If you are interested in Cajun and Creole cuisine, you should start hinting for John Folse's Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine for Valentine's Day.

Chef John Folse is a long-standing ambassador of Louisiana cuisine, and this book is a lavish production. Lyman's sister's family and ours received copies this Christmas.

Scuttlebutt is that the publisher wanted to charge $130 for the book, but Folse insisted it be priced affordably. This edition is priced at $49.95. It weighs 9-3/4 pounds according to our kitchen scale.