenthal: The Fat Duck Cookbook (click)

Coco- 10 World Leading Masters. 100 Contemporary Chefs (click)

Thomas Keller: The French Laundry and Ad-Hoc (click)

Eric Ripert: On the Line (click)

Mark Bittman: The Minimalist Cooks at Home, Simple to Spectacular (click), Food Matters, and How to Cook Everything (click).

Rover’s: Recipes from Seattle’s Chef in the Hat (click)

James Peterson: Sauces, Fish & Shellfish (Click)

Martin Picard: Au Pied De Cochon (click)

I Grandi: Chef d’ Europa (click)

Nick Stellino: Cooking with Friends

Clark Wolf: American Cheeses

Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois: Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day (Click)

Best Places Northwest Cookbook

Dining in Seattle 1977

Typical Japanese Cooking 1958

The Spice Cookbook

Hawai’i Cooks with Spam

Tyler Florence: Real Kitchen and Dinner at my place

Taste Slovenia

Home Sausage Making

Gordon Ramsey’s Maze

Modern Gastronomy A to Z

Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo: Two Dudes One Pan

Ray’s Boathouse

The Island Bistro Cookbook (click)

Herve This: Building a Meal- From Molecular Gastronomy to Culinary Constructism (click)

Andrea Nguyen: Asian Dumplings (click for video and recap of a private party with Andrea)

A Taste of Puerto Rico

A bunch of books from the Art Institute….

The Modern Cafe

Michael Pollan: The Omnivore’s Dilemma-A Natural History of Four Meals, and Food Rules- An Eaters Manual

I can’t get enough. I’m in total sponge mode

I’ll update this as the collection grows

Eric