Cooking with Miss Dahl

Confession: at night, when the rest of you flip through magazines or novels on your night stand, I read cookbooks.  There is something so hypnotic about letting my eyes wander through lists of ingredients before I doze off for the night.  

As I turn a cookbook's pages, I get intoxicated by the perfectly delicious color photographs.  I imagine dinner parties I might host or recipes I might try. And, as I shut my eyes for the evening, I dream of fluffy meringues or caramely apple tarts or cozy chicken pot pies...and, of course, I wake up ravenous.

 

This all leads me to my recent great cookbook discovery. Months ago, I started seeing Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights appear everywhere in blogland.  I must admit, what immediately attracted me to the book was the pink and turquoise color palette on the cover.   Just recently, after drooling over the book on Amazon, I treated myself to my very own copy. 

When my little Amazon box arrived on my doorstep, I ripped into it like a five-year-old on Christmas.  The petite hardcover book is more the size of a novel than a bulky cookbook, just perfect for my nighttime culinary adventures.  As I started to mull over the pages, I delighted in what I found.  Styled like an Anthropologie catalog, each and every page was a literal and proverbial feast for the eyes.

The book was organized by season and then by meal.  When I noticed that Miss Sophie started with autumn, I knew I had discovered a kindred spirit. Each seasonal section begins with a few pages of narration (keep in mind her grandfather was beloved author Roald Dahl so storytelling is in her blood) that sweetly yet elegantly introduce anecdotes from the author's life as model turned author.

While I have yet to test Miss Dahl's "Paris Mash" lentils or her "Cinnamon Peaches," I am certain that if she cooks with as much warmth as she write, the dishes will be divine.