Let It Be FRIDAY!!

We’ve made it to Friday which means that hopefully there’s some sort of kicking off of our shoes in the very near future.  I’ve taken a quick trip back to Johannesburg this week where everyone is complaining about the cold.  Really?  You ain’t got nothin’ on Standerton, Jozi… nothin’.  Truth is, this week has been all sorts of enough and I’m feeling a little frayed at the edges.  There’s been so much madness happening in the world, I can feel some of the chaos trembling in my guts.  Does that happen to you, to?

MY FAVOURITE COOKBOOKS

I collect two things, nail polish and cookbooks.  Ironically, I don’t always have my nails done and I certainly don’t cook every recipe from this massive collection.  I have more cookbooks that any reasonable home cook should have.  They’re wonderful inspiration.  I love experiencing food through different perspectives. These are the most lovely of the summer books that I’ve collected so far.  Judging by this list, I have a lot of recipes to get in the kitchen and bake!  I’m starting with doughnuts and french toast. 

  I love the California stylings of The Lemonade Cookbook.  It’s perfect for summertime.  Filled with lovely salads like this Watermelon and Snap Pea number, and a mega amount of lemonade inspiration.  Well, wouldn’t you expect that from The Lemonade Cookbook?  I made this Blueberry Mint Lemonade and swooned for days.

•  I like to think that I have a fool-proof and super-supreme doughnut dough base, but I’d really love to experiment with different doughnut recipes.  I mean… someone’s got to try all of the doughnuts, might as well be me.  Bread, Cake, Doughnut, Pudding is a gorgeous book and the doughnut recipe is on deck in my kitchen.

•  I love the way Diana Henry writes about food.  Elegant and inviting.  This piece make me want to sit down at a table and share a plate of radishes.  Radishes!  A Change of Appetite is her latest and most vegetable-centered book.  It’s thoughtful and rooted in the seasons.  

•  I’m learning how to grill.  Coals, starters, temperatures, smoke, and char!  I’m learning.  There is so much nuance.  The Grilling Book is my grill bible this summer.  So far I’ve grilled a ton of chicken, I’m working on my steak, and hoping to nail a pizza sometime soon.  

•  This book of food and travel feeds my wanderlust like no other.  A Mouthful of Stars.  I now want to go to Seoul with Kim Sunee and eat everything ever.

•  Let’s Do Brunch!  No seriously, let’s!  This book is loaded with all sorts of breakfast-y / lunch-y inspirations.  It’s a sweet and simple book with a recipe for Almond-Crusted French Toast that I suddenly can’t live without.

•  I think I need to ask Libbie Summers to be my best friend.  The cover for her book Sweet and Vicious is a sign.  Any woman with a frosting-laden knife and cute dress is a soul sister.  The book is beautifully photographed and full of deliciously irreverent recipes.  Coconut Fluff Cake please