Today I went to Thomas Haas.

The drinks were nice, as were the pastries, but it was incredibly loud, there was nowhere to sit, and the energy in the room was frantic / hectic. So R and I wandered the streets of Kits sipping our drinks and ended up at the Salvation Army.

I always look for used cookbooks that are ethnic, or old, or from the women's auxiliary of some church in some county from a long time ago.

This first book is interesting because the author gushes about BC regional cuisine. Many of the recipes have place or people names from around the province.

It had a Bowen Island (where I grew up, and where my parents still live) recipe, so I definitely had to get it.

Lots of the recipes have canned goods of various kinds, even if they are things that can be sourced from BC (e.g. smoked oysters). I bet, back in the day, that lots of canned things were more local, so if you made something with a tin of tomatoes, it would taste different in BC because they were local BC varietals. Provenance for canned goods? Of course…

Cookbooks that focus on regional cuisines are also of interest to me. This one is a hardcover, and the pages are a rough type of paper, and the whole book seems to be covered in grease spots. Well loved!

Also, there are little notes like this - "I could eat this everyday" - scattered throughout the book. Again, a must have because of this alone. That, and every recipe seems to call for potatoes and bacon - at least, the ones that aren't calling for whipping cream and butter!

The New York Time Cook Book was another no brainer. Why? Well, because of this next recipe photo…

Why yes, that is a roast suckling pig! The book is great, with lots of multicultural recipes from around the world, as well as good versions of lots of "basics".

I'm very pleased with my used cookbook haul.