March 23, 2016
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| Ellen Wilson pages through a cookbook while waiting to taste the dishes prepared by fellow members of the Cookbook Club at the Westerville Public Library on March 15. |
Imagine being able to taste your way through the publishing world’s newest cookbooks without having to buy the books or even do much cooking.
Sounds like fun, right?
The members of the Cookbook Club at the Westerville Public Library think so.
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| Blueberry zucchini bread was one of the foods prepared by the Cookbook Club on March 15. |
Mindy Bilyeu, the Westerville Adult Services librarian who oversees the club, said the group has been meeting for about five years.
Other local libraries, including Worthington and the Delaware County District system, also offer cookbook clubs.
Bilyeu selects a book for the club each month, and members return prepared to discuss the book and share a dish made from a recipe in the cookbook.
“The Vermont Country Store Cookbook” was the club’s March selection.
For the recent meeting, Julie McIntosh prepared fire-roasted tomato cheddar soup with crunchy cheese straws.
The 48-year-old Westerville resident said the club gives her the opportunity to try dishes she might otherwise not prepare for her family, which includes children ages 20, 18 and 15.
“I don’t think my family would eat this,” she said.
The soup was well-received, even though McIntosh acknowledged that she mistakenly bought fire-roasted tomatoes with hot peppers but used them anyway.
About a dozen members attend each month, Bilyeu said. She posts a sign-up sheet online to avoid duplication of dishes.
Members spend about an hour tasting the dishes and sharing stories of their successes and failures with the recipes.
Westerville resident Carl Messenheimer, 67, tries to attend meetings at least four times a year.
“I like to cook,” said the semiretired engineer, who has participated in the club for about two years.
His selection of a pumpkin cheesecake with a gingersnap crust was a hit; it turned out perfectly and received cheers from the group.
The oatmeal lace cookies filled with toasted pecans — made by Cindy Vazquez, 67, of Westerville — also were a tasty success, and, as Vazquez noted, were easy to make.
There were misses, too.
Galena resident Inge Noyes, 81, had to take extreme measures to salvage a recipe for blueberry pie that she tested. The filling didn’t thicken as it should have, Noyes said, explaining how she strained out the berries, returned the filling to a saucepan, added more thickener and cooked it longer so that it would jell properly.
When another woman mentioned that she experienced the same problem, Noyes questioned whether the recipes were tested as well as they should have been before being published.
“I would not buy this book,” she said.
Being able to vet the book before deciding whether to buy it, of course, is a benefit of club participation.
Friendship, conversation and plenty of good food are others.
Elise Schwartzwalder, 61, of Westerville, said she started attending the group in hopes of meeting new people now that her children are grown and she is semiretired.
The group meets from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of the month.
On the last Monday of the month, the library sponsors a senior book club (using the same cookbook selections) at 1:30 p.m. at the Westerville Senior Center.
Source: The Columbus Dispatch
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