I bought Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Her recipes are so easy to follow and, the best part is that she has a lot of "master" recipes that you can incorporate into other recipes. Everyone in the family now eats every pea that I put on their plate. DH would NEVER eat peas, so I made them a la Julia and he loves them!

I also got a couple of good cookbooks from the library, The Cook's Book and Mastering the Art of Baking. Again, a lot of "master" recipes and showing you how to do different things. I have put both books on my christmas "wants" list!

Oh, and lastly, I inherited my mum's Cordon Bleu Cookery Course books. They were published back in the 60s and show you step by step how to make amazing meals and even have the forward planning thing - the Christmas dinner one has a do this on this day thing. I've often seen these in vinnies and salvos shops or second hand book stores.

BTW, Women's Weekly recipe books are pretty failsafe.