ON MY BOOKSHELF // Cookbooks

A few weekends ago, Taylor and I had a garage sale with our friends Chris and Julie, and one of the areas in our apartment that needed major purging was our bookshelves.  However, as I started going through the shelves, I couldn't help but reminisce over some of my favorite books, the stories they told, or the things they taught me... it's impossible not to pick up a book and be changed by it in some way.

So, that gave me the idea to start a new series called "On My Bookshelf" to share a few books that I've really enjoyed over the years. For the first batch I thought I'd round up a few of my favorite cookbooks.

Click through if you'd like to read more information on these books!

Bouchon Bakery by Thomas Keller

My infatuation with Thomas Keller and his cookbooks started about a year ago when I was at my friend Julie's house and saw this gorgeous white book called the French Laundry Cookbook sitting on their coffee table.  Like a mad woman, I managed to track down every book he has written and checked them all out at the library.  Bouchon Bakery  is definitely one of my favorites- every page is drop dead gorgeous and filled with beautiful photography, styling, and text.  Even though  Keller is world famous and immensely successful chef, his writing is totally down to earth, full of enthusiasm about cooking, and really explains the nitty gritty details about the ins and outs and whys of why food tastes the way it does.

It's All Good by Gwenyth Paltrow

A really great book filled with healthy, delicious and easy to make recipes.  If you ever wanted to go on an elimination diet, detox diet, or cut all your carbs, you could totally use this book and have endless recipes to choose from that would be healthy but totally satisfying and delicious.
Also- if you like this book, Paltrow's first book My Father's Daughter, is a good one to check out as well.

In Season by Rob Patronite

This book is a perfect solution for people like me, who love the idea of going to a farmer's market but never know what to buy when I get there, or what to make with the food I bought when I get home.  A compilation of recipes from New York Magazine's In Season food column, the recipes are organized by season and showcase simple and unique recipes centered around particular ingredients.   Even if you never cook anything from this book, the architectural style of the food photography combined with carefully placed text and illustrated directions is just awesome and (in my opinion) worth it for that reason alone.