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BETWEEN
FRIENDS
satisfaction of sharing an hour or so around the
table for a delicious meal and conversation. Maybe
that’s why home cooking is enjoying such a
resurgence as a pastime and as a way of connecting
with others.
Just as television cooking shows have heated up
the interest in restaurant food, farmers’ markets and
talented local chefs are rekindling our interest in
home-cooked meals. And one of those leading the
way is our contributing editor, chef Scott Peacock,
whose passion is collecting authentic American
recipes from hand-me-down books and locally
known cooks he discovers in his travels. This month,
Scott teams up with
New York Times
food writer Kim
Severson to define American home cooking, 2010
style,
page
161
, and explore its roots.
It’s a different kind of story for us, but one I know
you’ll enjoy, along with seven truly delicious recipes
curated from Scott’s personal collection. In addition,
we couldn’t let this month pass without celebrating
thanks to my kids, the souvenirs also include a new
the 80th anniversary of our
Better Homes and
genre of vacation photos—a dozen or so snapshots
of plated food from restaurants we visited or meals
we fixed together in our knotty pine cabin. I’m
pretty sure a few of them were on Ellen’s Facebook
page even before the dishes were done.
Sharing of food photos, as you’ve likely noticed,
is a huge trend in online social media and recipe-
swap sites like
mixingbowl.com.
At first I had mixed
feelings about Facebook postings of food. (Boring?
Indulgent?) But I quickly discovered that I enjoy
seeing what others are serving up. It’s a simple way
of celebrating the experience of good food.
And good food is an experience
worth
celebrat-
ing, both the pleasure of preparing it and the
Share th e Plaid
In honor of the four-score birthday of the
Better
Homes and Gardens New Cook Book
—aka “ Red Plaid,” we’re holding a just
for-fun contest. (Well, for fun
and
$
1
,
000
.) Take your favorite recipe from
any edition of our cookbook, change it up to make it your own, and enter
our “ Mad for Plaid” contest. Details,
page iy8.
LETTERS & COMMENTS [email protected] WRITE 1716 Locust St, Des Moines, IA 50309-3023
Gardens New Cook Book
.
We’re proud that it’s helped
generations of women become great home cooks—
including the up-and-comers on
page
170
.
And by the way: For the final day of our
vacation back at home, we decided on a grand-
finale shrimp-and-sausage boil, based on the Scott
Peacock menu from our July 2008 issue.
Naturally, we took a picture.
G ayle G oodson B utler,
Editor in Chief
O
ver the summer, our family
vacationed in the North
Carolina mountains, return-
ing with a digital photo
album full of rolling skylines
and views from the
Appalachian Trail. And
6
SEPTEM8ER 2010
BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS
HAIR AND MAKEUP: MARY-KATE GALES
