Monday Q&A | Piano Teaching, Cookie Sheets, and Cookbook Recomendations
Every Monday, I answer a few of the questions that my readers send me. If you have a question you'd like me to answer in a future Q&A post, just leave me a comment here or email me (thefrugalgirl [at] gmail [dot] com) and put Q&A in the subject line. I look forward to hearing from you!
I am going to teach my son how to play the piano, and would like to know if you have any tips for teaching your own children, as well as beginner piano books you recommend.
-Amanda
I wrote about that in this Q&A post. I don't have a whole lot to add except that when you're teaching your own children, you've got to find a way to be self-motivated and consistent with your teaching and practicing, since there's no outside accountability going on.
I personally find that we're good at being consistent with practicing as long as I enforce the "No screen time and no going out to play with friends until your work is done." rule. This means my kids have to get their schoolwork done and corrected, get their piano practicing done, and get their daily chores finished before they can go play.
Next time you answer questions, would you tell us what type of cookie sheets you use? My wife bought the golden colored (don't know brand) of bread pans you recommended and raves about them pretty much every time she uses them (which is weekly). However, her cookie sheets are useless, bend when hot and she complains a lot about them. I'd like to get us some new ones but am unsure as to brand.
(P.S., lest I look like a total cad, I want to announce that she makes the bread and cookies and cakes, but I am the one who makes the dinner virtually every night because I get home first!)
-Ted
Hey, I'm the sort of person who dearly loves to receive kitchen equipment as birthday and Christmas gifts, so I don't think you're a cad at all. 😉
Just for everyone else's information, the bread pans your wife loves are the Williams Sonoma Gold Touch loaf pans. I adore mine.
The cookie sheets I own are Vollrath Natural Finish Aluminum 17 x 14 Cookie Sheets.
They come highly recommended by Cook's Illustrated, and I enthusiastically second their recommendation. These baking sheets are solidly made and I think they will last a lifetime. They're so sturdy, I can't even imagine them warping, actually.
They're usually around $22-$25, but they're so worth it. Go buy a pair!
I've been fortunate to receive a gift card for Chapters (Canadian Amazon), and would like to purchase a cookbook. From following your blog, I'm thinking of going with the Cooks Illustrated, but wondered if I should consider one of the ATK books.
I'm looking for a comprehensive collection, nice blend of basic and 'fancier' recipes - I'd love your opinion.
-Shelagh
That's a great question! I own the large and comprehensive Cook's Illustrated Cookbook
, which has great recipes, and a lot of them (2000!). It covers pretty much all of the basic recipes one could need, and I use mine incessantly. In fact, I'm often cooking multiple recipes from it at the same time!
The one downside to it, though, is that there are no photographs-just line drawings like you'd find in a Cook's Illustrated magazine.
I believe that the full line of America's Test Kitchen Cookbooks
has photographs, though, so if that's really important to you, I might recommend choosing ATK over CI.
One idea is to check to see if your local library has any of these books. If they do, you could check them out, see what you like best, and then order your favorite.
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Joshua's 365 post: Minimalist
I have a Joy of Cooking from the 1960s as my go-to cookbook 🙂
Ruth, my Joy of Cooking (c.1970), is my all-purpose cookbook, too. I find just about anything I could ever need to know how to cook is in there, as well as some things I may never need to make (like skinning my own small game animals).
Mine was a hand-me-down in the late 70s. It's paperback, and very well-worn. I've repaired that book over and over.
All that said, I love reading new cookbooks, and will probably check my library for either ATK or CI.
I love how the squirrel skinning is so legendary. It just defines the old JoC it seems.
I third this! I picked mine up at a yardsale years ago and it quickly became my go-to cookbook. My favorite thing about it is that it goes into the why's and wherefore's of things. In the pastry section it tells what makes a pie crust flaky--what to do and not to do. In the bread section it tells what all of the different ingredients used in bread do, how the gluten works, what adding oils, milk, etc. do, and what each step of the bread making process accomplishes. You can take the information you learn and apply it to all of the recipes you use. (And it has great recipes, too! The recipe for Chicken Pot Pie is my husband's favorite.)
I fourth it. I've had mine for 20 years and it's my go-to book for not only basic recipes, but all sorts of useful information about ingredients and basic principles etc.
I learned to cook largely from Joy of Cooking, 1970's version. I rarely use the recipes anymore but the sections on the whys and wherefores of food and cooking were invaluable to me.
I recently bought the Vollrath cookie sheets with some Christmas money, and highly recommend them as well! Shop around, including shipping I was able to get each for about $20, which beat the price on Amazon at the time. You do have to compare shipping cost though; these are heavy (the 3 I bought weighed in at over 7 lbs) so shipping fees can add up quickly! But that weight equals the quality and durability that earns them high recognition.
I have to put in a plug for Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. It has been the workhorse cookbook in my kitchen for many years now. Because of all the explanations it is a great choice for the young cook. Also like the collection of fast recipes towards the back. Huge help if I need to put something together quickly.
I have 3 of the ATK cookbooks and I LOVE them and use them almost exclusively so I can highly recommend them! Also they're 3 ring bound which I find easier because it lays flat on my cookbook stand (one of my favorite wedding gifts, btw).
I'm so excited! I ordered two of the loaf pans from Williams-Sonora - they were on sale, AND, today only, they have free shipping! Can't wait to get them, and retire these nasty aluminum pans -
Thank you for the recommendation!!
Williams Sonoma. Good grief!
I tend to use the internet for recipes - especially if I've got a set of ingredients and I'm looking for a way to use them together. But I've got 2 cookbooks I'd never be without - The Joy of Cooking and Laurel's Kitchen. I seldom use either for a recipe (well - maybe something basic like biscuits or cornbread) but they are invaluable resources about how the process of cooking works as well as informative stuff like how to cook dried beans etc.
I don't have the Volrath but I did get my mom two Nordic Ware sheet pans for approximately $10 each. They have the lip around them (which I like) unlike the Volrath. They weren't reviewed by CI but they never have warped on my mother and she loved them so much I got her two more.
I'm tempted to someday get the Goldtouch bread pans. I bake all of our bread now so my pans get used most every day. If my Big Lots $3 specials ever die on me, I'll spring for the WS. Hopefully that won't be any time soon.
As for cookbooks, I have a bunch of "go-to" cookbooks. I love the CI and Cooks Country cookbooks but I do find they can be a bit snooty at times (it's a New England thing; we ALWAYS know we're right no matter how many times we're proven wrong. 😉 .) They also have a lot of recipes I could (or would) never eat in a hundred years so the cost per recipe is high.
For other cookbooks, I like those cheap BHG cookbooks that show up at every Goodwill and tag sale. The bread one (www.amzn.com/069600660X) is great!
for Ted-
I purchased 1/2 sheet baking pans from a restaurant supply store. I'm not sure what I paid but I think it was considerably less that $25. They are industrial strength. They bake very evenly. They will never wear out ( mine are going strong after 20+ years).
Ted-
I have the Gold Touch cookie sheets from Williams Sonoma and I adore them. They clean up super easy, and I'm sure she would love them as much as she loves her loaf pans.
I would love to try a WS pan..I currently use Chicago Commercial II non-coated pans (I do not have any issues with anything sticking) and they have held up very well.
I have been using Everyday Food: Good Food Fast a lot lately. I love everything about it!
Thank you, Kristen, for your recommendation, and thank you all for your comments. So helpful, so I'll get shopping. And I bought the WS loaf pans on Kristen's recommendation and they're incredible!
My mom gave the Joy of Cooking she gave me to my uncle. I was soooo mad. Obvious I'm still a peeved a few years later. I don't use any cookbooks. I prefer going to Pinterest and Google.
As for piano. Speaking from personal experience, if your child fights every step of the way and genuinely seems not to care, don't make them do it. I never cared that I could play by ear. I hated hated HATED! piano lessons. I didn't care about the little gifts my grandma gave for practicing an hour every day or the praise I got when I played for church offerings. Piano was the worst eight years of my life. Now the clarinet I would willingly practice and I was just as good, even better, because I put in the time. Happily.
My mom gave the Joy of Cooking she gave me to my uncle. I was soooo mad. Obvious I'm still a peeved a few years later. I don't use any cookbooks. I prefer going to Pinterest and Google.
As for piano. Speaking from personal experience, if your child fights every step of the way and genuinely seems not to care, don't make them do it. I never cared that I could play by ear. I hated hated HATED! piano lessons. I didn't care about the little gifts my grandma gave for practicing an hour every day or the praise I got when I played for church offerings. Piano was the worst eight years of my life. Now the clarinet I would willingly practice and I was just as good, even better, because I put in the time. Happily.