Book Rec: Alice Waters & Chez Panisse

I've been travelling a bit lately and that always translates to more reading for me. I'm in the middle of this book, but just wanted to put it out there for my foodies looking for a good read. This book and Alice in general are tremendously inspiring. It's such a wonderful example of what happens in life when you follow your passion and don't get caught up in the stupid, meaningless details :)

I also had to laugh at the part in the book where Julia Child corresponds with Alice about locally grown food-- she recommends Alice just talk with her grocer and he/she will bring in the food she wanted. She was so stern and brusque! Just goes to show that even heroes are human- LOL!

I would also recommend catching the Alice Waters & Mikhail Baryshnikov Iconoclasts show on the Sundance channel if you can. Fascinating!

Book Rec: My Life in France

As if I did not already adore Julia Child enough, I went ahead and read her book. Thoroughly absorbing, entertaining and honest, My Life in France now resides on my favorite books list.

I'm no book reviewer, but an excellent overview can be found in the NY Times Sunday Book Review:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/books/review/28riding.html?ex=1306468800&en=d3903564bd67ba95&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

I urge anyone with a love for food, esp. French cuisine, to check it out! It has so much warmth and insight. I didn't think it was possible to like and respect her more, but I do after having read this book. She states her political & basic life philosophies in a simple, straightforward and compassionate manner. I found myself nodding in agreement with her many times and thinking to myself, "She's actually someone, if I had found myself during the same time/proximity that I quite possibly could have been friends with!" :)

I found the political parallels between then and now not only ironic, but also disturbing.