Kirstin: I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book.
Maureen: I was surprised by how much I was underwhelmed. The recipies for the most part all worked…
Kirstin: …and there was a good range with lots of different cuisines…
Maureen: But there wasn’t anything in here I don’t have in another cookbook. Though, to be fair, I do have a lot of cookbooks.
Kirstin: The thing I liked about this book was that all of the recipes worked. I knew I could trust them all.
Maureen: Other than the yogurt and blueberry recipe. But we don’t eat yogurt too much, so that’s OK.
Kirstin: For my first Gordon book I’ve used, it was uncharacteristically useful. I might consider buying another Gordon book.
Maureen: It was quick. They were 30 minute recipes without being called 30 minutes. I also really liked how it was laid out, with each page cut into thirds, so you could have a starter, main and dessert from three different parts of the book all on the same page.
Kirstin: Wasn’t that brilliant. More books shoudl do that. It was fantastic.
Maureen: I would recommend it to people who don’t have many cookbooks and who don’t like to cook that much.
Kirstin: This is a good one to give to people, because everybody would find something they would use. The desserts were very doable. Most dessert recipes I get a bit scared of, but I wasn’t scared of those.
Maureen: I liked the looks of the chocolate fondant recipie you made, so much so that I went out and bought Le Crueset ramekins. Well, I was celebrating passing my citizenship exam, so I bought them to celebrate.
Kirstin: Any excuse to buy Le Crueset.
Maureen: Any excuse to mention the fact that I passed my test.
Kirstin: So, Maureen, have you enjoyed your first month on Cookbook a Month?
Maureen: Yes, very much. The thing I really liked about is it forced me to make different things during the week, rather than the same 10 standby dishes that I always do. My family really liked that too. I liked this book. It’s like the elusive Holy Grail: finding the recipe that you can make quickly on a weekday night that your family likes and is easy.
Kirstin: It’s a great book.