Ah, the golden days of autumn

Whether it is a biological urge due to the shortening of days or a societal rule about the season, I find autumn to be the time of year when I just want to cook.  All the time.  I am now aware of a desire to experiment with international foods and ingredients I have never tasted before.  In general, I love seeking out new recipes to try.  Whenever we get a new cookbook at work, I am flipping through it to see if it is worth taking home for a better, more in-depth look.

I recently took home "Aida Mollenkamp's Keys to the Kitchen: The Essential Reference for Becoming a More Accomplished, Adventurous Cook" by Aida Mollenkamp.  Part reference book and part cookbook, I am finding I am taking a long time to read it because it has so much information in it.  What I have read I have thoroughly enjoyed and will most likely end up buying my own copy.  I am planning a reorganization of my kitchen storage of pots, pans, and food storage containers.  And this book is great for motivation.  The more I read, the more time I want to spend in my kitchen.

As it is autumn, I am also thinking of trying new autumnal foods that I haven't tried before.  Luckily, when I flipped through Aida's recipes, the book fell open to her recipe for Roasted Squash Pasta With Sage Brown Butter.  Two ingredients I've never cooked with before: butternut squash and sage.  The recipe sounds tasty and easy enough for me.  Although I haven't finished the book yet, I would recommend it to people who like to cook (no matter the skill level).

Read/cook on,

Paula

BTT: Interactive?

BTT: Interactive? (from Booking Through Thursday)

With the advent (and growing popularity) of eBooks, I’m seeing more and more articles about how much “better” they can be, because they have the option to be interactive … videos, music, glossaries … all sorts of little extra goodies to help “enhance” your reading experience, rather like listening to the Director’s commentary on a DVD of your favorite movie.

How do you feel about that possibility? Does it excite you in a cutting-edge kind of way? Or does it chill you to the bone because that’s not what reading is ABOUT?

I've been reading the complete Sherlock Holmes stories.  I own a massive trade paperback version but, because I want to keep it in mint condition, I am only reading it when I am at home and reading it in ebook version when away from home.  For me, the best feature ever about ebooks is the dictionary function that allows me to get a definition of words I don't know.  This is particularly beneficial when reading older fiction such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Jane Austen, etc.  Unfortunately, it does not work for foreign languages in my iBooks app on my iPhone4.

I am one of those people who reads both print books and ebooks.  I like ebooks for their portability and my ability to have a huge stack of books on my phone.  But I love holding a print book in my hand.  I love the artistry of the covers that some of my ebooks don't have.  I am not one-or-the-other.  As long as I am reading, I don't care what format.  Even listening to someone read to you (audiobook) still counts as reading.  Your brain has absorbed the information just the same.  Who cares how you read as long as you do it?

Read on,
Paula