AN ARTIST'S COOKBOOK

The book's recipes are simple, many made from seafood available right outside the restaurant's front door, like Lucinda's Baked Oysters and Kachemak Bay Blue Mussels. The directions indeed read like a conversation with a cook, with gentle reminders to keep an eye on the amount of liquid in the mussel pot, and to be careful not to overcook the cioppino.

Far more than a simple cookbook, Beck's vibrant artwork takes up about half the pages in the 111 page book and provides the segue stories about the unusual aspects of living in Halibut Cove, such as gathering your own coal from the beach and clamming in the middle of the night when winter's minus tides fall.

"It was to contain a little history for context to the recipes and paintings, was to be a vehicle to showcase Marian's beautiful artwork, and have gastronomically artistic resources that were little works of art unto themselves," Gage said. "The end result was a book that was as much a feast for the eyes as for the palate."

THE COOKBOOK IS AVAILABLE AT THE DANNY J OFFICE ON THE HOMER SPIT, THE EXPERIENCE GALLERY IN HALIBUT COVE AND THE HOMER BOOKSTORE.

Email Marian Beck at mbeckseals@aol.com