I love to read fiction. I have said why in several of my posts. Fiction teaches me and lets me escape at the same time. It makes me think in more creative ways. There are a lot of very good reasons for reading someone else's imaginations.
I love a few non-fiction books more. Especially a couple of my cookbooks.
There are a few cookbooks that sit next to my bed most of the time – they comfort me. I know there are plenty of people out there who consider cookbooks among their treasures. They are well thumbed through and fondled daily. I know there are blogs that have concentrated on cooking their way through certain cookbooks – Nigella and, of course, Julia Child. I have friends, including myself, who have replaced old cookbooks with a new copy when the one they have had been loved to death.
But, I'm talking about cookbooks that have fundamentally changed my life. Cookbooks that have rearranged my thinking about my whole world. And, why not? We all know that cooking is a very personal experience that we either share with others to show our love or secretly devour to ultimately pleasure ourselves.
Judith Jones wrote a cookbook called The Pleasures of Cooking for One in 2009. Jones has been in the Cookbook publishing world her long working career at Knopf. She was involved in publishing Julia Child and James Beard. She knows food and cookbooks. She wrote a beautiful book - The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food about her life in publishing. Fifteen years ago her husband died and, with the children all grown up, she had to start cooking just for herself. This book is alive because of her experiences with her own personal situation.
The Pleasures of Cooking for One is a well ordered book. There are chapters on soups, eggs, cheese, rice, veggies and some sweets just for one. Jones gives us recipes for cooking small and cooking larger and creatively using the leftovers. It has all been done before, you say? Sure, but for me, this book has been life changing. (That sounds so dramatic but even the smallest things can alter one's life if they happen at just the right time.)
Judith Jones has taught me that I am worth, not only cooking for myself, but doing it with dignity. I am worth taking the extra step to make myself something to eat that is not only delicious but highest quality and fit for a queen. She asked me to stop buying frozen or fast food meals because she could show me how to make a minced turkey on toast meal that is so sumptuous it could be served in a high class restaurant.
Jones has shown me that taking the time to prepare an elegant meal for myself every night is important to believing that I am worth more than that one beautiful meal. I can go for Life with dignity and style as well. I can set my table with gorgeous linens and I can get a university degree – I'm worth it. I can buy the best Murray River salt and I can sleep under a beautiful hand made quilt by myself – I'm worth it. I can have a cream sauce in the freezer waiting to enhance the leftover ham for tomorrow night's dinner and I can book a ticket for one to a music concert – I'm worth it. I am worth the good things in life and I have to be the one to give them to myself.
I still think the best moments in life are shared with the ones I love, but why should all the in-between hours and days be left to chance. Not for this girl thanks to Judith Jones. I am living those times like I am a Princess and I love myself enough to give myself my own time. You'll understand once you read The Pleasures of Cooking for One.
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