5.20.2011

Let Them Eat Bread...Wif' Chocolate

New Post on Back Porch


P.S. to all, the lost photo from Uncle--the gator carrying off the hog --that photo was sent to Uncle from a buddy--an' ya' can see it at the bottom of this post.

(P.P.S. to Boxer: The cobbler recipe is in the combox of previous post)




I spent the mornin' wif' Dorie Greenspan.


Her newest cookbook is Around My French Table. Oh Mah Heavens.

I sat out on the porch wif' the sun shinnin' beautifully through the oak branches...

Sippin' mah (strong) cawfee, pagin' through this huge treasure, dreamin' of bein' one of the select folks who akshully do sit at Dorie's French table.


Ya' know yaa' has a REAL cookbook when ya' git instructed to "slather butter..." (p.41) on somethin'. Slather. Ain't that a descriptive word?


Afore the sun gits to high, said I, I better git thangs watered --so I doused the volunteer squash that is runnin' riot through the Camellia beds--so much so that I had to prop that thang up wif chicken wire! Thar's method in mah madness--squash blossoms! I'se goin' to stuff them blossoms an' tempura fry them--oh, oh, oh! be still mah heart! (last time I had these wonders wuz in a fresco-walled restaurant in Rome)



Next I admired the bell peppers, tended to a few salad garden chores then rushed back to Dorie's book...

whar' this gorgeous endive salad snagged mah attention--eatin' this must taste like a spring mornin'.



I especially appreciate how many delectable temptations in this book falls in the vegetarian column--soups an' appetizers, casseroles --an how these non meat dishes is accorded the same wonder and care that the hefty meat dishes usually claim in cookery books.

Thas' not to say that Dorie's book slights the pleasures of flesh...






Finally, too, I 'preciates that humble staples is elevated to star status: "let them eat bread--wif' chocolate."




What cookbook has y'all read most recently?

Not a cookbook reader?
Well...I'se also readin' The Gift Of Rain--what book is on yore bedside table tonight?



I wonder iffin' this is a hoax?could this be real?

12 comments:

chickory said...

you are engaging in an act of Permaculture. Fukuoka would be pleased to know that squash rambles in a place of its own choosing. A happy accident. I bet these will be squash that taste good. Last year remember my horror of the bugs eating all the red cabbage...in my well tended and weeded bed? now a cabbage i pulled up and threw into the hedgerow is thriving and free of blemish and bug in the midst of millions of weedly plants.

slathering is good. you know what we call bread over here? a butter delivery system. grherhahaha

i should read a cookbook. ive never read one. ive read recipes in cookbooks, but not the actual writing about food. what a dolt! look what ive been missing.

nothings on my bedside. all my reading is on the internet. kind of sad, actually.

enjoy that porch and book aunty


ps post on chickory is for you

LaDivaCucina said...

Holy cow, Aunty, never underestimate the power of a gator (or croc for that matter!) Sheesh, how big IS he?!

Your green pepper is huge and I'm jealous of your squash blossoms. Stuffed mine for the first time with crab and kaffir lime and Thai seasonings....man, I'm jealous!

I have been following another foodie blogging buddy by the name of Patty who is part of a blogging group that makes a recipe each Friday from this very cookbook called Fridays with Dorie. They are not allowed to write out the recipe, very clever marketing on Dori's part! Needless to say, it's been very enticing! If you care to check my friend out, she takes purdy pictures!

http://pattysfood.blogspot.com/

I read cookbooks and catalogues like books. Aunty, I have a number of books by my bed that are half read and have just started the Julie & Julia, which I've been putting off because I found Amy what's her name's character so whiny in the movie. Julie is actually an ok writer and has kept me interested thus far (although she is quite neurotic)

I can just imagine you sitting on your porch and turning the pages of a new cookbook, how wonderful. Enjoy!

PS: I am surprised to hear you cook Lebanese food! Was it your trip to Turkey? How do you know about Leb food in Orlando? They have a community? Interesting.

Unknown said...

Thanks for your visit to my blog and for leaving a comment. I'm having fun cooking my way through Around My French Table with the online cooking group, I haven't come upon a bad recipe yet. It is one impressive cookbook as you've written about and shown here. I also have a veggie garden like you and la Diva so I will occasionally share a few pictures, right now it's all about the beans and I think it's time for an update;-)Look forward to checking back with you too, hope you're having a nice weekend;-)

darkfoam said...

it's been a while since i've read a cookbook. it's been a while since i've read any kind of book, actually. but my summer is about to start and that's when i usually read.

this cookbook looks very enticing. and your squash plant is amazing. i love plants that volunteer in unexpected places. they make the hardiest plants.

Aunty Belle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Aunty Belle said...

Hey Chick9,
Fukuoka? oh mah--somethin' to look up.

That squash were a lovely flatish creamy pale terracotta colored pumpkin what had been part of the fall display round heah--then some fellas who wuz helpin' git us spiffy fer Christmas tossed that poor pumpkin under a camellia bush--an now see what we have?

On reading cookbooks-true confession--I has books I read but never made the first recipe. S'okay, cause the readin' wuz it fer me.

Thank fer the blue flower post--I ain't no fan of purple anythang, so a true blue flower is always a thang of beauty to me.

La Diva,

wow--yore garden plot is inspirin'!
I cain't think of anythang more crucial to decent cookery than a few fresh--super fresh, jes' picked fresh--ingredients. I dresses up anythang ya' make.

As fer the Lebanese connection--mah GrandMama wuz half French, and half Lebanese--ya know what that means fer cookin', right? Oh yeah, Baby! In Central Florida thar's a good-size Lebanese community--a Maronite church is their hub an' lemme tell ya', folks is jammin' that place on the date of the yearly food-faire.

Enjoy Julia/ Julie.

Hey Patty

Thanky fer hoppin' by--I'se charmed that La Diva "introduced" us. What fun youse havin' wif' Dorie G. I'se goin' to France in September--think Dorie would feed me iffin' I jes' showed up on her dooorstep seekin' her autograph in the book? (oh wait, that book is so heavy, I doan think I can haul it around France)

I look forward to photos of yore veggie garden. Cook on, mah friend!

Foamy!!
Git out yore hammock an that stash of book, Summer is upon us!!

You would love this cookbook--Dorie Greespan ain't no fussy cook, an' her own memories is tucked in the pages. How she wuz workin' on a Ph.D then decided to go cook instead--love stories like that--the courage to redirect yore career path.

On volunteer plants, we has a champion zinnia that defies all unnerstanin'--Uncle ordered seeds last year fer some 3 foot high zinnas. He carefully tended to them in a large container that borders a fenceline to the back--but them thangs wuz a disappointment--spindly, unhealthy. Still a few grew enough to have seeds which the wind blew around this fall. Now? Heh.

We has a Jack-in -the- Beanstalk zinnia that is pepto bismal pink that sprung up in the WORST location to grow anythang--sandy, dry patch of dirt that borders a concrete drive at the foot of a stone retaining wall--hot? blistering at 2 pm--but this thang done climbed up the wall, has five or six lateral shoots, the leaves is perfect green, no bugs or leaf miners, no powdery mildew--jes' hot pink 6 inch diameter blooms--amazin'.

Makes ya wonder what yore yard would look like if ya' had no plan--jes' stood around and had a mix of seeds in yore palm an' let the wind blow em' around.

Let us know what books ya do git around to--what ya truly enjoyed--I is always on the hunt for a good book. Uncle is readin' a John McAfee on Alaska right now, I read McAfee on Scotland. Next I'se tacklin' a Norwegian mystery writer whose name I fergit --not the Girl wif' dragon or fire stuff--some other scandnavian writer.

I can see ya now--an easel wif yore paints on a patio, the hammock an books under the trees--git set up fer a fabulous summer.

darkfoam said...

i might just check out the dorie cookbook. it certainly sounds and looks enticing.

Pam said...

Butter delivery system! Absolutely agree. Hmmm, cookbooks. I don't necessarily read them. Someone might actually expect me to cook. Actually, I take that back. No one I know, even wants me to try it. But I have thumbed through Pioneer Woman's cookbook, but enough to know if it counts. The chef around here has an English cookbook that he refers to all the time. But, at Christmas-time, when I'm in baking mode ... there is one of those local organization cookbooks with family recipes that I always turn to, and it is also the depository of any recipe I need to save. Print it off, and stick it in the pages somewhere. It is my recipe box.

LaDivaCucina said...

INteresting that you have some Lebanese blood Aunty! I grew up eating loads of Lebanese food, fatoush, kibee nayeh, labneh, etc. LOVE it, one of my faves. Can you make kibbe?

I forgot, in my salad I added sumac too! (you probably have that spice too?)

Have a great, green week!

R.Powers said...

I find myself not buying cookbooks much anymore. Instead, I use cooks.com or allrecipes.com to find recipes.


PS:
Somebody took that meat off the grill too soon.

moi said...

I have a huge collection of cookbooks but only really bake out of them. For cooking, I'm like Florida Cracker; I Google. I also check my mother's notecards. Or I email La Diva :o)

But I do enjoy reading cookbooks, and the more pictures the better.

Another slatherer here. But only European butter. The 'merican stuff is awful.

Karl said...

Good evening Aunty Belle,

I can see the balloon over the alligators head now "mmm, Pork the other white meat"

Mrs. K has quite a collection of cookbooks. The funny thing is she seems to read through them, pick recipe she likes, tests the recipe and then puts it on a card if she likes it. I would likely starve without 3 X 5 cards. She has just started using the Internet for recipes.

I can't remember the last time I put butter on a piece of bread. I prefer olive oil and pepper.