My amazing Christmas Haul!

I also received At Elizabeth David’s Table. It’s a beautiful book, now with colour photographs, and that makes a hell of a difference. Truly exquisite photography, which brings the food to life. Cookbooks need photos, to be honest. If only to make the reader hungry and inspire them to cook something. I know that works for me.

Michael Psilakis – How To Roast a Lamb – well now. I cannot wait to sit down and read my way through that one, even if I hear the aunt from My Big Fat Greek Wedding speaking every time I read the word Lamb. I have a serious weakness for Greek cookery books, and the more I get the more recipes I gather together that I remember from my childhood. There’s usually a couple in every book.

The Cook’s Book. For the cook who’s best at everything – this seems to be a book full of useful tips and hints. Thank you ma and pa in-law, I suspect sarcasm was in play here…

Heston Blumenthal – In Search of Perfection – aaah my lovely mad scientist turned chef. This man’s thought processes utterly fascinate me. I love watching him take an idea, run with it and then develop it into something magical. Okay so many people think it isn’t really cookery but my lord, it keeps me happy. He cooks for all the senses, and that appeals to me very much indeed. This is going to be a book to get utterly lost in. I love how he turns things on their heads and crosses all the accepted lines of what constitutes good food. He’s also a geek, and I just adore my geek boys.

The Complete Book of Greek Cooking – I had this book may years ago but I loaned it to someone, and they never gave it back. They also moved country which made it rather difficult to just pop round and demand the return of it. However. Now I have it again and I can read through it like a novel. So many recipes collected from so many people, so much tradition in one place. It reads well, and it takes me back home, back to a home I have never really lived in, but one that fostered how I am.

Willie Harcourt-Cooze – Willie’s Chocolate Bible – well, it’s chocolate innit? What’s not to like? It has some of the most delectable chocolate recipes going and you can buy his products online now. That’s a treat book, one to take recipes from for Special Occasions or Special People.

Nigel Slater, Appetite. – what more is there to say about Nigel? I love his enthusiasm and his childlike wonder when it comes to fruit and vegetables, and fresh food. He cooks in a manner that is similar to mine, and I find him so very appealing. His love of food and his great knowledge shines through, but he isn’t arrogant or big-headed in the slightest. I’d like to invite him round for dinner! I read his book Toast, and cried buckets for the poor, bereaved young boy that he was so in a way, it’s grand to see him all grown up and happy now which is daft, but it’s how it feels.

All in all, this is going to be me happy for months!