Friday, April 05, 2013

spring break!

My book reading has sort of stalled while I try to get my house back in order after winter. I usually have a few weeks at the beginning of spring when it is next to IMPOSSIBLE to settle down with a book, but I try to stay in the habit by browsing through craft books and cookbooks.

Currently occupying patches of space near my bed:

Nigella Lawson's Nigella Express: 130 Recipes for Good Food, Fast — I'm sure Lawson's chattiness irritates some readers, but I cracked up over her introduction to the Butterfly Cupcakes recipe. Haven't made anything yet but I'm enjoying paging through it. I'll probably end up buying a used copy; I already have two of her cookbooks, so I might as well make it a collection, right?

At the Farmers Market with Kids: Recipes and Projects for Little Hands by Leslie Jonath and Ethel Brennan:  pretty design, cute pictures, and I like the way the authors list the parts of the recipes that are well-suited for younger kitchen assistants. Nice kid-friendly recipes; I'm trying asparagus spears with yogurt dip tonight for the kids.

Young House Love: 243 Ways to Paint, Craft, Update & Show Your Home Some Love by the Petersiks of the titular blog. Honestly, this book is kind of like a Pinterest board in book format, or like going through their blog's past posts, probably -- I've only visited their blog a couple of times, so I don't know for sure, but it does have that bloggy feel. Anyway, I think it's fun. Most of the projects are easy and inexpensive, and they're marked according to cost and difficulty level. There is nothing terribly NEW in there, really, but sometimes it's nice to have a bunch of stuff you'd like to do grouped together in one well-designed book.

And one by Alice Waters -- In the Green Kitchen: Techniques to Learn by Heart. I picked this one up because ALICE WATERS and I assumed it was just veggie recipes based on the "green" in the title. The Green Kitchen was actually this thing where a group of well-known chefs and cooks each demonstrated different useful techniques, like chopping up a chicken or washing lettuce. This cookbook showcases each technique; a picture of the chef or cook who demonstrated the process at the Green Kitchen event accompanies each how-to section, along with recipes that showcase each technique. In the Green Kitchen would be more useful for novice cooks, but it does have its charms for intermediate cooks (says this intermediate cook). Because the intent of the book is to teach useful kitchen skills, there aren't a ton of recipes, but I do like the ones that have been selected. Haven't tried any yet, though.