For the first few years of living on my own, I basically survived off of Pizza Rolls, TV Dinners, and Top Ramen. I have never been much of a cook. That’s mostly because the whole process intimidated me. The only thing I could remotely make was a seven-layer bean dip which only required piling a bunch of ingredients into a pan. Then a few months ago a coworker came up with an idea: the Cookbook Club!

Every month, our club chooses a cookbook to experiment with. We take the cookbook home, try out different recipes, and then cook a favorite recipe to bring to the next meeting. People of all experience levels, ages, and walks of life were just as excited to join in as we were! We just had our third meeting and since the first meeting, I have learned so much about the art of cooking. The last book we cooked from was Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat. This book (also a Netflix original) not only has great recipes but also step by step guides on how to use the four titled elements to your advantage. Nosrat’s cookbook is filled with information that all experience levels can learn from.

After reading a few sections and trying out a couple of different recipes, I realized how easy and fun cooking can be. I was on a roll. At the meeting, participants brought dishes like poached pears, bittersweet chocolate-cardamom pudding, and almond tea cake. I decided to make butternut squash soup.

Whether you are a cooking novice or an absolute expert, we welcome all to the table. For our next meeting on Friday, April 19th, we chose the book Damn Delicious: 100 Super Easy, Super Fast Recipes by Chungah Rhee. We are still accepting reservations for our Cookbook Club. If you are interested in joining in, reserve seats by e-mailing eastevents@bookmans.com.