Hi all:
So hopefully those of you who have chosen to join in enjoyed November's reading. Marco Pierre White lives with such an incredible intensity -- one that I can find inspiring (in a very romanticized way) but ultimately find very disturbing. I do, however, love his drive for perfection...more than perfection. His is really a drive to create the dining experience. Pierre White understands that a dining experience should function like a well choreographed dance, replete with the appropriate setting. It should allow the guest a suspension of disbelief and a reprieve from the ordinary.
I want to suggest a drink for each book we read. For this one, I feel compelled to suggest espresso. We all have our preferred method of caffeine induction and generally the process through which that induction occurs borders on ritualistic. I will, therefore, not suggest the form that this espresso ingestion takes place, beyond saying that a single shot of dark roasted, Italian style espresso (rich, slightly acidic, balanced with some richer chocolate notes) finished with a lemon twist and downed in two or three sips, seems appropriate.
For our December reading, I want to suggest The Gastronomical Me, by MFK Fischer -- a beautiful collection of essays on learning to cook, to eat, to live and to love well. Given that Mary Frances liked to drink, and drink well (some said, like a man), expect a cocktail recipe or two for this month.
Happy Reading and Drinking,
Mikha
OK, I don't know anything about MFK Fisher, but read the blurb on amazon and ordered the book. Now, I know you Elliot women are well read and I am usually a romance reader, but you have to read, "Agnes and the hitman, by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer. Probably my favorite book, I read 3 or 4 x's a year, I laugh out loud every time. Yes it is a romance book, but its all about food too. Eating and cooking for family and friends. One of my favorite quotes: "Heartache often drives u to consume things we wouldn't otherwise, such as an entire pint of Caramel Pecan Perfection high-fat ice cream, covered in ganache, the crack cocaine of frozen dairy. Twelve hundred calories per pint, ix hundred and eighty of which are fat calories, but it only dulls the pain for the moment, there's the carb fog while you're standing at the sink shoving it in your face, and then it's over and you feel .... used. Like a cheap pickup the Dove people seduced and abandoned in your kitchen, leaving you with sticky hands and an empty cup and a still broken heart, except now you're mad at Dove, too." Love this book...
ReplyDeleteJust bought a copy of Gastronomical Me and am looking forward to your cocktail recommendations. 'Tis the season....
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