I thought it was going to be a long time before something replaced the
roasted tomato soup I've been making as my soup obsession. I was wrong. But I
can't claim the credit for my new fixation.
We're cookbook readers in my house. Myself most of all, but Wife will pour
through different tomes of recipes over breakfast, and the kids like to go
through and imagine what it will be like when they are old enough to make
molten chocolate cakes and bacon wrapped meats without anyone hovering over
them providing moderation. My favorite is "The Joy of Cooking." It's
dependable, instructive, and thorough. Though (at least according to the Meryl
Streep film "
Julie and Julia,") the recipes in the original
"Joy" were hardly tested compared to the cookbooks of real chefs, I
have found it invaluable as a starting point for nearly everything, and as
somebody who really likes tinkering with the recipes I make, a starting point
is all I need. Boy and Girl are both drawn to the
holiday cookbook Mother-in-Law
got us for Christmas, with vibrant pictures that really sell the food. But it
is Wife who started the latest obsession--Cooking Light. She bought one of
their magazines simply because we were trying to eat healthier, but I have come
to appreciate the publication on its own merits. So many "healthy"
recipes cut out any sense of flavor, but Cooking Light recipes have never disappointed
me. I enjoy their recipes enough that when I saw a giant anthology collection
at the public library, I knew I had to check it out.
