Food book survey

I took the photo above when I was making a leek and walnut sauce for a chicken recipe from The Healthy Slow Cooker by Judith Finlayson.



I was skeptical when I saw this green mush in the food processor, but the results were excellent; Jeff even went back for seconds. Speaking of food books...



Just finished reading The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears in Paris at the World's Most Famous Cooking School on my iPhone and LOVED it.

The true story follows Kathleen Flinn, who returned from vacation only to find that her corporate job had been eliminated. Instead of looking for another "normal" job, she cleared out her savings and moved to Paris to pursue her dream of getting a diploma from the famous cooking school: Le Cordon Bleu. Flinn has an engaging writing style, and the book was a fascinating glimpse into the workings of the school as well as a level of cooking that I will never achieve. Also fun to see how she coped with the language barrier.

The book also includes a bunch of recipes which sound mouthwatering but not terribly low-fat. :-)

Anyone who loved Ruth Reichl's food books is likely to also enjoy this book.


And OOOOH! I just noticed that a new Reichl book just came out last week!! Now the quandary: buy Not Becoming My Mother: and Other Things She Taught Me Along the Way now, or wait for paperback? Hmm...

To you foodies out there: What are YOUR favourite food books?

Lissa's cake

Check out the cake that my friend's mom made for her birthday! The design is based partly on a Livejournal icon I made for Lissa ages ago:



I'm hugely tickled that something I drew got put on a cake. Lissa has the coolest mom.

If you tried to get into Blatherings earlier today and couldn't, by the way, it's because I stupidly let my Blatherings.com expire (!). Yes, I know. Everything should be back now, I think.

Cajun Squirrel Chips?

This anonymous (no return address or note) package came for me in the mail today. I haven't yet worked up the nerve to actually try them. Heh.

So 'fess up...who sent this package? I notice it came from the UK.