My favorite recipe books:

“Make Western and Japanese Sweets at Home”
by Fujinnotomo-sha Co. Ltd. /out of print

My mother got this book, along with a small white enamel oven, when she got married in 1959. Most people did not own ovens at that time and even now, many Japanese kitchens have not much changed. Sweets are not often made at home, as people know “GOOD SWEETS SHOPS” in their town and either eat or buy there; also desserts are rarely served at the end of a meal. Japanese traditional sweets are mainly for tea ceremony. Of course we enjoy them with tea at home, but not as a desserts. In my family, Japanese sweets are delivered monthly by our favorite shop called Hashimoto. They follow the seasons and create their own sweets for tea ceremony. They are so beautiful and have an elegant sweetness. I picked French sweet recipes from the book, which my mother often made for me when I was kid. Attempting to make Japanese sweets was my challenge. I could not make anything like Hashimoto’s, but it turned out pretty good!

Hope you enjoy, too.

My favorite recipe books:

The Art of Indian Cuisine
by Pranati Sen Gupta / out of print (available used from Amazon)

About 15 years ago, our friend Zubin, whose father is from India and mother was American, cooked for us some delicious Indian curry. He had a recipe book his mother had given him. The book was already out of print so I borrowed the book, picked some recipes and made copies. I really wanted to have the book and try as many different recipes as I could!
My dream came true, thanks to the internet, when my husband found it used on eBay! It came from the George Washington Senior High School Library in Virginia. Sorry for them, they did not know the value of this book. Published in 1974, the recipes do not show any images, the pages were discolored, but the recipes did not age. Ms. Gupta makes complicated cooking simple, without losing any flavor. You will not need days to cook, and will enjoy many different dishes in one meal as you would in an Indian restaurant!