The Blue Hill Public Library and Blue Hill Books will present a talk on Thursday, October 30, at 7:00 p.m. with Penobscot resident, author, editor, and mapmaker Jane Crosen. Jane will talk about her adventures in cooking and bookmaking, and share excerpts and poems from her new cookbook, Culinary Landscapes: A World of Delicious Discoveries in a Maine Mapmaker’s Kitchen.  

Following on her first cookbook, Maine Mapmaker’s Kitchen, Culinary Landscapes explores international flavors and seasonal ingredients, sharing discoveries in home and camp cooking, artful baking, kitchen gardening, foraging, and preserving. Recipes for 350 new and old favorites include colorful salads and soups, appetizers and small plates, vegetarian and ethnic dishes, sauces and condiments, sides and comfort dishes, holiday and breakfast specials, luscious desserts, and a cosmos of cookies.

The cookbook is practical, personable, and inviting, embellished with Crosen’s hand-drawn illustrations, color photos, sidebars, and whimsical poems. “All I can say is, the Muse started whispering them in my ear, with hints of culinary wisdom, and, being someone who relishes words (and a foodie who loves playing with ingredients), I wrote them down along with the recipes…. I hope you’ll enjoy these reflections and reveries on cooking through the seasons at home and at camp.”

Together with her husband and kitchen mate, Richard Washburn, Crosen lives in Penobscot, Maine, where they grow favorite varieties of veggies and herbs for cooking and putting food by. During the warmer months Crosen enjoys frequent getaways at their camp on a Downeast lake. As a “camp cookee” she shares tips from years of provisioning and preparing camp-friendly, delicious meals in rustic conditions. 

Crosen grew as an international vegetarian cook while living at the Findhorn Community in Scotland. It was there that she also discovered publishing as a way to combine her skills with writing, editing, art, typography, and design. On returning to Maine, jobs at DeLorme Publishing and Wooden Boat Publications led to a double career as a map artist/publisher and a freelance editor of recreational guides, cookbooks, homesteading and field guides, and other genres. Drawing on her skills as a freelance editor, Crosen enjoyed “cooking up a cookbook” of her own, in collaboration with her husband. "Culinary Landscapes" is the latest addition to Crosen’s product line, including her hand-drawn maps of Maine regions (printed as cards, posters, floursack towels, trays), along with her newly arranged Coastwise editions of Colby’s historic 1881 county atlases of Downeast Maine. 

The event is free, open to all, and will be held in the Howard Room. Signed copies of the book will be available for purchase after the talk. For more information, call the library at 374-5515 or email Assistant Director Kayleigh Thomas at kayleigh.thomas[a]t]bhpl.net.