Back in 1998, we wrote and compiled a privately printed cookbook, The Bears' Cookbook, as a Christmas gift for our family and friends. We had 100 copies printed up, and it proved so popular that we've gone back for seven additional printings. The book included photos and jokes and even three different covers, so you could choose the one to display that would match your decor. (Click on the cover, below, to see the different cover options.) You can get a better idea of the reasons we created the cookbook by reading our introductions.
It was a fun project, even if we never got off our asses to have it professionally published. Still, it was nice to get accolades, such as when American Bear magazine said it was better than the bear cookbooks that were commercially available, and TV's Rachael Ray declared it "Yum-o! Delish! This is so cool!" (Really, she does talk like that.)
To the left you'll see a link to a page with a few of our favorite recipes, from each of our cookbook's chapters. Now, when we have friends over, if they want to know how to make a dish that we've served, they can just come here.
And at the bottom of the recipes page, there's a link to a bare-bones .pdf file that contains the rest of the recipes from the book (although without some of the illustrations and photos).
Newer pages here includes new recipes we've found and enjoyed since the publication of the cookbook. There are also pages devoted to our favorite foods, and recipes from friends, plus a few miscellaneous food-related pages.
Although we both worked as short order cooks when we were younger, we're not chefs, just home cooks, who prepare most of our meals in our own kitchen. Although many of our friends know their way around the stove, we hope to inspire even more of them cook for themselves, because it's less expensive than dining out, because there's more control over calories and nutrition ... but mostly because it's a creative and fun thing to do. We enjoy it, and we hope you do, too.
Another accolade! On July 5, 2009, the web site Bearotic had this to say about our little site: "Bear cooks Jack and Steve sure know how to dish up some yummy delights. Their web site has recipes that get my juices flowing. One look at the hosts food and you'll understand why!"