Kosher-Style Pork Cracklins

Every good cook has a good cookbook. I probably have a number of good ones; I just haven't tried them all out yet. I have peeked into a few, mainly to see how some dish is made. and then I decide it's too hard to do!

I do have one very special cookbook, "Cooking at the Café" written by Francie O'Shea. Francie signed and gave me the book herself! How did I come to know such a great cook? I used to babysit for her back in my early college days. She would typically be at home, and with me babysitting, she was free to cook in her kitchen without interruption.

I opened it up, afraid that I'd find some complicated recipes for fancy dishes. However, the recipes included such simple sounding titles as "garden veggie pasta", "lentil soup" and "quick hummus".

Check out the bicycle on the cover!

In part of her note to me, Francie wrote, "Keep this book around -- one of these days you'll want to cook!"

I guess that day is today! I found Francie's website where she has one recipe online, so I decided to try that one out first. Many of her recipes are vegetarian. They are all recipes that were served on the menu at a café she owned in Corvallis, Oregon. All the recipes are hand-written in the book, plus she has lots of tips on cooking.

As this is the Kosher-style Pork Cracklins, I am most pleased to note that there is a Jewish parable on the last page.