Laurie Colwin, yet again

It's funny, I know exactly who will read this blog and who probably won't.  You know who you are.  You, like me, love Laurie Colwin. Yes, her novels and stories were very good but her cookbooks..... well, not really cookbooks, more like cooking essays, are the best.  Hands down, the best food writing. Ever. All the newcomers that are on the scene now cannot hold a candle to Laurie Colwin.

When I'm in a funk, when I feel like I need "home" even if I am sitting on my own couch, when I need to be soothed, I read some of her essays.  I have given her two books, "Home Cooking" and "More Home Cooking" to several brides-to-be but I am not sure any of them really read these books because they are not the "1 tablespoon of this and a half cup of that and 3 jiggers of something else" kind of cook books.  They are the kind of books that make you feel like you know what to do in the kitchen. Her books empower you. Her recipes, if you can call them that, are usually so casual as to make you think you came up with the thing all on your own.

So, in the last few days, I have been re-reading Laurie. She wrote for Gourmet Magazine in the 1980 and '90's, a crucial time for me, food-wise. She was  reason to buy the friggin magazine, for goodness sake. She spoke to us. She told us to not be afraid, that simple, good food was the thing. We don't need no fancy food, we need good food.  She was ahead of her time and she was right.

"There are times in life - usually after a spate of self-indulgence - when one's soul cries out for minimalist food: clean, plain, and non taxing. ... But there are other times, usually in horrible weather, when one longs for straight-forward, savory, down-home food, and lots of it.  This is the sort of cooking people call "heartwarming" and there is no doubt about it - it does cheer people up."  How can you argue with any of that?

So, to soothe my ragged soul right now, I am reading Laurie Colwin, yet again.  If you have these books, put them by your bedside and read a chapter or two (they are short) before you go to bed. If you don't have these books, take them out of the library....  and then buy them.  You will want them.  They are like an old teddy bear, or a really good pillow.  Reliable, worn in, comfortable and so, so useful. 

"It always seems to me that cooking is like love. You don't have to be particularly beautiful or very glamorous, or even very exciting to fall in love.  You just have to be interested in it. It's the same thing with food. You do not have to be a genius.You don't have to come from a long culinary tradition.  You just have to go to a restaurant and eat a hamburger and say "This particular hamburger tastes swell."  And then you have to say, "Could you please tell me what you did?" ....  And then you say to yourself, "I will now try to do this in my own kitchen."  And you do, and you are happy because you learned something and you cooked it and you made it yours and you moved on.

Oh, Laurie, thank you. You left us too soon but we love you so much.

xoxo

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