Chapter One

I've often been told I should have been a librarian. I am always in the midst of a book...or two...or three. I'm like a kid in a candy store when I cross the threshold of a bookstore or library. So many books....so little time. I always leave carrying an armload up to my chin. I sometimes experience buyer's remorse when I return to my tiny apartment and attempt to squeeze them onto a shelf or add them to a teetering stack. There is no shortage of reading material around here.

The easiest place to begin is with what I am reading now. I am currently half way through Julie & Julia 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 tiny apartment kitchen by Julie Powell. There was a lot of buzz about this book when it came out, but I am just now getting around to reading it. It is about a woman who, finding her life in something of a rut, challenges herself to cook her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I was a bit put off by the concept at first, as I've always found Julia Child's recipes a bit too fussy for my taste. Powell's book, however, is anything but fussy. She make the trials and tribulations of french cooking (as well as everyday life) hilarious and inspiring. After all, it's hard for me to make the excuse that 7:30 is too late to begin making spaghetti if she can work all day, hunt down a store selling something like marrow bones (yes it's as icky as it sounds ) & then come home & cook them.