Heather Bell
RADFORD – A weekly Facebook show is combining cooking demonstrations and highlighting the Radford Public Library’s catalog, with scrumptious results.
“Cooking with Dave” features Dave Banker, the library’s youth services specialist, whose love for cooking and efforts to reach library patrons in creative ways during the pandemic led to the creation of the show. Banker says he took the enjoyment of cooking at home to work and started filming the weekly Facebook show last September.
“I absolutely enjoy cooking at home; I always have,” he said. “And I’m always trying new things out. For Easter Sunday, I made purple potatoes with olive oil, fresh rosemary and Kalamata olives; gluten-free gnocchi with tomatoes, fresh basil, and fresh mozzarella; and for dessert a flourless chocolate cake with a pureed blackberry/sugar topping.”
Banker says he has filmed about 30 episodes of the show so far and has several favorite recipes among those he has featured. He primarily chooses recipes from cookbooks available at the Radford library so patrons can check out the books following the episodes. When asked what his favorites have been, Banker picked a top three so far:
“Gooey Chocolate Butterscotch Treats” from a cookbook called “No Oven Lovin’.” “It’s an extremely tasty no-bake dessert,” Banker said. “And, in fact, when my wife and I travel down to Wise County here soon to visit her parents, I’m going to make that for them as a belated birthday treat for my mother-in-law.”
“Banana and Meat Stew” from a cookbook in the children’s section called “Cooking the East African Way.” “I picked this one to make simply because I was curious how meat and bananas would go together in a stew, and taste,” he said. “And, surprisingly they go together really well. For most of my videos, I make the dish right here on the spot (at the library) because I try to pick recipes that don’t require a kitchen. A stew, however, pretty obviously does. So I had to make this at home and bring it in. To make the video a little more interesting I invited two co-workers to try it with me on camera. It was a big hit all around.”
And, third, one of the few recipes Banker has made that is not from one of the library’s cookbooks, is a family recipe for “Ambrosia.” “This was something my grandmother would make every year at Christmas,” he said. “I was able to give a shout-out to my family in that one, and we filmed it around the beginning of December. So, it was nice and festive. I had to call up my mom and ask her for the exact recipe but it’s basically just oranges, coconut, and cherries. With a lot of love.”
Banker says he is “happy to accept cooking ideas from folks,” saying he does “try to mostly pick recipes that come from books we have here at the library so that I can promote our collection in each video. But from time to time it’s fun to mix it up; and I like a good challenge.”
“Cooking with Dave” is live on Facebook each Tuesday at 10 a.m., but can also be viewed after the live event has ended on the Radford Public Library Facebook page. Also, Banker said, ‘if patrons are interested in trying their hand at any of the recipes we’ve filmed, they can find the recipes posted in the comments section of every video we’ve posted.”
