Cold Spaghetti at Midnight: Feel-Good Foods to Heal Your Body, Soothe Your Soul, Ward Off Disease--And Even Ease the Pain of a Broken Heart

Beautifully written by former McCall's food editor and advertising executive Waldron, this aptly titled book offers an assortment of foods that may comfort, revive or alleviate what ails us. The book interweaves the author's travels and personal experiences with her interest in natural foods and herbs, providing recipes with a natural-foods bent, some borrowed from outstanding restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. Especially memorable are vegetable soup purees from Joyce Goldstein's Square One restaurant and honeycomb bean-curd soup from Barbara Tropp's China Moon. Waldron also features many of her own contributions: buttermilk vichyssoise with borage and beets, mushroom barley soup without beef, and daikon radish miso soup. She makes a very clear disclaimer about her stand on food and health: her ``suggestions are in no way meant to supplant medical advice but rather to aid your body in strengthening itself.'' Nevertheless, readers will be both impressed and amused by her advice. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Sept.)