book 'em and cook 'em

more fodos on flickr!

ah, the cookbook meme, as brought forth by anthony. this is a self-activating meme, with no conditioners, so feel free to bring forth and multiply.

1. Rationale behind what we're seeing?
books in a bookshelf. where they belong, unlike the other 50% which are scattered over the floor, still tucked in boxes and crates, or back in the familial homestead. i've been in this place for two years, and this is as far as i've gotten. they're not in any particular order (unlike my other books).



2. Most recommended?
bill granger's "sydney food", especially if you live in the southern hemisphere or in a mostly tropical clime and are not particularly adept in the kitchen. it's a great starter book, the recipes are pared down to the essentials, most of the ingredients are available throughout asia and the americas, and for pure satisfaction purposes, the food turns out exactly like it does in the photos.

3. Cookbook that made you what you were?
what i was? cookbooks don't make me, manny, my family does. however, if one did, it might be "city cuisine" by mary sue milliken and susan feniger. although my mother's and my family's cooking defines me foodily, city café in los angeles probably shaped my tastebuds more than any other restaurant. the only way to describe the food is fresh and precise. although, it's really mary sue and susan, i reckon, not really the book.

the cookbook that defines me as a blogger, though, is def. "sydney food"....

4. Porniest cookbook?
definitely "intercourses: an aphrodisiac cookbook" which is not about the food, nenes, it's about the hotty bodies smeared with warm chocolate. paula deen's books get a mention because of the obscene amount of butter and cream in every recipe, and the lack of photos, so it's all left to your imagination. my current pillow book, though, is tetsuya wakuda's eponymous book, which is spare, sleek, and positively straining under the hidden sexuality trying to bust out of its austere sensuality. all about the texture, baby, you have to feel it.

5. Sophie's Choice cookbook?
you mean, what book compels me to speak in a fake accent for three and a half hours? i would rather lose them all than save just one. i'm talking about cookbooks, folks!

6. If you were a cookbook, which cookbook would you be?
where to sin in san francisco by steve mcgarrett himself, jack lord. not strictly about food, but neither am i.

7. If your cookbook were extremely valuable, so valuable you might hide it with other valuables, where would that place be?
guam.


truthfully, i love my food magazines more.

thanks anthony! it was fun, but i think i put everyone (including myself) to sleep!