As I sit and flip through the well-worn pages of my new "old cookbook," I cannot help but speculate on its previous owner. Did she attempt the shrimp in brandy sauce or just the recipes she marked, such as chicken liver pâté? Maybe she flagged the churros recipe because she enjoyed them so much in Spain? Her wonderful handwritten notes on torn paper are littered throughout the book and have given me a few hints of her taste and style, which seem to be quite cosmopolitan. Unfortunately I will never meet her, so to satiate my own curiosities and further imaginative causes, I will assign her the address of a tidy little apartment in New York with lots of windows. From this vantage point, I'll proceed to look at this book through her eyes.

I hope that you are not thinking of me as unhinged but have, yourself, found a cookbook that you can pick up and relate to easily. I received this book, an annual of bound Gourmet magazines from 1968, as a gift and every time that I have opened it there's something new to share with whomever will still sit and listen. The ads are charming and funny, the articles are dated yet informative, and the photos of food are, well, it's unbelievable how much fads in food and restaurants have changed.

Towards the end of each magazine, much more in 1968 than today, are small ads for restaurants, mostly in New York, and they imply so much fun and uniqueness that I want to visit each and every one. Actually, I would really like to know if any are still around, although certainly not at the prices they are advertising. Maybe the previous owner of this book flipped through and decided to have canard Grand Marnier at Du Midi or chicken alpigiana at Le Alpi for dinner. Suppose she was planning to meet friends after the theater for supper at La Comedie, which brings me to the pondering, why do we not have advertised after-theater late suppers in Lexington restaurants?

One of the most striking things that I noticed from my collection of magazines is that there is a large alcohol ad on almost every page spread. Premixed cocktails, imported liqueurs, or (an unbelievable) $45.00 Baccarat crystal decanter of Bisquit Cognac are shown with recipes to help the host or hostess impress their guests with creative new cocktails.

A last ad to mention is Crabiar, crab roe pate. "Atlantic Blue Crab eggs in an exclusive recipe of spices-and-nices!" It sounds horrible (a case of 12 cans for $10.00) but has become our new mantra around the house, "Dear, would you like some Crabiar with your cereal this morning?" or "I packed a PB & C in your lunchbox today."

There are monthly articles on "The Lively Pubs of London" and "A Wine Tour of France" which are amazingly detailed. Everything you would want to know, from where to go and what to expect, to when to get toad-in-the-hole or the eels of Gironde. The pub-crawling and wine tours are both in my future at some point so I have really enjoyed reading about them.

I was also thrilled to find that Leslie Charteris, author of The Saint series, occasionally wrote the column "Along The Boulevards" for Gourmet. It is a collection of observations and experiences in his travels from all over the world. Very interesting, but a bit biased against America's culinary nomenclature and customs compared to other countries.

As for the overall look of the magazine being drastically different than culinary magazines today, not only are there so many pink foods (potted shrimp, Shrimp Nantua with red food coloring added to cream, cold raspberry soufflé, and liptaur with paprika) sitting on shocking yellow and turquoise tablecloths (which would very likely never be shown in a more modern food spread), but also, the style of arranging food has completely changed. In the 1968 book, foods on a plate or platter are mostly grouped, covered in sauce, and garnished with a little parsley sprig - today, whether in a magazine or for customer consumption, the contrast, balance, height, and color of the foods are essential to presentation. Food fashion changes quickly.

As you probably can tell, this is my new favorite cookbook and as I have just found an article on truffles, I plan to sit back and read the former owner's notes and try to connect with her a little more. Maybe she will enlighten me with tricks of the trade or let a personal note slip so that I will know her a bit better.