It’s a lazy Sunday here at Cookbook Archaeology, so I’m sharing a fast, tasty brunch and introducing a new book. The new book is The Embassy Cookbook, from 1966 – a collection of menus provided by about fifty countries’ Washington, D.C. embassies. I’ve been on a produce binge, so I seized on New Zealand’s simple, lovely broiled tomato recipe and paired it with some scrambled eggs and toast.
My collection of vintage cookbooks is actually an offshoot of a more general book habit. I’ve been converted recently to the joys of e-book readers, but I still really love the smell and feel of old trade paperbacks. Which is why I found myself browsing through my parents’ books, and picking up a 1970s copy of The Big Sleep. Food, I found, follows me even into my non-cookbook vintage adventures: in Chapter 2, as Philip Marlowe gets drawn into the affairs of the Sternwoods, the aged patriarch of that family tells the P.I., “I used to like my brandy with champagne. The champagne as cold as Valley Forge and about a third of a glass of brandy beneath it.” I was reading my book on the train this weekend (a perfect place for hardboiled crime stories) and was unable to stop thinking about it until I tried it today. It was delicious; I’m still unable to stop thinking on it.
This is one of those “off-concept” times. I kind of walked into Whole Foods and went bananas over spring greens. Not as bananas as I went over bananas the other day…but pretty crazy. I kept trying to think of things to satisfy everyone in at dinner: vegetarian stepsister, the littler picky-eater ones, meat-loving dad, and those trying to diet (myself included). Somehow I grabbed a whole bunch of beets and decided to go from there. The result: beet salad with goat cheese and kale crisps, and turkey burgers stuffed with goat cheese and topped with sauteed beet greens. The beet salad was definitely the prettiest part.
So, it turns out the bar exam is kind of hard. My posts will probably be pretty sporadic these next couple of months: apologies in advance. I’m happy, however, to have fit a banana-berry bread in yesterday.
I’m about to head down to New York for the weekend. I’m pretty excited to see friends and relatives, and to get together with the Best Book Club Ever for afternoon tea and discussion of Patti Smith’s Just Kids. Because I’m traveling by bus, I can’t bring this berry kuchen.
Last week, the day after graduation, I was staring at a wall when I happened to recall a friend’s incredulity that I had not visited Kitchen Arts & Letters (i.e., cookbook heaven) in my years in New York; so, I decided to stop by before I left the city. I think it’s probably good I held off going there until I had a job; I picked up four books on my first visit. Thankfully their used books are quite modestly priced, and they have a sale bin where I found “The Complete Greek Cookbook.”
This find was well-timed: after many days of rainy nasty New England-ness, it’s finally starting to get warm up here. Which means my desire for hot foods (other than those off the grill) are dwindling fast. I only brought a handful of books with my to Boston; the ones I packed are mostly “hot climate” foods – Greek, Puerto Rican, Texan. In my new Greek book I came across a recipe for tzatziki; I’ve been eating it constantly since it started to warm up.
Sorry I took a wee break, all. We all know rent in New York is impossible. It’s so impossible, in fact, that I couldn’t afford to stay there between graduation and when I start firm work in November. So…I’ve moved home to the Boston suburbs, and am now sharing a house with my dad, stepmom, and three stepsisters aged 11 to 19. It’s full, but fun – very “Modern Family.” There have been some tangible benefits: I finally got around digging out my grandma’s recipe box. How’s that for history?
