One of my most horrific images of childhood is of a black and white studio portrait of an actor that I discovered in an old magazine. It just scared me to look him in the eye. Upon discovering whom this actor was my fear grew to fascination. As part of some almost reverential ritual of our society, your chances of seeing one of his over 137 films increase dramatically as we approach October 31, Halloween – also known as All Hallows Eve, Day of the Dead, or when I proposed to my wife (seriously). And there's a good chance you know of this actor of whom I speak.

He is Mr. Vincent Price. No single, distinct movie comes to mind, "The Raven" maybe, or as Matthew Hopkins in "Witchfinder General," possibly. Maybe his wonderfully morbid scary reading in the song "Thriller" will be forever enduring.

Vincent Price was an epicurean, a very serious epicurean. I count five cookbooks he's authored. In 1965, Price, together with his first wife, Mary Price, authored two cookbooks - "Come In our Kitchen" and "A Treasury of Great Recipes."

Not very exciting unless one actually sees and reads the books. First editions were beautiful works of art, leather bound with a gold spine. The color photographs reflected the best available printing for 1965. Let's remember - back then we had only three channels, no calculators, and cameras were still the size of a shoebox.

"A Treasury of Great Recipes" is his best work. As a cookbook its complexity is astounding. The Prices' comments on certain recipes entice imagination for improvisation and are insightful. My guess is they were eating as they were preparing and jotting notes down on a pad of paper. Vincent and Mary were visionaries. Before we were blessed with food processors, they concocted over 25 recipes for just the electric blender alone.

The Prices had a custom mobile home that they used on movie sets. For the day, it was state of the culinary art. They would invite chefs from the area to cook and break bread with them. They worked and basically enjoyed revelry with chefs, celebrities and friends.

On the Internet, among the underground American epicureans and most of Europe, "A Treasury of Great Recipes" is considered a classic. It's a collection of recipes from restaurants all over the world. I've seen signed copies on eBay fetching as much as $5000 (for excellent condition and signed), and as little as $20. It goes to show you, "one man's trash is another's treasure."

In 1975, I was14 years old and just beginning a three-year run as a line cook's (my big brother's) helper in my family's restaurant. A long time before this October 31, my dad had the idea to prepare a full menu on Halloween from the Price cookbook.

Dad rode the scary angle and gave us strict instructions, "Call it whatever, just make sure everything that comes from this kitchen today comes from this book," he told us. We had a "working copy" of this book behind the line.

We always sold out, and we continued to refer to Price's book for the next 20 years behind the line especially on October 31st.

Space restraints limit what I can share with you, however, I've selected three classic recipes that I've made from this revered book. They are definitely worth the bother to gather all of the exact ingredients and are perfect for this time of year.

Potage Tour D'argent

1. Soak: 1 pound of Kidney beans and 1/2 pound of lentils overnight in water to cover. Drain and put into a large soup kettle.

2. Add 1 stalk celery, chopped, 1 carrot chopped, 2 onions chopped, 4 sprigs of parsley chopped, 2 cloves garlic, chopped, 1 bay leaf, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon butter and 8 cups of good chicken stock. Bring to a boil, cover and cook over low heat for 11/2 hours or until beans are very tender. Blend cups at a time, in an electric blender on high speed for 20 seconds and strain into and clean saucepan. Reheat, correct seasoning with salt and pepper.

3. Heat: 3 tablespoons butter

4. Add: 4 cups finely shredded sorrel or sour grass, and 1/2 cup minced parsley or chervil. Cook, stirring until sorrel is wilted and loses color.

5. Add sorrel mixture to the hot bean puree. Stir in 2 tablespoons butter, and serve very hot with a sprinkling or freshly ground pepper.

Tour d'Argent in Paris was the Harvard of culinary institutions in the 1970s. Getting any recipe from there was considered inside information. As simple as the method is, this is an excellent stodgy soup that can make a full meal - and particularly exceptional if you have good chicken stock. Use whichever color kidney beans you prefer. In our restaurant, we called it "Bat Wing Stew". We made huge amounts of this, got lazy about puree (just kept the beans whole) and used both parsley and chervil, but it remained on my father's menu for years. Use the small red beans if you want, and for a meatier taste use a large white navy bean. Try a bowl topped with minced hot peppers alongside a good hunk of crusty French bread.

Haricots Verts a la Lyonnaise

1. Boil 1 pound fresh string beans in salted water for 12 minutes, Drain and dry well on paper towels.

2. In a skillet heat: 2-tablespoons butter. Add 2 medium onions, cut in thin slices. Sauté until onions are light brown. Add the cooked beans, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, sauté until beans are lightly browned.

Presentation: Sprinkle with1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley and add one tablespoon of vinegar. Mix well and serve in a vegetable bowl.

Granted, this is not a complex recipe, but this is the best definition of a true 'Lyonnaise' - which is more a method of cooking rather than a sauce. Make sure to brown the onions well; that way it resembles a worm sauté as we called it! In lieu of string beans, use French haricots verts and lightly steam them so they're not totally cooked when you throw them in with the butter and onions. Substitute red potatoes and leeks also along with larger green beans.

Old fashioned Bread Pudding

1. Measure into top of a double saucepan: 1 cup of dark brown sugar.

2. Butter: 3 slices bread, using 2-tablespoon butter for the 3 slices. Dice the bread and sprinkle over the brown sugar in saucepan.

3. Add: 1 cup raisins

4. Beat: 3 eggs, 2 cups milk, 1/8-teaspoon salt and 1-teaspoon vanilla. Pour over bread. Do not stir. Place over simmering water and cook for I hour. The brown sugar will form a sauce.

5. Server warm or cold. Turn out onto serving plate.

This is Price's own recipe so it was the only one we'd attribute to him by name. Use a good white bread or any one from Harvest Bread Company that meets your fancy. A good raw sugar works as well if not better than the dark brown. I use a tablespoon of pure vanilla and a cup and a half of raisins. At our restaurant, we'd add red food coloring in the bread (that we baked) and served it up with a fresh raspberry coulis; we called it "Vincent Price's Blood Pudding Pie". It was the hit of the evening.

I had a strange childhood.