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Alice Waters’ Book for Children
I refer to Alice Waters The Art of Simple Cooking with an obsessive devotion. Her recipes are so simple, elegant, and delicious that I quickly became addicted and wanted to cook only as she said to do it.
So when I saw her book for children at the Boston Athenaeum, I scooped it up to take home with me.
It’s written from the perspective of Alice Waters’ daughter Fanny who grew up at Chez Panisse. Sort of Eloise-style, without the spoiled brat and the pug. (I love Eloise, but I think we can agreed she’s a bit of a brat.) I read it like an-easy-to-read memoir, thinking “what would it be like to be the daughter of a restaurant owner like Alice?”
This is what it would be like:
The illustrations are by Ann Arnold and they are so lovely you want them to fill your kitchen. The text is cheerful and all about food. Below, an illustration of composting:
She includes 46 recipes at the back, mostly really classic things like pizza dough, candied orange peel, and plain white rice. I was in the mood for a new bread recipe so I tried it. It’s a good one! A nice mix of whole wheat and white flour, hearty with salt and just a touch of milk. I recommend checking it out.
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when eating alone
Aleksandra also makes grilled cheese sandwiches with Gruyere and a sprinkling of white wine (before broiling), sliced comice pears sauteed in butter and sugar, coconut sticky rice, pasta with ‘just a little butter, Parmesan and black peper,’ and before bed a mug of hot milk sprinkled with freshly grated nutmeg….
In the winter, I have made hearty salads of smoked mackerel and red-skinned potatoes and accompanied them with braised leeks. I like to saute sausages and eat them with a mound of broccoli rabe, a lemon wedge and olive oil; and assemble platters of prosciutto, mortadella and duck liver pate with a tuft of parsley and caper salad. I might roast carrots and beets, and dip them into ricotta seasoned with olive oil and sea salt.
-Amanda Hesser, Cooking for Mr. Latte (currently reading)
This book is in the guise of a dizzy girl memoir, but it’s actually a beautiful pitch for savoring all the food you eat, and relishing the treats you allow yourself.
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Radish Snack
MAV posted a lovely little how-to for eating radishes with butter and salt. I associate this snack with summer, when their crunchy cool heat is more refreshing, but radishes are in stores these days too and their red is so cheerful.
ps: Don’t forget to cut off the greens as soon as you get them home. The greens are water hogs (dehydrators), and grocery stores just leave them on to prove how fresh the vegetables are.
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Crumbs on the Counter
On the roadtrip, amongst dozens of delicious meals, I got positively sick of eating out. I longed for a full loaf of bread on the counter, a large wedge of orange cheese in the fridge, a gallon of orange juice, a toaster, a cupboard of simple soup possibilities, a bag of corn tortillas waiting to be tossed on the stovetop, a can of refried beans. The warm pictures of handcrafted meals that 3191 miles apart often fills their pages with are not, as I have been sometimes suspicious, glorified Martha Stewart-esque “perfect home” moments, but just a captured second of the delight we can create in our meager kitchens. Meager yet mighty kitchens. The magical satisfaction you can create with an avocado, a jar of mayonnaise, a pepper grinder, and a few slices of bread cannot be overstated. Or how about a slice of pumpkin bread–perhaps the world’s easiest bread recipe–slathered with peanut butter? Unstoppable.
I was recently puzzling over the treats that Winter promises us–Fall brings cider, apples, doughnuts, cute jackets that aren’t really warm, garlicky cranberry relishes–and wondering what they were. Early evenings? Extensive Netflix queue revamping? A higher percentage of red wine receipts? More balling and fuzzing of the sweaters? Maybe it’s that brisk and icy encouragement to stay inside for the evening and rummage through the tea bag selections, put in a good 45 minutes of vegetables chopping all for the sake of a murky stew, puzzle over a tricky pizza dough recipe, or find ways to live off a homemade loaf of bread for a few days.
Both photos from the lovely aforementioned 3191 Miles Apart.
