I've been thinking for ages that I'd like to do a blog post about favourite cookery books -- the ones held together by food splodges and bits of yellowing Sellotape - and I will at some point. But meanwhile, here's my favourite new one in ages. It's by Kerstin Rogers, aka Ms Marmite Lover, a former rock photographer, who
blogs here and runs a much-feted supper club called
The Underground Restaurant from her home in north London. There's masses to love about the book, from Kerstin's anecdotes about cooking for (I paraphrase very loosely) vegan cooperatives in Hackney squats or protestors at anti G20 summits (Kerstin for a time lived in A CHANGING ROOM at London Fields lido) to the advice she has for anyone wishing to open their own underground restaurant.
Mostly, though, what I love is that there isn't a single recipe in the book that doesn't make me want to run to the shop and start cooking it right now - quite a feat. You know how with some cookbooks you get the sense that the person is going through the motions and that their recipes might be nice but you wouldn't go out of your way to eat them or hang out with their author? Not here. Supper Club is written by a proper, joyfully greedy girl (I mean that as the highest compliment) who really knows her stuff. It all sounds delicious - robust, non-poncy, just really good food -- and reads deliciously too; the recipes are clearly written, and HarperCollins have done a beautiful job on the aesthetics front. Out now;
here's the Amazon link.
PS The book contains recipes from an Elvis-themed feast Kerstin had. The starter is deep-fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches and there are 14 other courses. I practically got a boner reading it.
Writing about wine/drinks without sounding either unbelievably arsey or off-puttingly techy and specialist seems to me to be a quasi-impossible task, but Victoria Moore - formerly of the Guardian, now of the Telegraph - manages it every time.
Her book, which has been out for a year or so, is completely marvellous and I couldn't recommend it more highly. It tells you what to drink - from tea to port via everything in between - and how to drink it, it gives you little recipes, it's never intimidating (despite being crammed with knowledge), and it's so well written that, like the best cook books, it's bliss to read while hunkered up in bed.
I'm mentioning it now because it occurs to me that How To Drink is the perfect Christmas present for everyone over the age of 18, from girlfriends to dads and from people who know zip about drinks to people who consider themselves experts. All anyone wants is something delicious to drink, whether it's a cocktail or a cup of coffee: this book shows you how to get it right every single time.
Here's the Amazon link; also exists as a more present-like
hardback.
This book is complete heaven from start to finish. It's about a 10 year old (initially) orphan brought up by his fabulous and eccentric aunt Mame - a party-loving "razzle-dazzle butterfly" who calls 9am "the middle of the night" - in New York during the Depression. It's very camp, very arch, very beadily observed, wildly funny and completely life-enhancing -
the most wonderful treat. It's recently been
re-published here for the first time in fifty years. I'm giving it to everyone for Christmas.
I am slightly obsessed by its author, Patrick Dennis - Auntie Mame was a huge bestseller, sold two million copies, stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for two years and inspired the
film of the same name, but Dennis spent all the money having a lovely time, as you do. He gave up writing and became a butler to very rich people, notably to Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonalds, saying, magnificiently: "I would rather serve these people than have to talk to them".
Guardian article about the book
here. Patrick Dennis's Wikipedia entry
here. There's also
US biography of Dennis by Eric Myers, which as annoying as I've never felt more moved to biography in my life (except for
Penelope Betjeman, who when first pregnant wrote mournfully to her husband: "I
wish it were a little horse").
I write books, and things for The Sunday Times. But I wanted a place to stick other stuff I like, and Posterous is unbelievably easy to set up. So here we are. Yet another work-avoidance strategy by me. You can follow me on Twitter, too - I'm @indiaknight. I know, right? The interwebs: where the fun never ends.