SpiceLines

Note: All the books in this post and the previous one have been taken.

My goodness! The books just flew out the window. Most were gone in the first 11 hours.

Indian cookbooks led the most wanted list. Most requested: Suvir Saran’s American Masala, followed by Hari Nayak’s Simple Indian Cooking. Nancy scooped up American Masala, Deborah just made it under the wire for the latter. Apologies to those of you who wrote in a few minutes later.

A big surprise: Only two of you asked for Jamie at Home. Last year everyone was clamoring for the Naked Chef. Not so this time around. So do you think Jamie is overexposed? Underexposed? Or have we just moved on? I’ll be watching his campaign against fast food in West Virginia.

I was delighted to hear that many of you, like me, live in small towns, far from the culinary capitals of the world. Yet like me, you have a consuming passion for curries and tagines, and travel to India, Morocco, Mexico and other spicy places. I’m thrilled that you share my interests!

Here’s a very short list of the remaining books:

The Sweet Spot, Pichet Ong. Ong, a 2005 Pastry Art and Design Magazine “10 Best” chef, rolls out 100 recipes for inventive Asian-inspired sweets. Among them: Kabocha Squash Cheesecake with Walnut Crust, the most requested dessert at Jean Georges Vongerichten’s Spice Market (where Ong was pastry chef) after it was featured in a Melissa Clark article for The New York Times. Other popular recipes include Ong's Jasmine Rice Pudding and Chocolate and Vietnamese Coffee Tart.

Alimentum, Issues 2, 4 and 5. “The only literary review all about food.” Short takes—poems, stories, memories, thought pieces—mean you can read just as much or as little as you want in one sitting. I loved an interview with novelist Diana Abu- Jaber about the role food plays in her books Crescent and The Language of Baklava. Also Barbara Singleton’s "Skimming Off the Top," a tale of eating yogurt in Kashgar, Lhasa and Goa. Entertaining bedtime reading.

And in case you were in an alternate universe last November—or maybe just riding camels on the beach in Morocco—I have a pristine copy of Gourmet’s last issue, still in its plastic mailer, virtually untouched by human hands. Gorgeous photos, interesting riffs on familiar Thanksgiving recipes, a last glimpse of the late great magazine.