You’re right, this book’s very beauty is an Achilles heel for it (oddly enough). My working cookbooks always get things spilled on the pages. One extra quirk I have is that once I’ve cooked a recipe in a book, I dog-ear that recipe’s page. I can’t even do that with Hot Sour Salty Sweet, I feel too guilty!

Another problem with using it in the kitchen is that it’s a big book, and one’s counter space may not be enough to accomodate both the book and the ingredients (especially for those who have small kitchens, like me). I like your solution to the issue! That never occurred to me. Thanks.

then, I’d logon to Epicurious or crack open my copy of Madhur Jaffrey’s South/East Asian cookbook to actually look up the recipe that I’d want to use.