WITH Christmas just around the corner, I?m like a giddy little girl again, excitedly anticipating opening all those gifts under the tree. I?ve always been a fan of books. Of course my taste has evolved from Walt Disney classics and the Sweet Valley series (giving away my age here) to more adult-rated content; no, not porn, but historical biographies, some Dan Brown, some Jose Saramago, but most importantly, as influenced by The Scholar, several cookbooks.

The Scholar has gone to the extent of helping me find some rare culinary publications, including Doreen Fernandez? Tikim, Sarap, and Lasa series. Fortunately, ?Palayok? is still available at Fully Booked.

I browsed through my humble collection and hungered for more. So I went over to the bookstores and listed the books I would want to find under the tree or those that I would put under my friends? Christmas trees. I found some very interesting ones.

First are titles for starters. Aside from the Maya and the Gene Gonzalez Little Book series, I also found ?The Secret is in the Sauce? by Maria Ana Gonzalez de Leon Hudson (so many surnames!) very interesting. It comes in a ring-bound cover and has a handwriting font that makes the book look like a high school notebook, with Maria Ana GDH?s real notes in it. It begins with very useful information such as weights and measurements, basic kitchen equipment, basic ingredients, then proceeds to how-to-cook basics, like noodles and rice, and ?creating the perfect crust.? Then she pours on heaps of recipes with cutesy headings: Poseidon?s Catch, instead of just ?Fish,? and Wings, Hooves and Horns, instead of just ?Meat and Poultry.? The book also has lots of dessert recipes, around four pages on the contents page, making that around 80 recipes. Plus a few pages on ?What you need to know about chocolate.? Very informative. She?s the girl I would copy notes from if I were still in high school. This seems to be a great buy for those who are about to venture out into living on their own.

The next interesting group of books I found were the restaurant shoot-offs. Books that compile a restaurant?s recipes treasured over the years. Especially interesting is ?Cafe by the Ruins? by Lia Llamado, Adelaida Lim and Feliz Perez. It gives a history of this Baguio monument (it has pretty much become a must-stop, like Camp John Hay, over the years) and has an adorable one-pager where they acknowledge the people who have patronized CBTR over the years?from ?Artists? to ?Zealots.? I was also fascinated by a quote from Jean Anselme Brillat-Savarin that they used , which reads, ?The pleasure of eating belongs to all ages, all conditions, every country and every day. It can be linked to all pleasure and remains the last to console all of us.? Naks.

Then there are the ?heritage? books. Lots of these, actually: Lola Oreng, Lola Afric, Nanay Belen. Some read like a family album. What can I say, we are really proud Filipinos. Two of the better ones, though, I already have: ?Memories of Philippine Kitchens? by Amy Besa, which contains recipes from ?esteemed? families from north to south, and ?Slow Food,? a book compiling essays from a Doreen Fernandez culinary writing contest, where the essays usually gather inspiration from lola?s or mom?s or some relative?s cooking.

Of course, there are also the kolehiyala books: cookbooks from Assumption, Woodrose and St. Theresa?s. The girls can?t get over their cooking classes.

Two standouts deserve categories of their own. There?s ?Cooking with Coconut? by Annie Pascual Guerrero. which consists of all-coconut recipes. I love it; it?s so focused and you realize that there?s so much you can do with just buko! Second, ?Pulutan From the Soldier?s Kitchen,? fittingly edited by political columnist Ellen Tordesillas, which has interesting recipes like Calamares a la Trillanes and Palakang Bukid.

Finally, there are the Greats: ?Flavors of the Philippines? by Glenda Barretto, ?The Food of the Philippines? by Reynaldo Alejandro, which has an introduction by Doreen Fernandez herself, and ?Kulinarya,? the hard work of Gaita Fores, Claude Tayag, Myrna Segismundo, Jessie Sincioco, Conrad Calalang and Glenda Barretto. But, yahoo, I already have all these.

So there?s my Christmas gift list for friends (and my not-so-discreet wishlist, hehehe!). Merry Christmas!