Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 29, 1994 TAG: 9406300019
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Almena Hughes
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"I'm forever originating something," said Smith, who's been cooking, mostly as a hobby, for about 10 years. "I knew the recipe had to be light and use the Land O'Lakes Light product, so I just tried to think of what would taste good."
The day of the contest, Smith baked up her combination, hoped it would work and headed out the door to, as she describes it, "enter on a wing and a prayer."
Well, the rest is pretty much history, with one interesting footnote. Smith talked her sister, Frances Journiette, into entering the contest, too, and Journiette, with a Pumpkin Bread recipe of her own, won second prize of $50, a ribbon, apron and certificate.
Smith's recipe (shown below) will now compete in the contest sponsor's test kitchens against the 49 other first-place winners from across the country for the grand prize of $500 and a one-year supply of Land O'Lakes dairy products. The winner will be notified in late November. In the meantime, Smith says she'll probably spend her current winnings on more cooking supplies. Good luck, Mary.
Out on the West Coast there were winners, too. In San Francisco at an Academy Awards-style event, the International Association of Culinary Professionals bestowed its Julia Child Awards for best cookbooks of 1993. With more than 2,200 members worldwide, IACP's is considered the premier program for recognition of cookbook excellence.
The envelopes, please. Best American, "Miami Spice: The New Florida Cuisine," by Steven Raichlen ($22.95, Workman Publishing Co.); Bread, Other Baking and Sweets, "Bread Alone," by Daniel Leader & Judith Blahnik ($25.00, William Morrow and Co.); New Author, "The Foods of Greece," by Aglaia Kremezi ($50.00, Stewart, Tabori & Chang); Food Reference/Technical, "Recipes Into Type: A Handbook for Cookbook Writers and Editors," ($25.00, HarperCollins Publishers); General, "Fields of Greens: New Vegetarian Recipes from the Celebrated Greens Restaurant," by Annie Somerville ($26.95, Bantam Books); Health and Diet, "Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too: 200 Luscious, Low-Fat Cakes, Pies, Cookies, Puddings and other Desserts You Thought You Would Never Eat Again," by Susan G. Purdy ($25.00, William Morrow and Co.); Illustrated/Photography, "Greens: A Country Garden Cookbook," by Sibella Kraus and Deborah Jones ($19.95, Collins Publishers San Francisco); International, "The Georgian Feast: The Vibrant Culture and Savory Food of the Republic of Georgia," by Darra Goldstein ($27.50 HarperCollins Publishers); Literary Food Writing, "James Beard: A Biography," by Robert Clark ($27.50, HarperCollins Publishers); Single Subject, "Cooking Under Wraps,'' by Nicole Routhier ($27.00, William Morrow and Co.); and Wine, Beer or Spirits, "Wine Atlas of California," by James Halliday, ($50.00, Viking).
While the Julia Child Awards are decided by a jury of food and beverage professionals, America's home cooks select the winner of IACP's Cook's Choice Awards. This year's was "Fields of Greens," which also won the Julia Child General category.
OK, so cookbooks aren't your usual beach-reading material. Save this list. You'll thank me when you're doing your holiday shopping.
In the meantime for summertime, Wine Wikkets, nifty little goblet holders that stick into the grass, keep your wine glass from toppling over when you're picnicing on the ground. They come four to a pack for $9.95 plus shipping and handling. Call (800) WINEWIK.
If your preferred hot-weather beverage is home-brewed beer, you can get brewing instructions and a free ounce of hops courtesy of "Eating Well Magazine." Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope before Aug. 31 to Eating Well In America, 52 Vanderbilt Ave., 12th floor, New York, N.Y. 10017.
"Reunions" magazine's 1994 Reunion Recipes To Go are available free by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to the magazine at P.O. Box 11727R, Milwaukee, Wis. 53211-0727.
And if you're concerned about salt in some of the dishes you'll sample at those numerous summertime affairs, a small, battery-powered electronic salt detector gives an instant reading of foods' salt concentrations. It's $29.95 from Hammacher Schlemmer, (800) 543-3366.
\ PINEAPPLE PUMPKIN BREAD (see microfilm for recipe)
Shelf Life runs twice a month in the Extra section. If you have an interesting new product, cookbook, contest, gadget or gew gaw, tell us about it. Write to Shelf Life, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010.
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