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\"A daughter's tale of living in the thrall of her magnetic, complicated mother, and the chilling consequences of her complicity\"-- Provided by publisher.

This \"living museum\" was founded by Malabar Hornblower's husband, and \"The Plimoth Plantation New England Cookery Book\" (Harvard Common Press; $10.95), which she wrote with the staff of Plimoth Plantation, promises to go far beyond brown bread and codfish balls. It begins with a scholarly introduction about the cookery of the Pilgrims (with a lot of fascinating material about the First Thanksgiving, of course) and continues with 16 dishes the Pilgrims probably cooked. The recipes -- from 16th and 17th century English books -- do not much resemble modern New England food. They tend to be savory and spicy, if heavy: a minced pie of chicken, a minced pie of lamb, stuffed fish, prune tart.

There are easily as many versions of bouillabaisse as there are fish to go in them. The recipe that follows borrows heavily from the traditional yet differs dramatically from it in the method of cooking. All Provencal bouillabaisse recipes add a large amount of liquid - water, fish stock, or wine - to the fish, oil, and herbs and boil the stew on top of the stove. The recipe given here adds no liquid, although a cup of wine can be included for flavor. But it does borrow the traditional ingredients of fish, tomatoes, garlic, oilive oil, fennel, orange rind, and saffron. Instead of being boiled, the stew is baked in the oven, so that the juices of the fish and shellfish are released slowly and the final broth is intensely flavored. (This method also permits the cook to prepare the dish well in advance. only 45 minutes must be devoted to baking the fish before serving - which can be done while the bread is being warmed and the salad made.)

Also worth noting: \"The Edible Mushroom\" by Margaret Leibenstein (Fawcett Columbine, $14.95), a slim volume of wild mushroom cookery; \"The Enlightened Gourmet\" by Greer Underwood (Globe Pequot, $10.95), healthy versions of fancy dishes; \"The Wellesley Cookie Exchange Cookbook\" by Yankee magazine food editor Susan Mahnke Peery (Dodd, Mead, $15.95), a collection of 200 cookie recipes, along with instructions on running a cookie exchange; \"Another Season Cookbook\" by the restaurant's owner, Odette Bery (Globe Pequot, $19.95); \"Managing Your Mind and Mood Through Food\" by the MIT researcherJudith J. Wurtman, (Rawson Associates, $14.95), on emotional patterns in our eating; \"The Nine Seasons Cookbook\" by New Hampshire food writer Pat Haley (Yankee Books), New England dishes chronicled by season; \"Fabulous Fruit Desserts\" by Boston cooking teacher Terence Janericco (Yankee Books, $16.95).

''We survived the Hana Highway,'' many Maui bumper stickers proudly porclaim. But what they fail to relate is that the agonies are worth it all. For the tantalizing town of Hana is a magical spot, a bastion of old Hawaii replete with extraordinarily lush foliage, pure-blooded Polynesian fishermen, leathery-faced paniolo, cowhands and lei-bedecked citizens comfortably dressed in flowing aloha shirts and mumus. Perched on the ocean's edge, clinging to the slopes of the brooding, dormant Mount Haleakala, a 10,000-foot volcano that dominates all of Mauie. Hana is a cluster of small, corrugated-roof houses encircled by acres of verdant working ranchland. Made remote by dint of its rutted road, it is an island within an island. The Hana-Maui was built in 1946 by Paul Fagan, a San Francisco entrepreneur, who did much to reverse the town's sugar-related economic doldrums. In 1984, the Rosewood Corporation - of the Bel-Air Hotel and the Mansion on Turtle Creed fame - acquired Mr. Fagan's hotel and his abutting 4,500-acre cattle ranch. Almost immediately the corporation undertook a multimillion-dollar program to renovate and expand the resort, at the same time preserving as much of the original as was feasible. Hana-Maui perpetuates the essence of old Hawaii, presenting the hotel as the embodiment of Aloha, love, and Ho okipa, hospitality. One thing to be said in praise of the Hana-Maui's rates, which range from $455 to $855 daily, double occupancy, American plan: they are all-inclusive, with the exceptions of gift shop purchases, alchoholic beverages and horseback activities, tipping and taxes. This means that, once the guest has anesthetized himself to the amounts involved, his room, or suite, and all the meals, services and activities are included as well as the transportation to and from Hana Airport, tennis, golf, bicycles, snorkeling and beach equipment, jeep tours, picnics and cookouts, luaus, room-service Continental breakfasts, lectures and special evening entertainment. There are no hidden charges or unpleasant surprises in store. Although the luxury is dear, there is no stinting on it. While the lobby may be open to the world, the guestcottages scattered around the grounds afford visitors a sense of privacy and calm. The interiors are decorated in muted tones - off-whites, sands, beiges - to dramatize the colors of the flowering plants set in the rooms. Bleached hardwood floors covered with rattan, oversized bamboo furniture, tasteful contemporary island art, kin- or twin-size beds made the more beguiling with reporductions of old Hawaiian quilts, and private lanais or patios, all bespeak comfort and elegance.

Among the collectibles most frequently found at different dealers' stalls during last September's market: claw-footed bathtubs; Victorian clocks; battered chess boards with fading paint (to be made into tables or wall hangings); turn-of-the-century ads (especially popular if they're promoting food or kitchen appliances); stuffed animals; distressed (or scarred) tavern tables; big roll-top desks; top-heavy grandfather clocks; mock and real Tiffany lamps; brass and porcelain door knobs; Victorian sofas and chairs; meticulously made ship models; thickly pressed Depression glass; pine sea chests; Hitchcock chairs (some with original stenciling); floral-decorated chamber pots; silver flatware and coffee services of all periods; yarn winders; butter churns; Windsor chairs; battered gramophones; 30's watches; music boxes; one-arm bandits; quilts; faded horses from dismantled carrousels; antique dolls with delicately painted china faces; gilt mirrors, and a wide assortment of European and American prints and paintings - and reproductions. Brimfield's 21 fields are privately owned and operated by residents who do their own advertising and who contribute funds to pay for the extra police, ambulance, fire and emergency-dispatcher help needed when the markets are open. It originated some 30 years ago, when Gordon Reid, a town resident, began conducting a one-day auction in the field behind his home. By 1967, the auction had evolved into a one-day show, held twice a year. Soon owners of abutting fields were joining in, renting space to dealers, and the flea market operation started to grow. Today, Mr. Reid's daughters, Jill Lukesh and Judith Mathieu, run the largest of the markets - Antique Acres, Auction Acres - with more than 700 dealers. So successful are their fields that they charge a $2 admission fee, as does May's Antique Market, the second largest with 500 dealers. (Entrance to the other markets is free.) The market runs for a complete week, Saturday to Saturday, but not all the fields are open the entire week, nor are all the displaying dealers present every day. By staggering the opening days, the opening hours and the presence of the dealers, nearly every day offers something new. A visitor might want to stay the entire week if his physical stamina and pocketbook permit, or he might select one or two days when his preferred fields are open. (Some fields have better reputations, and the rush, when their gates open, rivals any stampede for tickets to the Super Bowl.) ''Heart-o-the Mart, for example, the third largest field, with 400 dealers, is open from Sunday to Saturday; Antique Acres, Auction Acres, the Reid daughters' operation, is open from Thursday to Saturday, and May's Antique Mart is open Wednesday through Saturday.

LEAD: To the Editor: The article ''Taking Chowder Personally'' (Travel, Nov. 12) by Malabar Hornblower solved a mystery for me. I've wondered for a long time why I've got similar feelings about chowder and ale. To the Editor: The article ''Taking Chowder Personally'' (Travel, Nov. 12) by Malabar Hornblower solved a mystery for me. I've wondered for a long time why I've got similar feelings about chowder and ale.

It is a chip whose flavor and texture can transport the most indifferent chip muncher to heights of gustatory bliss and depths of addiction. The label on the bag proclaims the contents to be ''The Original Maui Kitch'n Cook'd Potato Chips.'' That name should not be overlooked, because it is a chip so special that it is paid the ultimate compliment by its competitors: It is imitated in name and packaging. Beware ''Maui Style Potato Chips'' and ''Hawaiian Potato Chips.'' They mean well, but they are not the real thing.

LEAD: To the Editor: In a way, I'm sorry that the word is out about Maui Kitch'n Cook'd Potato Chips (Travel, July 12). I became addicted to them when I visited my son who lives on Maui. I would be most unhappy if success would change one crunchy aspect of those delicacies.

LEAD: A wag, perusing a map of the Pacific, once ruefully remarked that the Hawaiian islands were the ''furthest near islands'' he could find. Queried why, then, he was journeying 2,100 miles from his home base in San Francisco to visit, he replied that he had been enticed there by Mark Twain who described Hawaii as ''the loveliest fleet of islands that lies anchored in any ocean. A wag, perusing a map of the Pacific, once ruefully remarked that the Hawaiian islands were the ''furthest near islands'' he could find. Queried why, then, he was journeying 2,100 miles from his home base in San Francisco to visit, he replied that he had been enticed there by Mark Twain who described Hawaii as ''the loveliest fleet of islands that lies anchored in any ocean.'' A visit to Lahaina is also a journey to Maui's western coast. The city itself is not large: three to four streets run parallel to the sea for approximately one mile. Packed indiscriminately in turn-of-the-century buildings or facsimiles thereof are restaurants and bars of all descriptions, satisfying all ethnic tastes, as well as shops selling everything from suntan lotion to coral jewelry, gaudy muumuus, aloha shirts, inscribed T-shirts (''Here today, gone to Maui''), macadamia nuts, snorkeling gear and, at the other end of the spectrum, such items as authentic scrimshaw, a relic from whaling days.