Cookin' in the 'Cuse

The Beauty of Small

I've been nursing a blog post for a couple of weeks now about small food.  Portions, that is.  With the holidays upon us I've searched for ways to keep the words, "indulgent" and "favorite foods" in my vocabulary while not adding other words like, "guilt" and "pounds". 

With all of that snow fall we had in Syracuse this month I've had plentiful opportunities to hunker down and bake.  I've been churning out loaves of banana coconut bread, experimenting with baguettes and bread sticks, and turning the last of the apple harvest into rustic tarts...but small.

I was going to wax on about the beauty and deliciousness of small bites and miniatures and post a bunch of recipes.

But then a long-awaited gift came to us--a beautiful, small, baby boy we've named Timothy Aaron.  He eats like a champ and while he does, I whisper sweet somethings in his ear like " Flour City pumpkin pappardelle pasta with pesto" and "mise en place".  I'm hoping he can begin to get excited about these things when the time comes for solid food.  Oh the fun we are going to have!

I'll be rethinking much of what's on my figurative plate but I hope you'll keep checking in here from time to time.  I'll write as I can--who knows what Timothy will inspire?  In the meantime, peace and joy to you this holiday season and grace and good tidings for the new year.

'Tis the Season for Cookbook Coveting

Ninety-six.  That's the number of cookbooks my Mom counted in my kitchen bookcase.  "There's more upstairs, aren't there?" she asked.  I just nodded my head and looked away.  What can I say?  A few cookbooks a year over 20-something years can add up.  And yet, I still hunger for more.

Actually, it is fairly easy for me to peruse the cook book display at the book store and keep on walking.  I mean, how many renditions of braised lamb shank with pureed celery root does one need?  But every now and again, I'll leaf through a book and decide--I've got to have it.  James Paterson's latest, "Meat:  A Kitchen Education" is one such book.  I have to flip through it EVERYTIME I see it.  And maybe its ten years of not eating red meat catching up with me, but my goodness, I want to cook every recipe in there.

So that's become my standard in deciding whether to add a cook book to my wish list--does it make me want to rush into the kitchen and get busy?  If not, I could probably make do with checking it out of the library or doing without. In fact, I should probably catalog my collection and consider lending out the tomes that I never seem to crack open on a regular basis...I'll give that some serious thought.

Yesterday's New York Times Book Review had it's annual cook book list--just in time for the holidays, don't you know.  Many are delicously inspirational.  Others are so pretty and cumbersome, they'd never see any real action on my kitchen counter.  But I love knowing what's out there.  

So what's on your cookbook wish list--and why?