A Few of My Favorite Things



Beautiful book. Stunning photos. Each section is a complete meal, served family style. Italian mostly. She is clear how to mix and match side dishes. Lovely personal stories about the dishes and meals. She ran several restaurants for several years, but forgot the joy of cooking at home for family and friends. This book represents her homecoming and getting back to the reason for cooking in the first place. Food for the people you love.
I love these pots and pans! My God, for $50, it was worth the risk since I looked at no reviews, just purchased randomly as I floated through the IKEA aisles. They are heavy bottomed and cook evenly. I just need to remember to use a pot holder to grab them! I also learned that when describing a cookware set, a "piece" can mean a LID. Note to self. 




I love my epicurean cutting board. They are made of a fiber composite. Super sturdy, don't stain, and don't seem to show knife marks. I'm slowly weeding out all plastic from my kitchen. I still have some for food storage, but even that is migrating to glass. These cutting boards aren't cheap, but I found mine at TJ Maxx. TJM or Marshall's always have discounted designer kitchen stuff; always worth a browse! 







Got to my local library for the first time in MONTHS. Went straight to the cookbook section. Came across this peach. I had forgotten how much I adore DK books. Their books are straightforward, gorgeous photography on white backgrounds, meant to educate the reader. This book covers different areas of the Mediterranean from the point of view of one cook,  Sarah Woodward. Hardback. I hope to cook through this book next summer with fresh seasonal ingredients, much like Julie Powell cooked through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. OK, I'll admit it, I read Powell's book recently as well, Julie and Julia, and watched to movie (again). Gotta love Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci, right?





Here she is, isn't she sexy? This 9-cup food processor was a birthday gift from my brother. He's the bomb. And totally into cooking right now, too so this is all good times all in the family to mash up two 70s sit coms. I had survived thus far with a MINI food processor, having to make things in batches. And NOW, WOW what CAN'T this machine do? The first thing I made was the turkey noodle dish; I sliced carrots, celery and onions by shoving them down through the top disc. SO SATISFYING. I'm just getting started, watch out!





I've barely cracked this open. Noticed it on Amazon as I was ordering the Mediterranean book. This one is also a DK published book. Large, heavy, paperback, slick, yummy. It seems to be the Bible of cooking, at least in identifying ingredients. I will learn a ton from this book, I know. Thrilling!

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