Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Cookbooks—

yes, I have too many. These shelves show only some of them. It's one of my resolutions to cook something from each one this year, so perhaps my posts will develop a theme. Right now, I have Nigella's How to Eat next to my bed, and I'm enjoying her toothsome prose. She can pack a lot of visual and sensual sensations into a sentence.

Laurie Colwin, whose books you can't see here, is another great writer who knows her way around a kitchen, whether it's her own or in a rented summer house. I can imagine her fishing around in a foreign kitchen drawer, coming up with implements to figure out what to do with. She really evokes an entire long-gone decade, one that was somewhat happy but also somewhat troublesome, for me.

I love my pickling and putting-aside books; my mother taught me to make pickles twenty years ago and I still like to haul out the canning equipment an rustle up some jam, preserves, and pickles. It seems more of an undertaking here in suburbia than it was when we lived in the country, though. I wonder why?

We're having turkey noodle soup tonight, but tomorrow, I'm not sure!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I collect cookbooks too.
Look fiorward to read more about your cooking here.

Anonymous said...

I just wandered into your world~ and I instantly felt at home. My cookbook shelf looks alot like yours. Over the holidays I was looking for a certain recipe...was lost for hours!
If I'm not cooking I am knitting~ creating either way.

angela said...

I was thinking the same way about preserves when I made my famous marmelade. My grandmother had shelves and shelves of preserved and bottled fruit and vegetables all from her vegetable garden.
We have a cherry tree that produces fruit by the bucketful but no one ate the cherry jam I made.
I love Nigella's books and her prose always makes me smile.
I read somewhere that on average we only use 4 recipes from every book!
Good luck.
Angela

paris parfait said...

Like you, I have a lot of cookbooks - but I don't cook nearly often enough (luckily, my husband does). I have all Nigella's cookbooks and really like them (especially her vodka penne pasta supper from Feast).I wish I had my late grandmother's pickling and putting aside books - seems they've all been lost and no one remembers how!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the birthday wishes! I lived in the South for four years...I felt stifled there.

Turkey soup is one of my favorites! I, too, loved Little Miss Sunshine. Laughed a lot! My youngest daughter taught the finance (of her sister) how to knit over x-mas. Seeing the two of them knitting was a sight!!!

herhimnbryn said...

Hmmmmmm....that bookcase reminds me of mine!
My Ma gave me her Mrs Beeton cookbook when I came to Oz. I still use it for favourite recipes.

Linda said...

I love cookbooks. Sometimes I will just sit and read through one for entertainment. I brought a big box of them with me when we moved. The one I use the most is one now out of print about cooking French recipes but written by Americans, which is always helpful.

BabelBabe said...

i love reading Colwin (her novels are also fantastic) but she makes everything sound SO EASY - and so her recipes don't always turn out...quite as expected. Although I would walk over hot coals for her yam cakes with fermented black beans.