What I'm Reading This Week

So I made the most delicious pasta dish of my life yesterday and I want to share it with you, but sadly I was at the doctor this morning - just for a physical! - and I still haven't eaten since you're suppose to fast before they take blood. All this adds up to I'm tired, I'm cranky, I have a massive headache brewing over my right eyebrow and so I'm not posting today - sorry.

However, I do want to share with you what I'm reading these days - cooking wise. From the top on down are:

• Julia's Kitchen Wisdom - a classic my father gave me for Christmas years and years ago. It's an awesome reference more for those basic techniques I might need a reminder on now and then. I was super bored with making scrambled and fried eggs all the time. I picked this book off the shelf and discovered baked eggs! A revelation I will share with you at a later date.
  
• The Gold Cookbook by Louis De Gouy - Last I heard, this has been out of print for a long time. I found it at Bonnie Slotnick's Cookbooks an amazing second hand cookbook shop in the West Village and gave it to my father for Christmas. He died this past winter and so I've been turning to it again and again for it's incredibly fun tone, informative viewpoint on fine cooking in the 50s. It's also an incredibly useful tool for anyone curious about the history of food, the cultures behind a dish and how to tell the difference between a muffin and a crump.
  
• Ratio by Michael Ruhlman - I just picked this up a couple weeks ago. Centering around the ratios of ingredients that go into nearly everything we cook, Ruhlman provides the ratio of say wet to dry ingredients in a traditional quick bread so you can invent your own creations. Basically, the dudes giving us all a fishing pole so we can go out there and catch our own fish. Bravo!
  
• Vefa's Kitchen by Vefa Alexiadou- I just couldn't help myself, I'd been eyeing this pricey book for at least a few months since it came out. I am really and truly obsessed with Mediterranean cuisine and, while Lebanese food tops my list, Greek food is nipping at Lebanon's heels. This is like the Joy of Cooking for Greek people and I want to become an honorary culinary citizen.
  
• A Platter of Figs by David Tanis - The birth of my blog occured on my actual birthday and in celebration of my birthday and my commitment to delicious local food, one of my best friends gave me this. It's an amazing book organized by season and menu. Oftentimes, I'll return from the market with a bunch of stuff and immediately pick up this book to see what David Tanis would do.
  
• Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan - Who hasn't heard of baker extraordinaire, Dorie Greenspan? She's amazing and inspiring and the pages of her book are lovingly splattered with flour, butter and sugar. I've made notes, recorded my own recipes inside it's now tattered pages and my daughter looks at the pictures and says, Nummy!