The Art of the Cookbook

“Always start out with a larger pot 

than what you think you need.” 

― Julia Child

Even as a child, I remember thumbing through the pages of my parents' cookbooks, discovering new dishes and finding foreign ingredients.  Back then, cookbooks seldom looked the way they do now.  No glossy full-page photographs or food stylists or assumption that the reader was a foodie--just the words of the chef, perhaps a drawing or two and the trusted recipe.  

Pretty Monday: Cookbooks

The Food of Spain...is delicioso!

Ahem...yes, darlings, I realize we are but a few mere hours away from Tuesday, but my Monday was not especially pretty.  Be it late, here are some pretties for your Monday (or Tuesday or Wednesday)...

One of Miss Dahl's Delights

On a lazy afternoon, one of my favorite pastimes is slowly meandering through a lavishly illustrated cookbook.  Sure, the old Larousse Gastronomique or Mastering the Art of French Cooking are invaluable to cooks for their methods and steps and advice...in other words: words.  But, the cookbooks I like best are those with glorious photos.  As an inherently visual being and an always-hungry one, books brimming with beautiful photographs transport me.  We eat with our eyes first, right? 

Paris by the Page

“There is never any ending to Paris, and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other. Paris was always worth it, and you received return for whatever you brought to it…”
Ernest Hemingway, in A Moveable Feast

Ode to the Library

The medicine chest of the soul.
— Inscription at the Library of Thebes

As a little girl, I remember making regular trips to our small library to select a new batch of books.  These memories are especially strong in the summer when I recall afternoons spent sitting in circles on the floor, sharing books with other children and listening to animated librarians tell tales of magic and mischief, princesses and pirates.  

Under the Big Top

For the past few days, I've been delighting in the pages of Water for Elephants.  This novel, carefully researched by author Sara Gruen, follows the "roustabouts" and "kinkers" of Benzini Brothers' Most Spectacular Show on Earth in the midst of the American Great Depression.  Like hearing a fairy tale for the first time, it colored my imagination and pulled at my heart.  Its characters, both animal and human, live on in my mind long after I finish reading.

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. 

Words to Live by

It seems I swing pendulously from reading quite voraciously to reading nothing but blogs and magazines.  I am either in a complete literary dry spell or conversely I am thinking about ways to carve out extra seconds from my day to read my latest novel.  

At the moment, I am entangled in the later phase---all I want to do is sit in my favorite comfy chair and read...and read...and read. 

The Tart Tongue of Tony B.

I not so secretly wish I had a little more Tony Bourdain in me. In a world of fake folks, Tony is among a rare few television personalities who says what he thinks (with or without the assistance of the local beverage of choice).

Something Beautiful

In the midst of her literal and metaphorical voyage of self-discovery, Elizabeth Gilbert in her memoir Eat, Pray, Love, proclaims:

"I think I deserve something beautiful."

It is such a simple statement that encapsulates vastly universal human longings: for love, for excitement, for pleasure, for material things, for immaterial things. Though I wouldn't go so far as to argue that Gilbert has become a modern day prophet, I certain can identify with her pursuit of pleasure (which she discovers in Italy), devotion (India), and balance (Indonesia).

In the book, her narration about India particularly seized my imagination. Her illustrative descriptions instilled in me a very strong desire to explore this faraway land.

Most of what I know about India comes from film. While I'm guessing that "real" India may be closer to what I saw in Slumdog Millionaire than Monsoon Wedding or The Namesake, there is still something so alluring, so otherworldly about Indian culture. Perhaps because I know so little, I want to travel this place so much more.

So, alas, a few beautiful things from India to hold me over until I get to discover this gigantic, diverse and distant country for myself one day:
PS. Julia Roberts is bringing Eat, Pray, Love to the big screen in August, along with James Franco, Billy Crudup, and Javier Bardem.

Paris on my mind

Books that can transport me to Paris in a metro minute:These are all "sit in a comfy chair and flip through the pages in any order" kind of books--with lots of glossy photos and whimsical illustrations. Enjoy perhaps with a warm croissant and a café au lait on a rainy morning.











Also, loving these soft, diffused photographs by Yvette Inufio:
Visit her etsy page:http://www.etsy.com/shop/yvetteinufio