To celebrate the arrival of spring, the staff at the Northshire Bookstore held one of our famous pot-luck lunches. For decades, the Northshire staff, from folks in the basement receiving, to booksellers on the sales floor, to accounting people on the top floor, have been famous for their great cooking. Must be a requisite for working here!

We usually cook around a theme: Chinese, Middle Eastern, and American picnic fare are recent examples. This time, however, we tried something different. This time each of us chose a recipe from a book that was selected by our cookbook guru, Christopher Law. Anybody who has ever visited with Chris in our cooking section will agree that Chris really "knows food," and we enthusiastically jumped on board when he decided on Two Dudes One Pan by Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo, "Maximum Flavor from a Minimalist Kitchen."

The concept of this user-friendly book (mine is already covered with food stains) is simple: Fresh ingredients and any one of six basic "pans" are all that you need to prepare a fantastic dinner. In Jon Shook's words: "You don't need a tricked-out kitchen to make a nice meal." Well, we booksellers surely don't have tricked-out kitchens, but we sure had a great meal. In fact, we think it's the best pot-luck we've ever done.

For starters, Rita Lane prepared Spinach-Artichoke Dip with Grilled Bread - to die for...and Sarah Knight made the Pan Roasted Eggplant with Shallot Vinaigrette - which even the non-eggplant-eaters ate. Karen Frank brought creamy Asparagus Risotto - what better way to celebrate spring? - which we kept and hot and delicious in one of our well used break room crock pots; and Jon Fine made a fabulous platter of Spicy Roasted Cauliflower Capers and Parm, that, like everything else, was practically licked clean. Baby Back Ribs were our main course, and our book buyer (and grillest extraordinaire), Stan Hynds, manned his mean green grill just outside the employee door. The ribs paired perfectly with Heather Bellanca's sublime salad contribution: Winter Fennel with Cinnamon Vinaigrette. I brought Garlicky Shrimp Cakes, which Karen loved so much that she asked her husband to cook them for her birthday a few weeks later! At last it was time for the grand finale, and it was grand indeed. Heather chose a perfect combination of tart and sweet to clear our palates: Lavender-Lemon Bars with Raspberry Puree. Heather is our graphic designer, so of course she posted a note by her delicious contribution : "Sorry, but I was plum out of lavender!"

We were plum out of room by the time we waddled back to our posts.

Garlicky Shrimp Cakes

By Cynthia Richards