Announcing the Evanston Public Library Community Cookbook!

May 26, 2020

When you live through a significant moment in world history, you may feel an overwhelming need to document it in some fashion. But how? Do you write your descendants letters about it (“Dear Great-Grandchild, We had very little toilet paper…”)? Do you write in a diary every single day that you’re sequestered inside (“Today my ZOOM meeting was very very glitchy”)? Do you create art or music, write books or compose great symphonies?

For a lot of us, we bake.

Baking provides food, but it’s much more than that. The sheer act of baking and cooking can be a soothing activity for many. Not everyone, of course. But even if your average time in the kitchen consists of blood, sweat, and tears, by the end of it you may still have something edible on your plate.

When the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 struck, many people found themselves suddenly stuck inside their homes with no idea how long they would have to socially distance themselves from their friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, and strangers. The sheer uncertainty of the virus (How easy is it to get? Will there ever be a cure? How long is this going to last?) can be terrible. And in such times as these, Evanston Public Library strives to provide a modicum of comfort.

This cookbook does double duty as both a document of life in a world beset by COVID-19 and as something we can turn to in times of trial. We may not be able to break bread with our community, but we can at least share the recipes that give us hope and happiness. Submitted by Evanstonians everywhere in the Spring of 2020, Evanston Public Library presents to you The Cozy Evanston Cookbook for Uncertain Times.

Read the book here and be sure you click on “CONTENTS” and then the plus sign next to “Main Body”. You can also download a pdf copy.

Use it in good health.


Wendy Fink’s Best Reads of 2016

December 20, 2016

wendy fink photoMy name is Wendy Fink. My husband Matt and I have raised our three children in Evanston (where we have resided for almost 30 years). I like to read, knit, cook, scrapbook and exercise. I volunteer at EPL and ETHS regularly.

1) A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (2014)

I relished the delightful character development of Ove from a depressed bitter man seeking to check out of life into a warm giving grandfather figure in his Swedish community. The simple narrative style and sparse dialogue work well to mimic Ove himself. Continue reading “Wendy Fink’s Best Reads of 2016”


"Love at First Bite" Vampire Cookbooks

February 15, 2012

With all the interest in vampires the last couple of years it’s natural that someone decided to write a cookbook with vampire-themed recipes. There are actually two with a similar title. “Love at First Bite: The Complete Vampire Lover’s Cookbook” offers food with irresistible names such as Blood Chilling Gazpacho and I Vant S’mores. The other title is ‘Love At First Bite: The Unofficial Twilight Cookbook,” which did not receive positive reviews on Amazon. Oh well, maybe we should just put a stake (steak?) through its cover!

Shira S.

Some of the hundreds of vampire offerings at EPL:

Vampires: The Recent Undead  (with a really creepy cover)

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Vampires


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