Two of my favorite pastimes are featured in this post.
Winterland: Create a Beautiful Garden for Every Season Cathy Rees photos by Lisa Looke (2021) Author Rees has a pleasant conversational tone as she advises about how to arrange gardens for wintertime beauty. In the five sections of the book (Design, Contrast, Embellish, Care, and Share) she offers many clever and practical approaches, accompanied by photos. I especially liked her ideas on layering of plants, on sculptural pruning, and on working with the sunlight and shadows of winter. This isn’t necessarily a book to purchase but rather one to check out from your local library and page through—especially in the warm seasons, when the ground is thawed and you can implement changes that you can appreciate when the snow falls.
The Sheet Pan: 150+ Easy, Creative Meals from Your Most Versatile Pan America’s Test Kitchen (2025) Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about cooking with a sheet pan can be found in this lavishly illustrated guidebook. As a mostly vegetarian cook, I just skimmed over the chapters on meats, but I put many sticky notes in the chapters that feature sandwiches, vegetable mains, breakfast, sides, and snacks. Recipe examples: White Bean and Sun-Dried Tomato Patties; Lavash Flatbreads with Romesco, Tomatoes, and Spinach; Roasted Tofu and Sweet Potato Bowls; Roasted Vegetables and Lentils with Feta and Herb Oil; Everyday French Toast; One Big Pancake; Elote; Spiced Nuts. All these and many more savory and sweet dishes can be made on a sheet pan! I found particularly helpful the book’s introductory section, titled “The Sheet Pan Advantage,” which takes the reader through all the necessary techniques for sheet-pan success. America’s Test Kitchen is a solidly reliable source for cooking advice, and this volume is a winner.