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Friday, June 26, 2009

Making a Comeback, Part 1

Now I have no excuse not to write. The pain and swelling are gone, and I've been shoving normal food through the slowly widening gap between my teeth. Not quite back to normal but from all the horror stories I've been hearing it could be a lot worse.

In the abscence of being able to cook and eat elaborate meals and with time on my hands spent recovering I've been reading. A lot. There is great food writing out there and a lot I realize that I have to learn. I've been learning from my fellow food bloggers and there is no shortage of online recipe databases, but will anything replace the joy of a good old fashioned cookbook? I have admittedly shied away from cookbooks and recipies, but in my quest this summer to eat well I'm trying to expand my relatively narrow horizons. I have made a list of cookbooks that I want to add to my small collection including some classic and many contemporary.

While browsing Barnes and Nobles looking for something to cheer myself up from 2 weeks of misery I found it. The Farm to Table Cookbook. Simple, elegant, beautiful pictures, profiles on small family farmers, organized by season...

The reason I bought it? The author lives in Portland, OR. I have a slight obsession with Portland. Betty and I visited my brother out there and it was maybe the best trip of my life. If you like food go to Portland and you'll thank me later. The ingredients in this book, however, are ingredients that can be found locally and seasonally just about everywhere as confirmed by what I've been seeing here in Philly.

So maybe I won't actually be making Seared Scallops with Creamed Ramps and Black Truffles anytime soon, and this book certainly isn't vegetarian, but it's given me the inspiration that I needed. It has tons of tips too for navigating the markets.

Verdict: I highly recommend it.

1 comment:

  1. I love Jeffrey Steingarten's two books. There's some recipes, but it's mostly looking at weird things like what water is best for cooking, or fishing off the coast of Alaska, or debunking lactose intolerance.

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