ADD A DASH OF BUSINESS KNOW-HOW TO A CUP OF LOVE AND STIR COOKBOOK PASSION MAKES FOR ONE UNIQUE STORE.

Byline: Eugene Tong Staff Writer

CANYON COUNTRY - At a strip mall that's home to a liquor store and a Taco Bell sits a trove of lost cooking know-how, a boon to local foodies searching for a recipe of that comforting treat Mom used to make.

Behind the mundane storefront of Cookbooks Plus are more than 5,000 cookbooks - some dating back to the 1920s - as well as vintage Life magazines and the latest releases from such celebrity chefs as Emeril Lagasse and Rachel Ray.

``Cooking was completely different in those days,'' said Mimi Hiller, co-owner of Cookbooks Plus, a shop specializing in used cookbooks that opened last month. ``You wouldn't make mashed potatoes with butter and cream and put gravy on it, but it sounds good, doesn't it?''

The vintage books' recipes include such directions as making ice, from a time when electric refrigerators were entering homes.

``If you're looking for something your mother made 50 years ago, you might find it here,'' Hiller said.

Hiller and her husband and business partner, J.B., founded the business as a real-world expression of their love for food, which up until recently was mostly virtual. When they're away from the stove, the couple preside over a community of like-minded foodies on the Internet through their Web sites, Mimi's Cyber Kitchen and Recipe Circus.

The Hillers logged on to the Internet in 1994 as a way to keep in touch with their son while he attended law school in Baltimore. Then they discovered an online bulletin board dedicated to cooking and recipe-trading - an outlet for Mimi's long love affair with food.

``When I finished college, Julia Child had just come onto the scene in the late '60s,'' she said. ``She made people feel - including me - that you can do wonderful things in the kitchen without going to culinary school.''

A year later, the couple began compiling recipes on a Web site that would eventually become the Cyber Kitchen. Both of their sites receive millions of visitors each year, J.B. said.

Mimi also became an active book trader, scouring garage and library sales for old cookbooks and reselling them at the online auction site eBay.

``We became eBay power sellers,'' J.B. said.

It wasn't long before they decided to build an actual bookstore around cooking, seizing on America's spiking interest in food. Mimi said foodie culture has taken hold in recent years, with cable television's Food Network finding an audience and chefs such as Lagasse and Rocco DiSpirito of the NBC reality show ``The Restaurant'' becoming household celebrities.

``Recently, the idea of cooking as a hobby in and of itself has really taken off,'' J.B. said. ``Before, you cook to eat. But now it's also aboutentertaining and sharing the food with friends.''

``Plus, the fact is our garage got full,'' Mimi quipped.

Their first customer, Gloria Levy of Canyon Country, visits the shop once a week, trolling through old magazines and volumes.

``I'm just buying the books,'' she said. ``Maybe one day I'll start cooking again.''

But what good is a cookbook without a kitchen? Mimi said they are installing a kitchen there in the coming months, where the couple are planning cooking demonstrations and classes.

``I've had many people tell me they've never cooked,'' Mimi said. ``But I assure them that cooking is something everyone can do.''

Eugene Tong, [phone]

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com

IF YOU GO

Cookbooks Plus is located on 18919 Soledad Canyon Road in Canyon Country. Call [phone] or visit www.cookbooksplus.com for more information.

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Photo:

Mimi and J.B. Hiller own Cookbooks Plus in Canyon Country, a store that stocks vintage and new recipe books.

David Crane/Staff Photographer

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IF YOU GO (see text)