I very much enjoyed reading this book but I am writing this a couple of years later. I wouldn't mind giving it a re-read--hope it is down on my forever shelf. It is curious how letter writing often tends to stir romance--marriage and/or indfidelity especially in fiction.
This is probably my favorite book and this is at least my fourth journey through these letters. Sometimes a book comes across your path at just the right time and so is the case with this one. I found myself reading it again in December 2019 at just the point when I needed nothing more than a strong talking to by fiercely independent woman, like Bess, who strongly advocates being in charge of your own financial destiny. Love her or hate her, Bess's outspoken audacity makes me laugh out loud at her nerve.
This is a collection of essays about the joys of simple slow food everything from boiling water to cooking eggs and beans, how to use the odds and ends of one meal to start the next one. She believes that almost all kitchen mistakes can be remedied, cooking resourcefully and not wastefully. Tamar is a writer and a cook who has logged serious time on the line of restaurants big, small, famous and humble. She spent time at Chez Panisse working with Alice Waters and time at Prune working with Gabrielle Hamilton. I just love when books in my categories mesh and interweave in myriad ways.
Her way of cooking leads one to end up with a refrigerator and freezer full of mostly unlabeled odds and ends but out of my growing collection I have made some inventive tasty meals. She is also of the opinion that everything tastes better with a sprinkle of parsley, a squirt of lemon, a dash of parmesan cheese, and a spray of breadcrumbs--and I have found that indeed she is pretty much spot on.
