I’m realizing more and more lately of how much I love good food. There are days I wish I was living in Europe – going to the market everyday to get fresh ingredients, making whatever looks good. I still follow recipes, but one day! You will find me with a garden, (I currently have a black thumb and no where to plant anything) cooking whatever comes from the market & garden (think Jamie Oliver at Home – which by the way, I absolutely love this show).

Along with my love of foreign foods, I love books that incorporate food & recipes. There’s something about adding in stories along with recipes that just speaks to me. It’s almost as if by cooking these foods, you’re a part of the story. My first book like this was Encyclopedia Brown Takes the Cake!, which I was totally enamored by. I remember reading it over and over again and just staring at the recipes, wishing that I could make them. I can’t remember if I ever tried to, but I’m sure I probably did.

My next favorite book with recipes was Like Water for Chocolate, which I had to read for summer reading in high school, and just fell in love with.

My latest find is Trail of Crumbs, a story that drew me in the minute I read the little summary inside the book jacket. I stood at the bookstore for about 20 mins, fixated in one spot, reading and reading. For some reason I didn’t take the book home, but I definitely plan on it very, very soon.

There’s just something magical about cooking & food. Like photos, they evoke memories, thoughts, forgotten feelings. Every now and then I get a whiff of something that smells like a mixture of soy sauce and rice pasta and I’m instantly brought back to a time when my mom made me pasta that smelled just like that. Rice porridge does the same. It’s comforting. :)

Mashed sweet potatoes