Is this gross?

Not to me.

Lately all I do is read about food. (No wonder I am hungry all the time!) For this month book club, our group decided on a quick read about food, cooking or wine. I had suggested local Seattlite, Molly Wizenberg’s A Homemade Life, but Julia Child’s My Life in France won the battle (I was voted out by a one person vote apparently). I bought both books because well, all I do is read about food and started reading Child’s book. Not that it wasn’t good or that I don’t like Julia Child— but when a fellow book clubber declared yesterday that she preferred to read the latter and was going to do just that, I quickly switched to my copy of Wizenberg’s book and haven’t put it down since.

Anyway! This picture is my first recipe from Wizenberg’s book: stewed prunes with citrus and cinnamon— not gross at all! (Though I do admit I did a poor job of photographing this bowl of loveliness, but what can I say? It’s either blog now, or don’t blog at all!)

Oh, and yes, I now officially have a crush on Molly Wizenberg.

New obsession

My latest obsession these days is Alice Waters cookbook, The Art of Simple Food. If the name sounds familiar, it should! She’s the chef behind Chez Panisse Resturant in Berkeley and famous for eating and preparing seasonally, locally and sustainably grown foods.

What I love about this book is the easy-to-follow recipes and basic lessons that Waters gives the reader. (It also helps that the page layouts and typography are well done. I am always disappointed by cookbooks and their lack of design sensitivity to the reader/cook. In fact, there are no glossy color photos included to distract you, just wonderful illustrations. Really, everything about this book makes me want to cook…) But back to the content! Once you try one of the lessons, you will feel confident to change up the recipes and make them your own, or at least try one of the variations Waters has provided. If those aren’t enough to get you started, there are an additional 250 recipes sure to become favorites.

So my plan for the rest of the year is to cook from this one cookbook. Last Sunday’s dinner was braised chicken legs prepared in my new Martha dutch oven (Sorry Le Creuset*, I want you but I can’t have you!). My mom used to make a recipe just like this while I was growing up, although I think her recipe called for V8 and an electric kitchen skillet, circa 1984. Either way, it was just as good as I remembered.

I’ve included a few photos of the inside pages below, in case you are interested in getting a copy of your own. There is a surprising lack of imagery available online, so just remember you saw it here first!

*I’ve heard from very reliable sources that if you can’t have Le Creuset either (or don’t like Martha), to try Tramontina.

I need this book:

I went to the Puyallup Fair today and besides the delicious scones (the best fair snack for only $1.50, with butter and jam), the best surprise of the day was the Charley Harper exhibit on display at the pavilion. The show featured a number of original paintings and serigraphs that I have never seen before in person. And although I feel like I should have known this, or I must have forgotten this information like I do with most things, Harper also did illustrations for Betty Crocker’s Dinner for Two Cookbook printed in 1958. Please don’t judge this book by the cover shown above! I’m not sure if the following image is a title page in the first edition (most likely) or perhaps an alternate book cover or jacket, but this is why I NEED this book:

Oscar...

Fuku, J.R.R. Tolkien, “Ghetto nerd”, New Jersey, Man without a face, mongoose, Yunior, love, virginity, RPG, torture, D.R., Lola, Trujillo, cane fields, sci-fi, diaspora

(& spec. thx to MH with E not I for my birthday present)