I received a gift certificate to Amazon.com so…lets get some books and review them. That’s right, Im spending money so you don’t have to:

The Storm Gourmet – A Guide To Creating Extraordinary Meals Without Electricity. Nikolopoulos, Pineapple Press, 1-56164-334-3
Of the two books in this genre listed here, I prefer this one. Many of the recipes, if you wanna call them that, require no cooking or in some cases very minimal cooking (usually just some boiling water to make pasta). One of the more interesting recipes:

“Curried Chicken
14 oz. (two packages) premium chicken breast, drained
½ cup canned sliced water chestnuts, drained
2/3 canned pineapple tidbits, drained
2 tbsp raisins
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1 ½ tsp curry powder
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tbsp table cream
pepper

Place chicken, pineapple, water chestnuts, raisins and almonds in a medium sized bowl and toss together. Season with pepper. In a screw-top jar combine cream, lemon juice, soy sauce and curry powder, and shake vigorously. Pour over chicken mixture and toss to coat.”

So, yes, definitely more than your usual ‘taco seasonings, instant rice and canned corned beef’. That’s not a bad thing but you have to admit, after a long day of shooting looters and clearing stalled vehicles your probably gonna be in the mood for something a little more … ‘working class’…than Provencale Chicken Pasta, Hearts of Palm Salad, or Honey-Mustard Chicken with Pecans. Still, not a bad addition to the library.

Next up:
Apocalypse Chow – How To Eat Well When The Power Goes Out. Robertson, Simon & Schuster, 1-4169-0824-2
A cook book with a good bit of personal anecdote (hurricane experiences, mostly. They seem very proud of how they were sipping wine and eating crackers with olive tapenade. A little pretentious.) and a bunch of the usual basic preparedness info. Figure ½ cookbook, ½ simplistic preparedness guide. Since we’re all fairly astute and know all those little things like filling the bathtubs, etc., figure that youre paying for half a book.

Unlike the first book, there are more than a few recipes that call for using a food cooker of some kind. Again, its mostly for boiling water for instant rice or pasta. Again, most of the recipes are for food that I would consider a bit more elegant than the situation calls for but then again theres no real way to make a meatloaf over an esbit stove. Not a bad book but the other one has some nice color photos so you can at least have an idea of what things might look like.

I do give mad props for the clever book title though. Given a choice between the two, get the other book. If you can get through the first chapter or two of this book without thinking the authors are a bunch of pretentious elitists who would rather die than eat a Pop-Tart then youre a far more tolerant fella than I. For crying out loud, theres instructions on how to fold napkins into attractive shapes!)

Final book:
Ball Complete book Of Home Preserving – 400 Delicious And Creative Recipes For Today. Robert Rose Press, 0-7788-0131-4
Found this book in a Waldenbooks while I was killing time waiting for my number to come up on a ‘now seating’ restaurant list. Came back the next day and bought it.

Ball is pretty much the first name in home canning these days. This book reflects their years of experience in this field. Most of the recipes are for condiments, spreads, sauces and sides like Corn Relish, Chutney, Chili Sauce, Strawberry Rhubarb Jam, etc. There is a chapter or two on canning meats and foods with meat in them (such as chili). Lots of detail, good pictures, and plenty of how-to explanations for folks that may not be too familiar with how their waterbath canner or pressure canner works. $20 and worth it. Satisfaction from cracking open a jar of your own homemade salsa – priceless.

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Oh yeah, before I forget…Im getting married. Next spring, actually. Amongst the usual useless crap that people register for (bed sheets, kitchen knives, dorky glassware, etc) theres also a registry for a .50 BMG. Something with a little more impressive presence than a blender or toaster oven. For those interested, I’ll have a post to the website in the next day or so. Feel free to contribute towards getting the happy couple a nice long-range precision firearm. Nothing says ‘good luck on your new life together’ like a Steyr HS50. (Or McMillan. Or Barrett. Depending on the generosity of well wishers.)