Last post for the end of the month in the food traveller department!

Of course anyone who lives in Perth will know that in Australian terms it is the first of the next month OCTOBER. But seeing this post leaves us in America we can be generous and follow their time zone.
We may be in America with the cooking but we do have or used to have this chef's show on the tellie. Ever heard of the show SIMPLY MING? Well you may not be as old as I am. But on his show EASTern cooking meets WESTern cooking and the recipes I would have thought are particularly suited to our summer months... or any time of the year really as we cook a la ASIAN or Eastern tastes anyway. I recall when visiting Bavaria (that's southern Germany by the way) my friend was on the verge of agreeing to come to visit us in Perth until she thought up this one..."But you keep a Bavarian kitchen don't you?"
I was stumped for a reply without offending her!  Did she not realise that our closest neighbours are Asian? And our temperatures do not make for heavy meat-filled diets? Ho! Hum! I guessed it would be up to us to visit again sometime.

 Yes he is as jolly as he looks and as keen to  have his recipes tried. And I can attest to their simplicity and to their popularity with friends. Click on the images to enlarge!
To those who have had enough from my kitchen cook books I can ask for just one more entry one of my favourites and being German born...you may be able to guess. This book I found in Sydney and I can thoroughly recommend the site even if you are not interested in cooking.

This'll get the boys in!

No it is not a car race! It is not a BLOG entry showing lovely sexy women! SO! What is it then?
We are still travelling dear reader... in this case to the USA! How can I neglect this country and its food? Easily I almost tell myself but...when in ROME or in New York as it was in this case...do as the Romans do!! Well there is a

little of the Roman in this story but you decide. A cooking book of angels or for angels and by angels? I don't thinks so but nor does the chef. He admits to all and most of all to be good cook. Not an unbiased opinion...his compadres have told him so! Click on the images to enlarge and get the drift!!

Talking Turkey!!

Yes I have just been skimming through my 'wordsandpictures' and realised that I completely overlooked the contribution made to the cooking world by that of the Moroccan, Turkey and Lebanese influence.
In the main reading about Istanbul I was shocked to have moved on and in the process totally ignoring the food variation I found on our visit. Then I recalled the cookbook I had bought in good old Perth W.A. before our tour of Turkey never realising at the time that I might actually go to Turkey to see and taste the food for myself. I recalled and regret to tell this little story but whenever I offered to take my mother out to dinner her complaint always was..."why do we have to eat this poor peoples' food?" But it wasn't this food which killed my mother... she was a smoker since the age of 14yrs. and I suspect her taste buds had been greatly reduced in the process.
So not seeing a likely visit to Morocco or what is left of Lebanon I had to make do with the cookbook by Claudia Roden 'Arabesque'. And according to Nigella Lawson...Claudia is a genius!!
The book is not anywhere in the standard of Picasso or that of Venice and Food but the recipes are beyond expectation. Don't forget to click on the images to enlarge.

 The prawn recipe is by now almost something we do without caring about the origin of the idea but it is one of the most simple recipes in the book.
But my experience walking the streets of Istanbul actually stirred the hunger in me. I quickly realised
that Istanbul had more than ceramics, spices, carpets and markets.

Nevertheless knowing that Tagine's were really stews in particular ceramic shaped utensils (I had seen them in Egypt) and had bought several in Perth I couldn't wait to see and taste them in Istanbul.
To my surprise the ceramic containers were cylindrical in shape, full of meat and vegetables and when ready the utensil was smashed in front of the client and the remaining stew served. Wow! That was different! In fact how cheap were the ceramic containers? I'll never know!

 The Greek influence I thought when I saw the stuffed
vine leaves and the roasted capsicums. Again these
we see often here as Perth has every type of
cooking available for the budding restaurant goer. However in Perth the Greeks have given up smashing plates...perhaps too many opportunities for suing the restaurants in Australia.

 Being very interested in vegetarianism I spent a lot of time looking through shop windows at the huge range of take-away vegetables already cooked and looking so tasty.


But it was not the only temptation! One couldn't finish talking about the food available without including the sweets.
"No thanks" explained one of our tour members "I don't want to put on any weight". "Then you've come to the wrong country."
And how right he was!

An amazing Venetian Cook Book!

It is true! This person is so talented. Sally Spector has dedicated her Venitian Cook Book to her parents. And what a compliment it is to them to have had such a creative off-spring.
Sally Spector has claimed responsibility for the text, all illustrations and calligraphy. WOW! what an effort. If anyone could buy a cook book such as this one it is more than recipes which would tempt the reader.

Although originally printed in Italy in April 1998 the reprint was done in 2008 and this was the year I managed to find it for sale in the .... where? I think it was in the tourist office. But if you are lucky enough to go to Venice it is a must to try and find a copy. ISBN 9788877431738

 As can be seen the illustrations alone are enough to keep the reader amused. And what better memories of Venice could you ask for? I had to beg and cajole my partner to please give this book to me as a Christmas present...please! Please! Please! And he did listen. In fact this is he below ...at my service! No only joking!

Second try! Still on amazing topics!

Of course but how and what does one cook up in a laboratory? Just ask the late Primo Levi... difficult now that he has passed on but if you read this book you'll be amazed to know that he used his knowledge of chemistry and chemicals to survive the second World War. He did this with the help of a few friends who through a name change managed to hide his Jewish ancestry. But nevertheless his creativity came to the for and he chose to write an entire book...each chapter a different experience and named after a particular chemical on the Periodic Table.

 And so he showed an incredible imagination to think that anyone would be interested enough to read a book based on the Periodic Table. I did and finished it a much better informed person. But I can't say that I will be giving up my habit of reading a good story. Even if the book did explain to me how Primo Levi was lucky enough to have escaped the grasp of Hitler and his men.

What a surprise!

Alright I give in! I do have an occupation with cook books...I must have! I was determined to write about the little cute book I had bought in the South of France on our Roman tour of Via Julia or some such thing ...the photos are ready to go onto my BLOG... but no... a little GEM I found yesterday at our local Children's Book Fund store beats any book with just recipes. Can you imagine that anyone would have this idea in mind...A complete history of World Literature in 14 recipes...? Amazing! Yes that was why I couldn't resist spending $3.00 on it. And in top condition! And Mark Crick not only a writer, a chef and food lover it appears, an artist but most of all a photographer! I do hope he never sees these photographs of mine!

He not only did the photography but also the drawings. And his narrative on each page was entirely his own creation in the style of the literary giant he depicted. Wow! Creativity at its best!

 The Tarragon eggs recipe was the first I tried for breakfast this morning... about my standard of difficulty Ha!...but no... I must have done something right because my partner actually thanked me for my efforts as he disappeared out of the door.

So dear Mark any chance of another book? Maybe the love of a man is through his stomach after all!

Picasso...bon vivant it is!!!

Well I've waited a whole week before I could sit down and write about food. All week the poor refugees have been on my mind...the little children...no schooling... no roof over their heads... very little future... so how can I possibly write about food? But something will be done...there are good Australians and at last our government realises that it must act! What more bombing of Syria? Well maybe but there are people in this country who can think beyond the next election Mr. Abbott! We all want to help!! And we have assets we are prepared to share!

The good book says 'Food mixed with Art for Picasso-he created ceramic plates with fish on them; he drew with wine on cafe table paper; he captured portraits of himself and the people around him in cafe settings....'


 But to our surprise when we arrived in Arles on our ANDANTE tour of antiquities we spent a few hours at the museum created and paid for by the man himself...Pablo Picasso!! Here we saw most of his works shared with the works of other artists such as Van Gogh.
But I am digressing! The book I am describing is one I bought not in the south of France but at an exhibition at the Sydney Art Gallery. And here I could buy also a book on his art and how to draw an image looking in two directions at the same time. This I sent to my granddaughter in the USA...low and behold this proved to be very useful in her art class...and grandma was remembered!

But I must say waiting that week before writing has given me the time to enjoy the pears poached in wine and spices...and cream I might add!!

At first I thought the recipes might be beyond me but no...anything is possible!





I may even try the instructions on drawing!