Every week or so when it’s time to plan meals and make the grocery list, I have a habit of camping out on the sofa with a half dozen or so cookbooks and flipping through them page by page, reading recipes after recipe to Drew (this is not his favorite part of the week).

I’ve only recently branched out from cookbooks to books about cooking. On the plane to LA last week I finished up Julia Child’s memoir My Life in France. I have no particular memories of watching her cooking show, but DO remember the first time I saw her kitchen at the Smithsonian. And of course, no true cookbook aficionado could be without Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Even if you’re not all that into cooking, it’s a very interesting read—she attended the wedding of Ernest Hemingway’s son, her husband was investigated during the McCarthy era, she was buddy-buddy with James Beard. Another little-known tidbit is that Mastering the Art of French Cooking was published by the same editor that brought The Diary of Anne Frank to the US. Of course, if you DO like cooking, there’s a lot to be inspired by. I was especially happy to read that Mrs. Child was all about the kitchen gadgets, which I believe fully justifies my desire to buy quiche pans, tart pans, scone pans, popover pans… you get the picture.

After enjoying “My Life in France” so much, I picked up Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. I’m about halfway through now and am finding it a little less enjoyable—I think Bourdain tries a little too hard to be shocking and the book kinda jumps a bit much for my taste. I think next on my list will be Julie and Julia, a book by a woman who resolved to cook every single recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a single year (and recommended by Astrid!). I’d love to try the same thing myself as I’ve barely cracked my copy, but can’t imagine I’d have the time or energy! Maybe I could handle one a week, though… My goal for this week is to test out the recipe for chocolate souffle—I’ll let you know how it goes!