Literally...
Books are a gift. Books allow travel to places I'll never go. Books transport me back to a time long before I existed, only to whisk me into a future I will probably never see, then gently release me content and coddled where I feel the safest. Books comfort me when I am worried, solve problems when there are questions, keep me company when I am alone, and give me council when I have taken in more than I can handle. Books stir and blend my fantasies and my reality.
There is nothing I have asked from a book that it has not delivered. Books are stimulants for the brain and imagination. Recently, I have noticed they are stimulating something else, my appetite. Yes, I am happily reading along, minding my own business, not thinking about food, then...
"We're in his kitchen, and he's making grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches,
which I'm thinking are going to be about as close to my two-American-cheese-
singles-on-white-bread as his macaroni and cheese was to my Kraft special.
He slides his creation onto my plate: multiple cheeses with cherry tomatoes
and fresh basil oozing out of slabs of homemade multigrain bread. It looks
and smells brilliant."
The Art Forger
B.A. Shapiro
...and all I can think of is a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich.
As much as I resisted I was helpless in the clutch of such descriptive writing. I had a couple of different cheeses hanging out in the refrigerator, fresh farmer's market tomatoes, basil ready for picking in the garden and a loaf of rye bread. This would be easy, I make grilled cheese sandwiches all the time. Slice a little of this, spread a little of that, sizzle, sizzle... shades of gold... and I am back to my book deeply involved in an art heist.
It looked good, and it did smelled amazing. Eating it was not so easy, it sort of fell apart. To be frank, my sandwich just wasn't as sexy. After fully analyzing the situation I decided it had to be all about the tomatoes. Make a note, next time use cherry tomatoes.
It was only a few days latter I had the chance to spend a few days in Chicago. We arrived just after noon and were a bit hungry. With dinner reservations at a nearby french restaurant we decided to avoid the crowds and slip into one of the hotel's restaurants for a small snack. We were seated and handed menus. Looking down the selections, looking for something lite, there it was dancing, singing, flashing red arrows screaming at me,
a grilled cheese with cherry tomatoes and...
oh my, bacon jam.
I tried to resist. I looked away. I ask R. if he would like to split something. Nothing worked, it was my destiny, my obligation. Yes, I ordered the grilled cheese sandwich. I didn't take a picture; it was beautiful, rich and tasted amazing...trust me, I was there. I don't even remember what R. ordered, but I shared half of my delicious sandwich.
Now, I have two things to share with you,
my latest read and the culinary cravings it creates.
Has a book ever sent you running to the kitchen craving something you just read about?
Do you have an amazing grilled cheese recipe you are willing to share?
Yes, if I don't slow down the reading I'll be spending a lot more time here.
Happy Reading and
Bon Appétit!
As much as I resisted I was helpless in the clutch of such descriptive writing. I had a couple of different cheeses hanging out in the refrigerator, fresh farmer's market tomatoes, basil ready for picking in the garden and a loaf of rye bread. This would be easy, I make grilled cheese sandwiches all the time. Slice a little of this, spread a little of that, sizzle, sizzle... shades of gold... and I am back to my book deeply involved in an art heist.
It looked good, and it did smelled amazing. Eating it was not so easy, it sort of fell apart. To be frank, my sandwich just wasn't as sexy. After fully analyzing the situation I decided it had to be all about the tomatoes. Make a note, next time use cherry tomatoes.
a grilled cheese with cherry tomatoes and...
oh my, bacon jam.
I tried to resist. I looked away. I ask R. if he would like to split something. Nothing worked, it was my destiny, my obligation. Yes, I ordered the grilled cheese sandwich. I didn't take a picture; it was beautiful, rich and tasted amazing...trust me, I was there. I don't even remember what R. ordered, but I shared half of my delicious sandwich.
Now, I have two things to share with you,
my latest read and the culinary cravings it creates.
Has a book ever sent you running to the kitchen craving something you just read about?
Do you have an amazing grilled cheese recipe you are willing to share?
Yes, if I don't slow down the reading I'll be spending a lot more time here.
Happy Reading and
Bon Appétit!
Ha! So funny and love the last photo ~ that would be me (getting to the gym.. I love to eat, drink and be merry so I need to exercise more!)
ReplyDeleteYES.. a book has sent me into a food scavenger hunt:)
So funny! Not a book, but a blog I read about popcorn, sent me straight to the market. Downed two full bowls by nighttime. The treadmill is definitely in my future. I think grilled cheese sandwiches are some of the best things to eat. You can tell a lot about a restaurant by the quality of their grilled cheese. I've made a study of it.
ReplyDeleteGood evening dear Bonnie!
ReplyDeleteI crave books as I do certain foods - I really do. I love your analogy and your reflections here, and for me, books reveal a little bit about myself to me. In some ways it is almost painful, depending on what I'm reading! But for now, I am enjoying reading poetry, and even trying to write it. Oh the pain!!!!!
Have a lovely week. Anita
So in love I am with your words. Love to "read you girl!"
ReplyDeleteAnd now my reads will also have rye bread, grilled cheese, tomatoes.
Changed up with cherry tomatoes in my mind . . .
Saying that . . . I am just not a tomato girl. . .
Don't know what else to say except . . . yes . . .
I am there in all you wrote . . .
As a kid if I couldn't have something I would often just smell it and that was good enough. Well, nearly good enough. Maybe there's the basis of a diet there - see, smell, imagine but don't actually eat?
ReplyDeleteI read a lot of mystery cozies. Thank goodness I’m not susceptible. They stop at a lot of pubs and for high tea. Some even put recipes in with their text. I’d soon be an alcoholic as big as a barn if I ran for nourishment with every chapter. Delightful post, Bonnie.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of a book that I read that sent me poking through the cupboards for something to eat, but your post just did. Who would not get hungry looking at that grilled cheese sandwich and reading your description. A decision on what to have for dinner tomorrow has been made. Thank you, Bonnie.
ReplyDeleteBonnie, offhand, I have to say no, EXCEPT, as a big fan of Elizabeth David, whenever I read her food writing, I start getting ideas about what's coming up next.
ReplyDeleteI don't recall books ever sending to the kitchen on a mission to eat, but there have been plenty of times when they have sent my imagination spinning with dreams and what-ifs. Nothing compares to a well written book.
ReplyDeleteI love this post so much, it could have been me writing it! Yes, books have certainly sent me to the kitchen more than once. Love your description of your lunch in Chicago. Bacon jam? Really? Wow.
ReplyDeleteI purposely stay away from foodie books and mags for this very reason. I have enough trouble with my weight issues. This sandwich sure looks and sounds delicious though!
ReplyDeleteI adore your first photo!
There is a description of a meal in Gerald Durrell's Birds, Beasts and Other Relatives
ReplyDeleteit would be wise to avoid or you may be in the kitchen for a week.
Such a beautifully written post.
ReplyDeleteI too love books. Now that I have a kindle, I am reading two or three books at a time, a fiction, a book of someone's philosophy on something, and a Christian book. Love, love to read.
ReplyDeleteOur garden is bursting with tomatoes - your grilled cheese & tomato sandwich made me laugh. They're so delicious and easily worth the treadmill! One of my passions is reading; it's the ultimate luxury. My husband teases me that he doesn't remember a time in the last 25 years when I wasn't in the middle of a book! -- Jan
ReplyDeleteAdd bacon and it's my favorite sandwich of all time!! It's my "snow" sandwich!!
ReplyDeleteOh my, does that sandwich look good! And yes, I have been inspired by food scenes in literature. Those scenes are some of my favorites!
ReplyDelete