When I was six or seven years old, someone gave my mom that year's edition of the Old Farmer's Almanac. We lived in Los Angeles at the time, with nothing more than a tiny backyard garden, so I think it was gifted mostly as a gag. However, I was entranced by the idea that there was a yearly magazine that had been around for two hundred years that told people when to plant, what to grow and offered tips and bits of sage advice. When she was done with the almanac, I tucked it away into my collection of Very Important Things and there it stayed for about 20 years (it finally got tossed about a year ago, when I cleaned out the last of my stuff from my parents' house).

All of that is to say that I feel a certain kinship with the Old Farmer's Almanac. For that reason, I was really excited when The Old Farmer's Almanac Everyday Cookbook landed in my mailbox. It's a solid feeling hardbound book that doesn't have a dust jacket, however the glossy cover is printed to resemble the traditional almanac. Open it up and it's organized in traditional cookbook fashion, although instead of having the entire table of contents at the beginning of the book, each section gets its own table. The edges of the book are printed with colored indicators, letting you know when one chapter finishes up and another begins.

One of the best things about this book is that it contains many contest winning recipes from the original almanac. You get Art Sager's prize winning recipe for Apple-Stuffed Baked Fish (from the 2004 Apple contest) as well as Alain Lefevre's Grilled Chicken in Chocolate Sauce Piquante from the 1993 "Best Recipe Feature Chocolate" contest. They also include a number of the most popular recipes from their website and have included helpful sections to cover sauces, stuffings and how to cook a lobster.

I'm looking forward to making the Turkey Potpie recipe on page 120 (I've had potpie on the brain of late) and the Roast Pork with Carrots, Turnips and Apples (doesn't that just sound like the perfect thing for a cold winter evening?).