This Entire Newsletter Is Balls-Adjacent

Those made of cheese, and also, er, Napoleon's. WE'RE NOT SORRY.

Judging from my inbox, text messages, and the calendar, we’ve officially entered holiday party season and all its attendant delicious snacks. I am a medium-okay Regular Food chef but a pretty decent cook of Party Food: Chex mix, cheese balls¹, deviled eggs, cheese boards, bacon-wrapped dates. But my real strength lies in my collection of vintage cookbooks, many of which are chockablock with Festive Apps that range from the creative, do-able, tasty, and retro all the way to full WTF. There is nothing more inspiring/entertaining/invigorating as we head into Party Food Season.

As many Broads surely know, vintage cookbooks (and etiquette books) are easy to score at yard and library sales, but what upped my own collection game was moving into a building that has a Leave a Book, Take a Book library in the basement. And I don’t mean a Free Little Library setup. It’s three full-size bookcases, and my neighbors really churn through stuff. A few years ago, someone in my building unloaded a ton of…