"Anything can be a lodestar in a person's life, I suppose, and for some fortunates like me, the kitchen serves well." MFK Fisher
Which is sort of why I started this occasional series on the bits of my kitchen - and there are many. This is number 2.
Today's bit is the slimmest part of this photograph - the book shelf on the right. It's another old part of the kitchen. Those shelves were in my old kitchen in the same place, although we had to make it slimmer to fit the line of the pantry behind it.The shelves are nearly all short so only large enough to house old paperpacks - except for the botome two shelves which are larger.
So it's a real nostalgic spot for many reasons - which I shall come to, but also it's where we keep some of the other essentials of kitchen life that is not just to do with cooking.
In the photograph above, you can just see this sign - it's affixed underneath the wooden beam which sort of denotes the entrance to the kitchen.
It was made by a friend - also called David - for a kind of grand opening of my new kitchen. I do hope he doesn't mind that you have to seek to find. We don't look up do we? I remember reading somewhere that when taking photographs, especially on holiday I guess, one should look up, down and sideways - not just ahead. I love this sign, because not only does it acknowledge the important role my kitchen plays in my life but it also nods to my learning of Italian in later years. David and his wife have joined us on a few of our European holidays, and the sign may have been made after one of those occasions in Italy.
Let's begin at the top of the shelves - a small collection of oddments from long, long ago. Really I should throw some of these out - and in fact, as I reached this shelf in my First Recipe exercise, I think I may well have thrown out one or two - which would explain the gaps. Honestly though I never use these books, so they must be some of those emotional attachment choices. In fact there are only three of them that I ever used much at all - the Penguin Cordon Bleu, my first Indian cookbook - Cooking the Indian Way, which was used a lot, and The Continental Flavour, also used a fair deal when I was exploring food beyond France. I didn't even use the Madhur Jaffrey and Julia Child books much back then, let alone today.
Why don't I use any of them today? For example today, when thinking of options for dinner I first chose to search in all the 'usual suspect' books, which in this instance - something with pumpkin and ricotta was the thought - did not inspire. Why do I always check out the current favourites? Why don't I check the books I never look at? Why keep them if I never intend to look at them again? I have no answer today. If I could use the space for newer books I might be more ruthless. But today's cookbooks are rarely that small.
The next shelf belongs to the classics - well the beginning the classics - the younger old-time gurus in fact - Jane Grigson, Claudia Roden and Julia Child. Unlike the books on the top shelf these books still get used. Some more than others, and some - maybe Mastering the Art of French Cooking more than the others - rarely for cooking but often for reference.
The next two shelves are somewhat vital but nothing to do with cooking. Or not much.
Every kitchen should have a telephone. Well maybe not these days. My children's generation onwards, and indeed many of my own generation, don't have a landline any more. The smartphone does it all. A telephone of some kind is required however, to accept incoming calls and to make emergency calls - not just medical ones - maybe it's just a call to one's husband at the dentist, asking him to buy something on his way home. Social calls are made elsewhere, somewhere you can sit down and chat. But yes a kitchen needs a telephone. I think we had one of those wall phones once upon a time. Beside the telephone are those other kitchen requirements which don't have much to do with cooking - pens and pencils. Yes they might be used for shopping lists, or notes in cookbooks, but mostly they are there for doing newspaper puzzles, writing messages and filling in forms. In times gone by they might have been used for my sons' homework.
On the shelf below are a hodge-podge of useful items. A jar filled with all of those rubber bands you come across in your shopping life. These used to be collected for securing rolled up film society posters, and, as one does, I just kept collecting them. Very occasionally I use them to secure not quite finished packets of food and for some packets in the freezer, but really I should stop doing this or find somewhere to donate them. There are bookmarks - to mark pages in recipe books when I am looking for ideas - either for the blog or for dinner. Some old business cards that I use for labelling meat in the freezer and a roll of selotape - well just because it seemed a good place at the time. Then there's the garbage collection timetable; notepads you get given by tradesmen of various kinds, which will eventually be used for shopping lists; a whole envelope of magnetic tradies cards for when you need a plumber or an electrician, and I think there's also a laminated page of first aid instructions.
Below that are the early classics of my cooking career - on the top shelf Robert Carrier reigns supreme with a selection of mini books that sometimes came with magazines, and below Robert Carrier is Elizabeth David, plus a few oddments - Winnie-the-Pooh and Theodora Fitzgibbons' regional British cookbooks. Almost all used frequently, either for actual cooking or for reference.
I shall never throw these out. These books taught me how to cook and how it was actually pretty easy to reproduce all the wonderful food that I had eaten in France. Not Italy - I had never been there back then. These and my other classic shelf were the source for all my 70s-90s dinner parties.
Until I discovered Delia and her generation of gurus. Sosme of who are represented on the bottom two shelves which are larger, because as we move forward in time the books become larger. Here are the books that took me further afield - to Asia, and America through the works of Madhur Jaffrey, Charmaine Solomon, Bert Greene and others. All of these I use from time to time.
The bottom shelf has other memories, however. The book on the bottom shelf on the extreme shelf - another Indian cookbook, which I rarely use - is in a parlous state because it was chewed by our first two dogs when they were young and chewed everything in sight. This book is so rarely used it is bedecked by cobwebs as well, but within are beautiful Moghul miniatures, and some enticing recipes. Plus the memory of those two much loved creatures.
It's also where I began my First Recipe journey - with Charmaine Solomon's Indian Cooking for Pleasure.
Scattered amongst the treasure of the books are a few magazines - some from Donna Hay - kept for their beauty - and two microwave magazines which I collected when I first acquired a microwave.
Perhaps this is the most nostalgic part of my kitchen. Memories of my youth, memories of meals long gone, memories of holidays, memories of family, not to mention all the things I learnt from using those books, not just about food, but also about other cultures, other times, new ingredients, new styles of cooking. It's a treasure trove.
"Food is an implement of magic, and only the most coldhearted rationalist could squeeze the juices of life out of it and make it bland. In a true sense, a cookbook is the best source of psychological advice and the kitchen the first choice of room for a therapy of the world." Thomas More
Yes, that Thomas More.
POSTSCRIPT - years gone by on July 23rd
2023 - Delia let me down! - perhaps an appropriate afterthought for today's post.
2022 - From Aqua pazza to Fish poached in charred tomato broth - the most delicious fish soup from Ixta Belfrage
2021 - Smoked chicken and a Dutch food - a david challenge - I should reinstate David's challenges - they were fun
2020 - from the digital archive of my computer - Pavé - potatoes, cakes, slices ... whatever
2019 - Feral deer - venison anyone?
2018 - Miso - yes or no? - perhaps I should reread this one for inspiration
2017 - Why bother?
2016 - A walk into Eltham - I used to walk into Eltham. Now I walk back from Eltham. Like today.
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