The Joy of Cooking

If you don't have The Joy of Cooking in your cookbook repertoire you are definitely missing out.
 
The day I found out my grandmother was dying was the day I got this book.

She was sick and I was very hopeful that she would get better. She was lying on the couch in the living room and asked me to boil her a potato. I, being 19, had NO idea how to boil a potato! But I did not want to bother her about it - so I went into the kitchen and started up the pot of water.

Not only did I ruin that cute little potato ... but I saw my grandmother lose it! She came into the kitchen and saw the whole potato (not peeled or cut into fourths) hanging out in the pot and just lost it. She started crying, "How can I leave you if you can't even boil a potato?!"

My grandfather happened to arrive home at that moment. He did a big sigh when he heard and saw the commotion. My poor frail grandma rolling around on the stool (too weak to stand up even), throwing pans around as she was trying to find another pot to make her potato in. He got her calmed down and fixed her another potato. But before it was even boiled she made him go out to the store "right this minute" and buy me the "Joy of Cooking" cookbook.

She knew that she would not always be in the kitchen with me to help me cook -- so she got me a GREAT back up.

That is how I knew my grandmother wasn't going to get better and that I had better learn how to boil a potato.

In the years that have followed (quite a few of them too) I have used this book to learn how to cook. I love their instructions for cooking beets, steaming artichokes, roasting lamb, pork chops, pork tenderloins, chocolate cake, great pie crusts ... the list goes on and on.

For anyone learning how to cook / wanting to cook or needing another great book - I highly recommend this and thank my grandmother for giving me great instructions on how to cook.