Christmas in February

This weekend I took the train down to San Diego to visit some family. It was actually the first time I'd seen them since before Christmas so we finally got to exchange presents! My Aunt Lynnea and cousin Amy (both of whom have recipes I've shared on the blog - here and here) gave me a few awesome books. Cookbooks and a Lucille Ball tribute book? They know me too well. Anyway, I had a little time to go through them on the train ride home and I love them so much that I thought I'd share them with you today!

I  read about the first 40 pages of Lucille Ball Treasures and fell in love. Cindy De La Hoz documents the first years of Lucy's life in great detail and I'm a little embarrassed to say (as a huge Lucy fan) that there was a lot I didn't know! Along with the in depth writing, this book has a lot of excellent photos and interesting little extras, including replicas of ads, movie posters, and tickets to shows Lucy starred in (pictured below).

The first of my two new cookbooks is Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It: And Other Cooking Projects. I'm a huge fan of pickled eggs but I've never actually made pickles. This book has definitely inspired me to give them a try. Another recipe I found in here that I can't wait to try: chocolate marshmallows! 

Last but definitely not least is an all sugar cookbook by the name of Sugar Baby. Although the recipes in this book look absolutely delicious, the thing I love the most about it is the graphics and how it's organized. Check out the table of contents (pictured below)... the recipes are organized by temperature and sugar concentration, how cool is that?

You'll definitely be seeing a few of these recipes on the blog soon!