Well, that's not true. Not counting the books I mentioned in an earlier post, I've also been reading lots of magazines (I read at least four glossy mags a month) and websites (do they count?). I've also been reading lots of cook books. I started out reading and buying recipe books some months ago, but I realised the thin books don't really get you anywhere. More often than not I use online recipes - of course I have my favourite sites, and I never use cook.com or anything similar; those suck.
The other day I came across a recipe book related to literary works, but alas, it's too thick and with too few pictures. It's too dull to my liking, as I've been spoilt by all these cook books with every single dish displayed in colour. The recipes are not easily achievable either, and I don't like buying heaps of things that can only be used for one dish. I've been reading really thick recipe books like Bowl Food, Cool Food, and they're all cool, it's just that they're too thick and not user-friendly at all - you know, I normally put the recipe on the fridge when cooking so I can always refer to it. I don't know who those super thick books are for!
I've also (of course) been reading Jamie Oliver. His books are quite expensive here (each asking for 300hkd at least), and they're again too thick to be used in the kitchen. But they're good reads. Yesterday I read this one and it's very interesting:
When I was flipping through it I had a strong feeling that my dad would love it. It's not just a cook book, it has lots of Jamie talking about what he grows in his garden / rears, and why he does that. Well, of course not everyone can afford to have his own garden but surely it's something interesting to read about. There are also lots of his personal tips on how to grow different kinds of vegs, and though I think my dad has his own tips too, he would be interested to read other people's.
One thing I don't like about this book is that Jamie's included game in the middle of the book, and there are two pictures that are just gross to me! One shows some game birds being hung together with feathers on (and when giving tips on how to choose game birds Jamie says you have to look at their eyes...YUCK), the other showing a dead rabbit with its eyes wide open. @_@ I didn't expect that and it's quite disturbing to be honest.
Other than that the book's great. I like the style, the photos, the illustration, the kind of paper used (not glossy but very thick and rough-looking paper that gives a very natural feel)...everything! And I'll try some of the recipes there when I have time!
Cook books are huge here! And cook shows as well....
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