Oh! And this is especially for my cooking goddess Shell:
Having spent a good deal of time in the kitchen on Sunday performing the heavenly alchemy of melding spices and herbs with vinegars and oils, I would like to recommend a seductive and sumptuous book by Isabelle Allende - Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses
It's a tongue-in-cheek look at the role food plays with our romantic sides, with loads of fun information about anything that was considered an aphrodisiac in ancient and modern times. It has recipes, artwork, snippets from food related poetry from around the world, folkloric stories involving food and scents, and much commentary in Allende's incomparable style.
My copy is dog-eared and marked from re-reading, but like a favored wine or coffee it never fails to bring pleasure.
Having spent a good deal of time in the kitchen on Sunday performing the heavenly alchemy of melding spices and herbs with vinegars and oils, I would like to recommend a seductive and sumptuous book by Isabelle Allende - Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses
It's a tongue-in-cheek look at the role food plays with our romantic sides, with loads of fun information about anything that was considered an aphrodisiac in ancient and modern times. It has recipes, artwork, snippets from food related poetry from around the world, folkloric stories involving food and scents, and much commentary in Allende's incomparable style.
My copy is dog-eared and marked from re-reading, but like a favored wine or coffee it never fails to bring pleasure.