Here’s what I read last month. If you’re looking for a good read, look no further… These are all books that deserve 5 stars. Enjoy… ~The Blind Contessa’s New Machine~ In the early 1800s, a young Italian contessa, Carolina Fantoni, realizes she is going blind shortly before she marries the town’s most sought-after bachelor. Her…
“Japanese art, infused with the spirit of wabi sabi, seeks beauty in the truths of the natural world, looking toward nature for it’s inspiration. It refrains from all forms of intellectual entanglement, self regard, and affectation in order to discover the unadorned truth of nature. Since nature can be defined as asymmetry and random imperfections,…
As I mentioned in my previous post, Boeuf Bourguignon, Jeff and I are starting our own little cooking course at home using the 2 volume set of Mastering the Art of French Cooking as our focal point. I can’t wait to share our adventures and some of the recipes here on the blog. We’re also…
“Cooking is not a particularly difficult art, and the more you cook and learn about cooking, the more sense it makes. But like any art it requires practice and experience. The most important ingredient you can bring to it is love of cooking for it’s own sake.” ~Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck Hello…
“Maggie’s Harvest brings together over 350 of Maggie Beer’s signature recipes, detailed descriptions of her favourite ingredients and inspiring accounts of memorable meals with family and friends.The recipes highlight Maggie’s philosophy of using the freshest and best seasonal produce available in the Barossa Valley South Australia, and treating it simply, allowing the natural flavours to…
“Their love affair happened long ago by whatever measurement Claire Randall took. Two decades before, she had traveled back in time and into the arms of a gallant eighteenth century Scot named Jamie Fraser. then she returned to her own century to bear his child, believing him dead in the tragic battle of Culloden. Yet…
“Wonder is that extravagant state of bliss induced by something new–The strange, astonishing, mysterious, and the unexpected. Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow…Nothing in particular and everything that surrounds us. Open your eyes, perk up your ears–suddenly you’ll find wondrous things in the most surprising places.” ~Sarah Ban Breathnach Romancing the Ordinary A few nights ago I was…
“Every ancient tradition holds that from this still core of the self, this infinitely fertile emptiness, springs all that is authentic about you: your identity, your ability to recognize truth, the real operating instructions for your life.” ~Martha Beck The Joy Diet One of my favorite writers on the subjects of life, getting what you…
“She gazed at the sea, trying to decide how, if she were Papa, she would endeavour to paint it. For, although it was blue, it was a blue made up of a thousand different hues. Over sand, shallow and translucent, it was jade green, streaked with aquamarine. Over rocks and seaweed, it darkened to indigo.…
“Venice is Italy’s kingdom of salt & pearls, prosecco & mermaids, bigola & polenta. Tessa Kiros travels through this city, breathing in it’s atmosphere & letting it’s bejeweled past & dark alleyways fuel her imagination. Mingled among the recipes & stunningly beautiful photography are Tessa’s diary jottings on the life & food of Venezia.” ~…