Two weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to be gifted with an Amazon gift card by my place of employ. I guess all the extra hours I’ve been working paid off in one regard — I was finally able to buy a whole slew of books I’d had on my wishlist, but never could justify spending my own money on.
By the way, I’m sure you already know this, but how amazing is Amazon? I placed my order on a Thursday, with the free “super-saver” shipping. My books were delivered on Monday. If that’s not service, I don’t know what is.
Here’s what I got with my gift card (and $15 left!!):
Let’s take a closer look, shall we?
“Oh, Victoria,” I can hear you opining, “Why in god’s name would you spend money (yours or someone else’s) on this book?”
I’ll tell you why. Quick, heartfelt, and unbelievably hilarious, this little book was exactly what I needed to read after work this week. It made me laugh. A lot. This was $8.50 well spent, my friends. ShitMyDadSays used to be a must on my Twitter feed (“used to” in that I deactivated my account a while ago, but that’s a whole ‘nother story). Though the book is filled with short essays and stories from the author’s childhood with his dad, some tidbits to take away:
On my first day of kindergarten: “You thought it was hard? If kindergarten is busting your ass, I got some bad news for you about the rest of life.”
On waterslides: “You go on ahead. I’d rather not be shot out of a tube into a pool filled with a bunch of nine-year-olds’ urine.”
On packing my own lunch: “You have to pack a sandwich. It can’t just be cookies and bullshit…No, I said if you packed it yourself, you could pack it how you want it, not pack it like a moron.”
There are some undoubtedly good parts to Kitchen Confidential and even a few winners in The Nasty Bits. On the whole, some of Bourdain’s best writing has arguably been on the Internet (this post on Michael Ruhlman’s blog comes to mind), but I was still interested to see what he had to say after all this time, with No Reservations such a huge success and his life so decidedly different from the Les Halles days. We’ll see how Medium Raw plays out. I’ll report back.
P.S. — the cover photo chosen for this book is terrible.
Speaking of the food world and speaking of Ruhlman, I have been wanting to own Ratio for a while now. I was even more excited to find, after flipping through it, that it is a bit like McGee in its discussion of food science and why certain ratios work the way they do.
The premise of the book is this: instead of being chained to recipes, you’re an infinitely better cook if you understand the basic ratios for things like sauces, doughs and batters. Why look up a biscuit recipe — or, worse, resort to the Bisquick — if you know that the basic biscuit recipe is three parts flour to two parts liquid to one part fat? There’s genius in this book to be sure, and I can’t wait to dive into it.
Okay, so I know I just rambled on about being chained to recipes. But when it comes to Food Network “chefs,” Ina Garten is pretty much the only person I can stomach, and I’d been wanting to check out her latest cookbook for ages. It is pretty rare that I buy a cookbook, but this one seemed like a great place for ideas. I wasn’t wrong.
The photography is lush and gorgeous; the recipes deeply satisfying but oh-so accessible. There’s also a great variety of seasonally appropriate recipes, like this one for roasted tomato caprese salad, and potato leek soup (yum!), and a wild mushroom risotto, which I want to make as soon as fall officially hits.
And finally, perhaps my favorite of the bunch (if I had to choose a favorite):
Do you know how long I have wanted this book? A really, really long time. Well, at least since Domino the magazine went out of print. Sadly, I never knew Domino in its monthly, glossy format. Since becoming more interested in design and reading a ton more blogs, I’ve realized so many of the fantastic images of interiors came from Domino. The Book of Decorating, it turns out, is a wonderful place to draw inspiration from, and it’s loaded with practical advice about designing and decorating your home.
It’s eye-candy for days. I’m so happy to finally own it!
What about you? Even though none of these are your typical poolside summer reads, have you recently read or purchased any books you’re excited about?
Filed under: Beautiful Things
