ALA 2011 Annual Conference and Exhibits

Hello friends! If you're wondering why it has been a little quiet here, it's because Howard and I went away last weekend. I had a work trip for ALA's Annual Conference, and upon hearing that it would be in New Orleans this year, Howard wanted to tag along. We'll be sharing our wonderful eats soon, but for now, I wanted to share the book part of the trip first.

I had some time to explore the other exhibitors and decided to show you some old and new baking cookbooks! First up is Workman Publishing Company:

Alice Medrich's Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies was published last fall, but it still drew me in. One can always use a collective cookie cookbook! Plus, look at the books behind it:

Last year we also saw The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free by Anne Byrn release (don't forget about our review of The Cake Mix Doctor Returns!).

The poster that caught my eye was Artisanal Gluten-Free Cupcakes by Kelli Bronski and Peter Bronski, this book was a very recent release.

It looks like gluten-free is getting very popular in the baking arena!

The Baking Answer Book by Lauren Chattman looked very handy. I did a quick flip-through of the book and liked the Q&A format.

I walked into Dorling Kindersley's booth and asked if there was an advance copy of Illustrated Step-by-Step Baking for me to see. Not yet as this comes out in September!

I think it'll be quite good as I like the art in The Illustrated Step-by-Step Cook. Didn't spot any other baking books, so let's visit the next booth:

The piping bag and cupcake on the cover caught my attention. The Vegan Girl's Guide to Life by Melisser Elliott. When I was snapping this photo, the gentleman working at Skyhorse Publishing also recommended I take a photo of Vegan Desserts by Hannah Kaminsky, which came out in the spring.

Walking an aisle over:

I picked up Cake Boy and was disappointed to find that it was a dummy book (the pages inside were blank). The cake on the cover looks delicious and this is scheduled to be available in October.

Macarons by Berengere Abraham has such a beautiful and soft coloured cover. Lovely photography inside as well.

Over at Chronicle Books, the charming Miette by Meg Ray. You can't see it in the photo, but this book has scalloped edges!

Like I said earlier, can't have too many cookies, here is Milk & Cookies by Tina-Marie Casaceli.

Then there was this petite gem at Random House. Not a cookbook, Pastry Paris by Susan Hochbaum is a collection of pastries photographed in Paris that parallels architecture. Quite clever and quirky!

I know I'm probably missing a whole lot of dessert-like cookbooks, but the convention was huge and I didn't get a chance to visit every booth!

I did end up buying a book (I couldn't resist), the very adorable My Milk Toof by Inhae Lee. I would recommend checking it out as ickle and Lardee do make cupcakes in one of the comic strips!

Publishers don't usually give out cookbooks, so I picked up an advance reading copy of Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler for some in-flight reading. While waiting for the plane, I saw someone reading Jonathan Dixon's Beaten, Seared, and Sauced, and well... I kind of wanted to trade. =P