Signs and Starting Up

[browngirl]

I have two questions for whomever might like to answee:

1) I need to make a sign as in the kind one might carry in a protest, though that's not what I'm using it for. I figure a big sheet of cardboard, a thin wooden dowel, and two dowel cross struts should do it. Is there anything I'm not thinking of? With the demise of Pearl Art, where should I shop for these items?

2) I want to buy a young woman of my acquaintance (TL: the farmer girl) a very basic intro cookbook. Are there any you particularly liked, or really hated?

Comments

[sethg]

For (2), I recommend Chic Simple Cooking.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

i like "how to cook everything".

i'd try the art supply store across the street from where pearl art used to be :)

[purlewe.livejournal.com]

No longer in Boston I can't help with where to buy #1, but I can say that sounds about right in the creaing of the sign.

#2 I can say I use 3 books for triangulation. Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything," Joy of Cooking, and "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" by Deborah Madison.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

For the sign, I'd just get a piece of 1x3 landscaping wood about 3 feet long and staple a piece of foam core art board to it. The foam core art board can be found at any craft supply store (such as Michael's, assuming you have those there). I wouldn't spend the extra money for dowel rod. Just wrap the wood with duct tape where you intend to hold it so you don't get splinters stuck in your fingers.

Basic intro cookbooks are a slippery thing. What some people would consider basic others find advanced. The Betty Crocker Cookbook is good for people who know how to boil water and little else.

[kaiz.livejournal.com]

Any Staples or Office Max will have what you need to make the signs! And if they don't have dowels or dowel-substitutes, Home Depot/Lowes does for cheap. Barring that, you could try an A.C. Moore/Michaels, but I'm not sure exactly where you're located so I can point out a specific one.

Also, for your friend, I want to suggest this book: Ratio as an awesome addition to any basic cookbook. Apparently, it is also available as an iPhone app, too. Ratio basically gives you the underpinnings of recipes--the critical proportions of ingredients--which can tell you exactly *why* a recipe didn't work, and is excellent for improvisational cooking.

[karadin.livejournal.com]

I second the Office Max, Staples or FedEx for signage materials, after all they print them up.

Joy of Cooking, everything you need in one book, including conversions and equivalents, basics on canning, baking, roasting, beverages, etc. and comes in a spiral version which is easier for use.

[tibicina.livejournal.com]

Joy of Cooking is definitely my go to basic cookbook, though it can be a little intimidating to true novices.

[pywaket.livejournal.com]

This.

It is dense and intimidating at first, maybe, but the information a beginning cook needs is all in there. I wouldn't know what to do without my copy.

[odanu.livejournal.com]

thirded on Joy. It's a great cookbook. Advice: look for it used if possible... the older editions are even better.

Joy for Joy

[hazelchaz]

Joy of Cooking, amen. A second-place choice would be any of the old Better H&G or Betty Crocker looseleaf cookbooks.

[purlewe.livejournal.com]

Oh I second Ratio. That is one on my MUST BUY NEXT list.

[boosette.livejournal.com]

Nava Atlas Vegetarian Family Cookbook (http://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Family-Cookbook-Nava-Atlas/dp/0767913965), in that it teaches simple easy recipes and meal-planning around a standard other than lump of meat + starch + 1-2 veg. Also its recipes are very, very tasty. (It's an excellent supplement for omnivores, and teaches nutrition as well as cooking.)

I also love children's cookbooks, specifically Kids' Cooking: A Very Slightly Messy Manual (http://www.amazon.com/Kids-Cooking-Slightly-Messy-Manual/dp/0932592147/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278615735&sr=8-1) and the books in this series (http://www.amazon.com/Childrens-Quick-Easy-Cookbook/dp/0789420260) for their step-by-step illustrated instructions in steps that grownup cookbooks tend to take for granted.

[spinrabbit.livejournal.com]

Places to go when you would have gone to Pearl: the art store formerly known as "that place across from Pearl", Artist and Craftsman Supply in Central Square; Playtime Inc. in Arlington. (Playtime is bigger, more chaotic, probably cheaper, and harder to get to by public transit; I like them both.)


I've been very pleased with "The Usborne Children's Cookbook" by Rebecca Gilpin, but it has various Briticisms (ingredients by metric weight, 'gas marks' and celcius temperatures, the occasional ingredient you can't get here or not under that name, lasagna with white sauce and no ricotta). But it's all Real Food made from scratch, with detailed instructions including what tools to use and handy technique hints. The amazon reviews make it sound like The Usborne First Cookbook is the same idea adapted for Americans, but I'd want to look before buying.

[sage]

A friend of mine got her 16 yr old daughter a Five Ingredient Cookbook. I just looked at Amazon to try to guess what to link you to and it turns out there are a ton of different 5 ingredient cookbooks out there. At any rate, it might be a simple and inexpensive option that would be less intimidating than something like Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, which I own and use now but would have been terrified by as a teenager.

For a mock-up protest sign I'd use posterboard, but for one you'd actually use, I'd go with foam-core board. It's pretty cheap at Michael's.

*snugs*

[kathrynt.livejournal.com]

Two pieces of foam-core and lathing strips. The lathing strips you can get at any lumberyard for close to nothing. The two pieces means you can write on each side, the lathing strips are cheap and flat which means more area for adhesive (or tape) to stick to, and the foam-core will be stiff enough that you don't need cross-bracing.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

This +1.

Your plan will make a very heavy sign that flaps.

I'd hot glue the foam core or good, sturdy duct tape.

The flatness of the lathing strips is really, REALLY important.

Foamcore

[hazelchaz]

Is your friend in So. Calif.? I've got a blortload of surplus large foamcore boards.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I ended up doing something really similar to this. :)
(Aka, thank you for the useful advice.)

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

O sensible friend! I followed your advice, and was not disappoint!

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Depending on what the sign is for, posterboard at most CVS type places might do. If it is for a protest, be aware the Boston Police won't let you have a sign with a stick of any kind.

[ailsaek.livejournal.com]

The Joy of Cooking taught me to cook. Go to a used book store and get an edition from before 1980, though.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

This is what I'd say, with the addition of Ratio, as mentioned above. Making sure it's the earlier addition of TJoC is important.

Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I highly recommend The Idiot's Guide to Cooking.

[gingicat]

I learned to cook out of Fannie Farmer mostly, but I presume there's a reason you're not immediately going with the Joy of Cooking. :)

The cookbook that I first owned all on my own (around age 10) was some sort of international recipe book; I made Swedish meatballs (since I didn't grow up keeping kosher) exactly following the recipe, and decided I didn't need to do that again. That certainly taught me how to follow a recipe. :)
(Hey, I found it! Yay Internets! http://www.amazon.com/Many-Friends-Cooking-International-Cookbook/dp/0399207554)

I also used the red-checkered cookbook in a binder (Better Homes & Gardens? It's still in the house...) as a twenty-something, and that was great for learning to improvise. I think I bought it because it was one of the household staples growing up. (Ditto How to Cook Like a Jewish Mother.)

[jostajam.livejournal.com]

I like Fannie Farmer for the no nonsense recipes and also the variations on a theme.

[cellio]

The I Never Cooked Before Cookbook is out of print but wasn't hard to find when I recently sought copies for my niece and nephew.

I learned the basics of cooking from my mother when I was young (I was responsible for dinner when she went back to school), and my first cookbook when I set out on my own was the Better Homes and Gardens one (the red-and-white checkered one; mine came in a 3-ring binder). That worked well for me.

I have become friends with many other cookbooks since then but might not have the best perspective on which are beginner-friendly.

[rickvs.livejournal.com]

Regarding the sign, how big do you want it to be? When I worked at Fastsigns, we'd make small ones not much larger than a ping-pong paddle, with a handle in the same place ...on up through sandwich boards that you'd wear front and back over your shoulders, then to banners with a pole pocket along the top so that two people could carry it, one on each side.

Also, what's your turnaround time? I might be able to arrange something cheaper with a lot of lead time, but if you're going to do it yourself, I might recommend handles grommeted through the back of the sign rather than a dowel.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, goodness, thanks. It's for a meetup this Friday; I just want people to be able to find me in a public place, is all.

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

1) Staples or glue. And I would suggest a slightly thicker piece of wood, sanded, for the handle.

2) For all that it has lots of advanced stuff I still recommend The Joy Of Cooking as good for a kitchen. Its the first cookbook I ever read and wanted to have a copy of.

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

Use lath, not dowel, so you can make the sign face in the direction you want when you carry it.

I like the Kitchen Survival Guide http://www.amazon.com/Kitchen-Survival-Guide-Lora-Brody/dp/0688105874 And it has a spiral binding so it stays flat when it's open.