FOUR YEARS INTO my own voluntary rural exile, I have no regrets, save one: I miss the Asian cuisine paradise that I left behind in L.A. But like a good country girl should, I’m fixing the problem, one cookbook at a time.

I was spoiled in L.A. I lived blocks from Thai Town, a quick drive away from amazing dim sum. Our favorite sushi bar at the bottom of our hill was an omakase treasure. Even the Chinese food we could get delivered was amazing: I still crave a certain version of chicken fried rice with spinach that I ate several times a week while  pregnant (and sick as a dog) with the Rock.  True, we get to New York City a few times a year, and we indulge our cravings there, but let’s face it, access is everything.

At the behest of my husband, pining for soba noodles and eager to reduce his cholesterol a bit, I decided to reorient our meals: more vegetarian, less fat…you get the idea. Usually, I’d just head online and surf my way to answers. I did a bit of that, returning to some of my own favorite food blogs and some new discoveries, like the gorgeous Rasa Malaysia. But I wanted that great experience of curling up with a cookbook, and so I also dug into my own overstuffed shelves to rediscover some old (and new) treasures.

I started with my Christmas present to myself: David Tanis’ too beautiful to be believed Heart of the Artichoke. Not an Asian cookbook, but it has a few Asian recipes (and a whole bunch of other amazing ones, too) and his Vietnamese pho was first on my list. A savory broth warm with cinnamon and rich with fish sauce, it is still light, with slivers of beef, rice noodles and lots of fresh herbs. Heaven in a deep, warm bowl.

Next I turned to a book that led me to one of my favorite food bloggers, Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks. SuperNatural Cooking offers a recipe for otsu, a dish of soba noodles and tofu in an addictive ginger soy dressing I could eat every day. And save the extra sauce: it’s great on rice, vegetables, you name it.

For another light soup night, I revisited a cookbook I’ve loved cooking from for at least five years now, Nina Simonds’ A Spoonful of Ginger is full of knowledge and inspiration, but for sheer comfort, you can’t top her Chinese chicken soup. (The recipe is available on her website, too: scroll to the bottom of this page.)

Finally, I took a deep breath and dove into the mammoth, profane work of art that is David Chang’s Momofuku cookbook. I bought it the very first time I (finally) visited Chang’s Noodle Bar, but hadn’t worked up the courage (or the pantry) to try the recipes: Chang calls for a few esoteric ingredients, like usukuchi (light) soy sauce, in many of his recipes.

I made a (fun!) field trip to an Asian supermarket in Albany, 45 minutes away, but you can also order online at eFoodDepot. Here’s what I have to say about his recipes: they are worth the effort. And they’re not all complex. I made an incredible, fast dinner from udon noodles tossed with his ginger scallion sauce (hardest part: chopping) and pan-grilled asparagus and tofu served with his miso butter (white miso blended with butter–insanely delicious, if not the most cholesterol-lowering menu item.)

Nearly two weeks into my culinary odyssey, I’ve barely scratched the surface of what these fantastic cooks have to teach me, and as I look out my window at a gorgeous curtain of falling snow, Los Angeles, culinary wonderland that it is, seems like less of a loss. What are you cooking in the new year, sisters?

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THIS IS IT, dear sisters. It’s now or never. Do or die. What’s so urgent? Read on. You have to sign up this week in order to participate in our first-ever (and I hope the first of many to come) Sister Project Cookbook Swap. Join us, and you’ll clean off a space on your own bookshelf just in time to receive a surprise cookbook from another TSP reader/cook. But wait, Ginsu Knife fans! That’s not all.

You, see, I’ve got more than one cookbook I need to give away. So…one swapper, selected at random by the magic of the Random.Org random number generator (Got it? It’s random) will get two more cookbooks hot off my shelves. One commenter, two cookbooks, in addition to the book you’ll receive from your swap partner.

How awesome is that? But like they say about the lottery–”You can’t win, if you don’t play.” So comment. Sign up. (Unlike the lottery, it’s free.)

And, to sweeten the pot for everyone, you can download your very own TSP bookplate to customize the cookbook you bestow upon your lucky partner. Just click on the image to the left, print and cut it out, and gently glue it into your cookbook. (My collage teacher would no doubt suggest a UHU glue stick for this important job, but use what you have. Isn’t that the number-one motto of the kitchen sisterhood, anyway?) And most of all, don’t forget to personalize the book with your name, and that of your recipient.

To join the party, click here, and leave a comment, including your goal (if you have one) for your culinary life in 2010. Mine is simple: get my kids to eat more vegetables. Sad, but true. I’m sure yours are more exciting than that, so, please, share them!

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SNOW DAYS AND CABIN FEVER have set in at my house, along with, I fear, the flu. Instead of feeling trapped, I am determined to embrace my short-term life as a shut-in…and clean out the basement. What, you may be wondering, does this have to do with you? Or that pretty cookbook up above? Read on, dear sisters, read on.

Thanks to forced confinement, I’ve unpacked what feels like dozens of boxes, boxes that (oh, the shame) hadn”t been opened since we moved into this house three years ago. On the bright side, if I didn’t miss it, I don’t need it; there’s a lot of good stuff that I might as well pass along, because I clearly don’t want or use it any more. To my surprise, more than a few cookbooks fell into this category…and that’s where you come in.

Don’t you have a perfectly good cookbook you never use? One that you could give away as a surprise to some new friend? Wouldn’t it be great if another new friend sent you a surprise cookbook that she’s no longer using?

Comments are now closed for this post! If you signed up for the swap, watch your email for your swap-ee’s information!

You’ve got two weeks, sisters, to dust off your shelves or unpack a box and find a cookbook; a good one, but one that you can part with. Then, leave a comment on this post, saying why you want to participate, and, if you have one, a particular cooking goal or ambition you have for the year.

Once comments are closed (on Wednesday, February 3) you’ll get an email from me with the email address of the person you’re to swap books with. It’s up to you to get your swap partner’s mailing address, and to mail the book (the USPS’s “media mail” is cheapest). Please specify in your comment if you are outside the U.S., or are unwilling to have an overseas partner (to whom you’d be mailing).

OK–start cleaning, already! Some of us want to get cooking (another time-tested strategy for making the sick/snow day hours pass)!

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