This book might not shove Joy of Cooking, or one of the other tried-and-true wedding-shower must-haves, off the newlywed bookshelf, but Sarah Copeland’s The Newlywed Cookbook (Chronicle, $35) deserves a shot.
At its heart a paean to kitchen romance, this 301-page tome does double duty as a solid pathfinder for anyone — married or otherwise — who’s aiming to get good food on the table. Copeland, a Food Network veteran, knows her way around the kitchen, the garden and any farmers market. From stocking the pantry to how to pull off a crack-your-own crab feast, and a host of meals in between, there is plenty to savor in these pages — and, if you’re so inclined, in that candlelit nook in your kitchen.
It took serious work to get us past the over-the-top romancin’ that drips from these pages. But beyond all the goo, this lusciously photographed book is delicious indeed.
Copeland does have a knack for making life picture-book beautiful. And her smarts rub off. If you subscribe to the notion that life’s richest moments often unfold at the table, this book will take you by the hand and serve up heapin’ helpings.
— Barbara Mahany
Chicago Tribune
