Surprise lures on this weekend's tours!

I really am not a poet, that title just popped out of my tired brain just now. It's after 6pm and I'm past ready for quitting time today!

Spring is definitely in the air! The temperature on the bank's thermometer at 3rd and Fairfax read 97 (F) when I was leaving the market on Saturday, after a fantastic tour. Friday was equally great, and included some special guests. Thank you everyone, for coming out in the warm, beautiful sunshine! We had full groups both days and it was pure pleasure to be the host.

Lisa joined us on Friday which is such a rare treat. Last summer when we began the tours, we very often were co-leaders and that happens only once in a while now. For those of you that have never met my wonderful sister, when you finally have the privilege it will have been worth waiting for!

Two other ladies you will love to meet in the very near future, are LuAnn Roberto and Marla Dennis. I mention them both now because they have joined Lisa and I on our team, as creative geniuses to lend support for our marketing and PR efforts. LuAnn has been our artist and soul sister since the beginning (since even before that), and Marla is our Facebook and online marketing expert. I could write an entire book to sing their respective praises so just rest assured, you'll be hearing more about them soon. LuAnn came on our tour - for the second time - a week ago Saturday with her lovely mom and two friends. Marla came to play for the first time on Friday and since she snapped photo after photo, she probably missed a lot of my clever banter and will have to come again!

Also on Friday, we enjoyed some extra color, with Carolyn Scott and Dan, her fiance-videographer joining us, to create a video for Carolyn's brilliant, check-out-worthy site The Healthy Voyager. Carolyn is a vegan and, was pleased that she really enjoyed the tour's tastings and claims she was quite full at the end! We aim to please! We are delighted and very grateful that now her fan followers will be turned on to Melting Pot Tours!

No celebrity sightings (that I knew of!) on Friday but, Saturday....Actor Billy Zane was spotted dining al fresco at Little Next Door on West 3rd Street. Was I the one who spotted him? I was not. Did I have a clear idea of who he was when they said "That's Billy Zane!" I did not. I am so pleased that our fabulous tour guests can point these things out - thank you to our Saturday spotters Liliane and Julie!

I wrote last week about how Cook's Library is closing on April 30 and would love to think that my blog post was responsible for the mob that had converged there both Friday and Saturday but, I'm quite sure it was not! Tim and Ellen were gracious as usual as they dealt with our big groups and their lot of customers buying up a storm. On Saturday, JoAnn Cianciulli, Author "LA’s Original Farmers Market Cookbook" coming out in just a few days, arrived at Cook's just as we did. We helped her lament that her dream was to see her cookbook in the window of Cook's Library, and her timing is sadly just off, a little bit.

Two rounds of good news on that note, however. That very cookbook will be celebrated at the Farmers Market at a big booksigning event on April 16th - I will get more information about that to you soon. The book will be sold at the Market and you are welcome to take it to merchants like our darlings at Huntington Meats for autographs! I mention Huntington Meats because Nancy Silverton will be joining the guys that day to grill up some burger samples. If I'm not mistaken, the entire Market will be partying to launch the cookbook that is...75 years in coming! This is all part of the big 75th birthday party going on at the Market all year long.

The other note of good news is that Tim at Cook's Library told us on Saturday that they are keeping their mailing list. He did elude (dare I quote?) that there may be something in the future for Cook's Library, and they will still keep in touch with their following. So if you haven't signed up yet and would like to, now is the time!

And with that I leave you, so that I may prepare handmade loaves of bread for baking. Ahh, the perfect antidote to a busy day on the computer!

Wishing all of you a delicious week, your faithful Tour Maestra,
Diane Scalia

How Much We Love Cook's Library

Well, welcome back to me I guess...it's been over a month since I last posted which was never my intention, so sorry!

Today's story is about one of Melting Pot Tours' proudest tour stops on West 3rd Street in mid-city LA, on our current Friday and Saturday walking-tasting food tour.

The Cook's Library.

This small, fabulous store gives whole new meaning to unique, as it is one of America's two last standing brick-and-mortar bookstores dedicated solely to cookbooks. And, they are sadly closing their door April 30th, after 20 years in this one location. They have said internet booksellers have been fierce - and now their final - competition, and we are so sorry for this.

The lovely Ellen Rose (left in photo above) is the owner and one of LA's dearest angels for certain. For nearly 9 months now, our tour guests have enjoyed meeting her and hearing her personal story of how this landmark came to be. I won't spoil it for you, but the upshot is that her daughter Molly was dancing around the kitchen one day and told Ellen she had enough cookbooks to open a library.

Molly, I am certain, is glad that she wasn't careful what she seemed to wish for. By now her mother and staff have given and shared so much joy with so many of us.

Tim has been Ellen's manager for years and years, and he too is one of our favorite people on the planet. We adore the rest of the staff as well - Tehra and Amy very kindly and lovingly keep us company, and then there's Alan, who is said to live there so his hospitality usually equals the feeling that a red carpet is rolled out...sigh. Such a first-class operation, in so many ways.

Since each of the staff cooks and bakes, we get the pure joy and privilege of tasting the most incredibly delicious samples when we stop by and, they are experts bar none, on the treasures they stock. From books for children to those from Europe to those from our own top LA chefs and those all around the US...it's rare that you can't find what you seek. Their undivided, top-notch expertise is at your service for the duration of your visit. Imagine that - extraordinary customer service - what a concept!

One of the most comfortable couches in town graces their front library section. I am here to tell you, that spot in the window on very warm days/freezing cold days/perfect spring days/not-so-perfect other days alike, is considered by more than one of us, as the most-coveted in town. Here is truly where heaven-meets-earth, for those who enjoy perusing and reading cookbooks possibly more than bestseller-anything-else.

For years, the famous Sunday Hollywood Farmers Market co-hosted chef authors for book signings, and these will probably cease as well. Besides that, my favorite LA chef icon, Kerry Simon, will have to find another afternoon haunt to visit in his vast spare time.

I can't begin to tell you how much we will miss this place and, the people there whom we've come to love like family. We can however, begin to encourage those who have not experienced our tour, or those of you who are due for a return visit, to please consider booking with us by the end of April.

How often do you get to experience history in Los Angeles? We would love to share this exquisite pearl of just that with you, while we still can.

Until we meet again, I remain your tearful Tour Maestra today,
Diane Scalia