Christmas cookbooks

I love getting cookery books for Christmas. So much so that I always buy at least one for myself - well for my husband to give to me. And this year I have done very well with the four shown above. Two of them I bought myself - the bottom two, and the other two were gifts.

Why do I love cookery books? Well they are always so beautifully produced - in very different ways, so the aesthetic pleasure of turning the pages is really satisfying. A thing of beauty is always a pleasure. You can dip into them when you have nothing else to do, or when you feel lazy. Sometimes you might even be inspired to try a recipe or two - or they might give you ideas about something you could do with what you have in the fridge. Some of them are travelogues as well - like Luke Nguyen's France - I love France, so it is a real pleasure to look at the pictures. And I bought this one for that reason, and also because I'm not very well versed in Asian - well Vietnamese cuisine and I thought it might give me a few pointers. And some of them are beautifully written - like Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries III: a Year of Good Eating. It makes you reflect on food in a philosophical way. They are nice things to have around, they are relaxing and soothing. Well for me anyway.

This year's bounty is a really good mix. The totally unexpected Tempt which is all about chocolate things is a really good thing to have when you have a husband who is a marginal chocolate addict. I have yet to look at this one. It's an anticipatory pleasure. As you will all have realised by now I am a great fan of Nigel Slater - not just for his recipes - which like Delia's - are always so doable, so different and so inspiring. For he also writes so well about food in general and not in a snobby way. He is just so interesting. I plan to dip into this one on the corresponding day's item - so for example I would look at June 25 rather than December 25, because, of course, as he is English, our seasons are in reverse. He doesn't have an entry for every day of the year, but almost. Browsing in a bookshop one day and seeing one of his Kitchen Diaries volumes, in many ways inspired me to write this blog - so it's a really good thing to finally possess one of them.

The other two I chose myself. Belinda Jefferey's Mix and Bake was a special buy in Aldi, and as I am a fan of hers, and as I don't actually have any of her books I also thought this was opportune. I have yet to look at it and truth to tell I don't make many cakes or biscuits, but I did see that one of the sections was on savoury things so that might yield something interesting. Her upside down tomato pie - well it's more like a cake - is one of my very favourite things. Then there was also Luke Nguyen's France - also a bargain somewhere, which as well as the nostalgia for France, I thought might yield some interesting recipes.

I have, in fact, just finished flicking through this last one and it was marginally disappointing, mostly because of the dominance of shellfish and things like quail and pigeon which I am unlikely to want to try. There were a few interesting things though. So not a complete waste of money.

And let's face it we never cook everything from a cookery book - even our most favourite ones. I did cook a lot from some of Elizabeth David's books and also Robert Carrier - but then I didn't have a very large collection to choose from then. I have favourites that I turn to often and I have others that I refer to for information, some that I keep for sentimental value, some that are just objects of beauty and some that I keep for perhaps just one recipe. I love them all, both individually and collectively. They represent little bits of my life. No kitchen is a proper kitchen without a good selection of cookery books on display.

And it's so hot here in Melbourne, that sitting inside with a book is a really good thing to do.