Piles of Books (Not a Weekend Reads)

No such thing as too many books, right?

My husband and I are on opposite sides of that answer. but one of us is a reader, the other is not. You don't hear me complaining about too many Top Gear magazines filling the house.

I am rather impatiently waiting the arrival of the built-in bookshelf for my studio space. So, for now, these books pile around me on the floor. Until the other day they were in my son's room/house dumping ground but I went on a spree and did up his room this past week. So now the books are piling up on the floor in my room. And that's not counting all my non-sewing related books (novels, bios, non-fiction, etc.) piling up on the floor of the bedroom. Also not counting the boxes of books stored away, hoping for a glimpse of the light.

It's no lie, I've dreamt of a home library for years. Just like Lord Grantham with his red couches, impressive writing desk, and a tray of crystal and hard liquor. Or perhaps a slightly more modern version. A girl has to dream right? Because libraries are exactly what the architects of these 50s tract houses had in mind when designing boxes to inhabit.

Any suggestions or pin boards on book displays/storage for a mid-century girl?

Homemade With Love (Weekend Reads)

Both the joy and annoyance of knowing someone writing a book is the anticipation. As an author I know the work, struggle, and excitement of producing a book. The time lag between the emotions of writing and the actual publication. Then the revisiting those emotions. When you know someone else going through these things the empathy is strong. So is the joy when that book is given to the world.

Jennifer Perillo recently published her first book, Homemade with Love. A testament to her from-scratch cooking as much as it is to love. It is filled with both stories and good food, the kind that make you wish you had doughnut pans and a food processor and extra long arms to hug everyone. I've had the book for about a month now and have made at least a half dozen recipes (including the incredible Golden Vanilla Birthday Cake seen above and currently covering half my cake stand). All have worked wonderfully and tasted like they cared about me.

The book is, of course, tinged with both happiness and grief. This is the book Jennie always wanted to write. And then her husband suddenly died, plunging her and her girls into an unimaginable world. She writes of her grief in snippets in the book (more so on her blog, In Jennie's Kitchen). What you see in the book - even in the photography - is the light that comes from food, from making and sharing food cooked with love. And that light can shine through grief.

One day I hope to meet Jennie in person, to cook with her and laugh over wine. I have a feeling she has a lot to teach me - about honest motherhood, food, and dreaming big. We can talk writing and 5 year old girls. And I will toast her and this wonderful cookbook, one of my favourites in a long while.

Take some time today to laugh with your partner and share a piece of homemade cake.

Sharp Knives, Boiling Oil (Weekend Reads)

Cooking with my kids is something I do almost daily. I started when they were toddlers, more or less as soon as they could stand beside me in the kitchen. We've included knives from the beginning, and so much more. I thought I was pretty great, cooking with them. I wrote about it many times, I spouted off advice to anyone who would listen. I thought I was a bit of a rock-star mom. Then I read Sharp Knives, Boiling Oil by Kim Foster.

If I am a rock star mom then Kim is the royal family, the Queen Mum. She makes potato chips from scratch and then volunteered to teach a preschool class in a Harlem public school how to cook. Then she lived to write about it.

And by teaching these kids to cook I don't mean she set about to mix up some chocolate chip cookies or press the button on the food processor to make hummus. She made dumplings and spring rolls, pastry, cheese, stocks for soups, and all this after starting with meatballs. She is equal parts brave and insane.

I love her so much.

Sharp Knives, Boiling Oil is her self-published e-book documenting her year with the kids in the Harlem public school. But it also about documenting her changing relationship with her oldest daughter and her own relationship with cooking and enjoying food.

Kim is honest, funny to the point of downright hysterical, and speaks what the rest of us only think when it comes to personal criticism and relationships. I would kill to drink wine with her if only to hear her voice. And get all the stories that didn't make the book.

This book also includes recipes and some intensely personal admissions. I literally laughed and cried - what a cliche - through the book. But I did and so will you. And then you will want to make Chocolate Kumquat Spring Rolls and sit around the table with your family and a roast chicken. Because that is what Kim does, she makes cooking and people real, so real that you need to become a part of it too. Just like the kids she worked with did.

Charley Harper Board Books (Weekend Reads)

When I picked up the first of these books with a fabric order from Purl Soho I held on to them, keeping them away from the kids. Too precious, I thought. Then I picked up the third in an airport bookstore last month and brought them out. And now - no word of a lie - they are my little man's favourite books. He crawls around with them, eats them, hands them to me or his sisters to read... What can I say? The boy has great taste.