I finished reading a book that’s been on my shelf for years – Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist.  I loved this book.  The subtitle – A Love Letter to Life around the Table – describes the book perfectly.  The book is a collection of essays about the author’s life, and food is intertwined at every turn.  In fact, every chapter includes a recipe.  

“It’s about what happens when we come together, slow down, open our homes, look into one another’s faces, listen to one another’s stories…It happens when we enter the joy and the sorrow of the people we love, and we join together at the table to feed one another and be fed, and while it’s not strictly about food, it doesn’t happen without it.  Food is a language of care…and food is what we offer in celebration.  Food matters.”

This topic of gathering around the table is one I enjoy reading about so much.  If you are interested, I encourage you to pick up this book.  

Initially after finishing the book I thought it would be fun to cook through the book and try every recipe.  On an evening walk I was telling Kenny about this idea and he asked me why I wanted to do this.  I answered that I thought it would be fun to cook every single recipe in a book, and, to maybe find something new that we like.  After cooking the first recipe and being the only one who enjoyed it, I decided to back off and just try a few.  Cooking new recipes takes a lot of time and energy that I don’t have.  I need to carefully pour over the recipes and decide which ones have a good shot of being a winner and which ones don’t.  I don’t need the extra stress of making meals my family doesn’t enjoy.  I don’t enjoy cooking THAT much.  So, I’ll spare you the details of the white bean and parsnip casserole I made, and only mention the future recipes that all four of us love. 

Reading this book inspired me to get my recipes organized – a task on my to-do list for some time.  I sorted through and organized the piles of recipes I’ve printed or torn out of magazines.  In addition to my recipe box, I have a binder divided by category and find that helpful for recipes I want to try or the ones we love.  I also created a list of our family’s favorite meals and will have a much easier time menu planning now.  

Have you discovered any new recipes this summer?