These days Usher has turned her talents to food writing and styling, and she has just released her first book, Cookie Swap: Creative Treats to Share Throughout the Year (Gibbs Smith, 2009). Her message is simple: the cookie swap, that great American Christmas tradition, shouldn’t be a once-a-year activity. It can take place anytime that’s worthy of a celebration. According to Usher, a cookie swap has the same characteristics that make a potluck so effortless to host—guests bring their favorite recipes and share in the cost of ingredients and divvy up the baking.

Usher’s book provides suggestions for cookie swaps with a variety of themes, from Valentine’s Day to graduation to weddings. Each party theme includes activity suggestions—on Halloween, for example, why not try “Bite the Bat,” by suspending gingerbread bat cookies and letting kids take a shot at them?—invitation ideas, and detailed cookie recipes, complete with templates, technique suggestions, and decorating instructions.

Cookie Swap includes more than 50 recipes ranging from simple bar and drop cookies, such as Raspberry-Truffle Brownie Bars, Chocolate-Fig Oatmeal Bar, and Under Her Thumb(print) Cookies to elaborately decorated cookies, which include miniature tiered wedding cake cookies and multi-colored 3-D butterflies, and gingerbread houses. There’s an Addams Family-type haunted gingerbread house, complete with falling-off shutters, ghosts, and a bevy of bats.

The book’s introduction includes useful information for planning a cookie swap. For example, try to personalize the party by working guests’ names or photos into the favors or take-home packaging. In the first chapter, Usher provides tips for making each cookie category in the book:

Bar cookies: “Never skip instructions for lining the pan.”
Drop cookies: “Chilled dough tends to spread less.”
Hand-shaped cookies: “Don’t over-handle the dough.”
Icebox cookies: “Pay close attention to chilling time.”
Piped cookies: “Pipe the mixture as soon as it’s ready.”
Rolled cookies: “Always clean dough from the cookie cutter before using it.”
Sandwich cookies: “Fill the cookies within a few hours of serving.”

The remaining chapters are divided by themes, including An Affair of the Heart (Valentine’s Day), Spring Fling, Cookies Cum Laude (graduation) and Cookie Monster (Halloween). The final chapter includes nine basic cookie and icing recipes, including all-time favorites of shortbread, classic gingerbread, and sugar cookie dough, that are used in the book and can be adapted in an infinite number of ways. Usher also offers up innovative ideas for presenting and packaging cookies, as well as answers to frequently asked questions.

There are more than 100 beautiful photographs in Cookie Swap, and Usher’s cookies are so artfully and impeccably decorated—she did all the food styling herself—that anyone with an appetite for baking or crafts is bound to be inspired, and, in addition to the highly detailed recipe and decorating instructions, that’s what makes this book so invaluable. Whether you’re a student or a pro, this book is an extremely useful guide to cookie baking and decorating and is a great addition to any culinary library.

When Chef Rodelio left, I turned to Judith with my most pleading puppy-dog expression and asked, “Takashi? Takashi’s Noodles Takashi?” (Hey, he may have been another of the numerous Takashis in Chicago). Without blinking, she invited me to the class.

Takashi Yagihashi, an unassuming but confident man, was named one of Food & Wine’s Top Ten Rising Chefs in 2000 and won the James Beard award for Best Chef: Midwest in 2003. I wanted to attend his class for a lot of reasons, the least of which was to get his assurance that the dishes I had chosen were both accessible and ideal for our readers. Understandably, many of the recipes in his book require ingredients that can only be found in Japanese or Asian markets. But then I figured: that’s what the Internet is for, right? I did a search and quickly found wakame (dried seaweed) on Amazon.com, so I knew I choose well.

The class was as much about food as was about culture. Some of basic tenets of Japanese cuisine, and the ones Yagihashi adheres to, are 1. keep human intervention to a minimum, as evidenced by sashimi, and 2. shun, or the concept of savoring the season. With those in mind, I told him I had picked Chilled Crab and Shrimp Ramen Salad with Chukka-Soba Dressing, which got a nod of approval from Takashi-san. What could better exemplify the Japanese’s kitchen credo than ramen, the noodle of choice for summer months, served with raw veggies.

As Takashi talked about his restaurant’s menu which changes often, I was delighted to hear that his staff wouldn’t let him rotate Braised Pork Belly off the menu, as it’s the most popular dish. Braised pork belly just happened to be the first recipe I chose from his book.

During the class, I learned that an acceptable, even encouraged, behavior of Japanese culture is the slurping of one’s noodles. It demonstrates that you’re enjoying the meal, a compliment to the host. Practice slurping Takashi’s Curry Udon. Be careful, though, he warned: slurp too demurely, and you’ll splatter yourself; slurp with too much gusto, and you may choke. You still have to chew those noodles. Let it be a challenge—slurp, swallow broth, chew noodles.

Finally, avoid one of the biggest biggest faux pas: don’t ever stand up your chopsticks in a bowl of rice (or any other food). It’s an etiquette no-no, as it’s a way the Japanese offer food to the deceased. It also symbolic of incense in the funeral rite. No problem here, though, this book is about slurpy, delicious slippery noodles.

For picnic lovers and backyard grillers, look for Salmon with Fennel and Olive Salad and Asparagus Prosciutto from Jamie Purviance’s Weber’s Way to Grill and pair it with Sweet-Potato Salad or Triple-Cheese Potatoes from Potato Salads by Debbie Moose.

If you’re an ethnic recipe aficionado, Vefa’s Kitchen brings a variety of Greek dishes to the table, like Pastitsio and Kataifi Pastry and Cheese Rolls. Tessa Kiros’ book, Falling Cloudberries, is a collection of her recipes from Finland (think Finnish Meatballs with Allspice, Sour Cream and Lingonberries) to South Africa, with an obvious stop in Italy, where she learned to make Ricotta Tart with a Chocolate Crust. And then there’s Turquoise: A Chef’s Travels in Turkey from the Maloufs. The book are inspiring travelogue that make me want to pack my bags so that I can try Stuffed Mussels, Instanbul Street Style on its terra firma and have a Turkish Coffee Cream in a kiraathane (Turkish coffeehouse).

Then for those who enjoy pure, simple cooking we have, what else?, Pure Simple Cooking by Diane Henry. Look for the delicious dish fresh Zucchini with Ricotta, Mint and Basil or  Pain Perdu with Crème Fraîche and Raspberries Finally, who of us doesn’t like to end on a sweet note? The recipes from Carole Bloom’s Bite-Size Desserts are the Goldilocks of desserts: not too big, not too small, but just right. Try to resist Creamy Caramel Mousse or Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache Frosting.

I hope you enjoy browsing all of these new recipes. Clicking through the pages of this new site is like shopping in a new grocery store: you see things differently and find what has always been there but new to you. Try at least a couple new recipes, and come back often to see what else is we’ve cooked up.

Then along came a guy named Steve Sando, who said he has a passion for food that’s indigenous to the New World. And he does things like call beans “romantic” and says he wants to teach anyone who will listen about them. I’m not sure about the romantic part, but he could have won me over had he said “gorgeous.” Black Calypso, Christmas Lima, Eye of the Tiger, Wren’s Egg, Yellow Eye — the names are as intriguing as the beans are beautiful.

When I saw the lovelies featured in Heirloom Beans and on the Web site Rancho Gordo, the name of Steve’s company, I wanted to fill apothecary jars full of them for display. Ah, but then I would have missed the creamy mouth feel of cranberry beans or the plumpness of Good Mother Stallard beans.

Co-author Vanessa Barrington says, “heirloom beans have so much inherent character, and the different beans are so varied in texture, color, and flavor, that they are perfectly delicious on their own.” But our testers enjoyed them dressed with other ingredients and gave high marks to Steve’s Senate Bean Soup, Borlotti Beans in Tomato Sauce with Creamy Polenta, and Chiles Rellenos Rancho Gordo.

Beans have long been maligned as the musical fruit for some rather, shall we say, unmelodious reasons, but after sampling Steve’s beauties, I think I shall call them what they really are: magical.

In Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes, McLagan addresses fat in four chapters: butter, pork fat, poultry fat, and beef and lamb fats. She writes, “Fat makes everything we eat taste better, and eating fat is satisfying, so we eat less and our desire to snack is reduced.” I get it, but it seems the mantra of our overweight society is, “It tastes better, and I want to eat more.” Conclusion: Maybe an education in fat is just what’s needed, and this book lays out the (very) good, the bad, and the ugly.

If you aren’t interested in a full education, just remember that fat has an important role in the kitchen and adds flavor. I chose three recipes, each of which uses a different fat: Cornish Pasties (beef dripping), Fat Fat-Cooked Fries (duck fat), and Salted Butter Tart (butter). All are utterly fantastic. In the end we’re reminded of three words that should rule our lives (well, 90% of the time): everything in moderation.