Food, fantasy, and ... envy?

Yesterday was Library book due day for these books. Apart from the White Palace, which I renewed because I'm still reading it. Those Romanovs, phew. That was a good loan, I enjoyed and read all of the books (not always a given, a lot of books I borrow from the library I don't get round to), and Lost Cat in particular was a monster hit. I gave it to DC to read, him being even more of a cat sook than I am, and a techie to boot. He LOVED it - showed it to friends, posted it on Facebook. I'm thinking of getting him a t-shirt "Go and read Lost cat, by Caroline Paul".

Anyway, so this week's batch, clearly I got stuck in the cooking section. Because we're off on holiday in a week, I didn't want novels in case I was still in the middle of one when we left. And I admit to being influenced by a friend's new blog Life lived lavishly, in which cooking plays a very large role. Rilka's feasts is probably the most direct influence (Rilka has Eastern European ancestry as well - Bulgarian in this case). It's a mixture of recipes and memoir, and should be wonderful. Mma Ramotswe's Cookbook: nourishment for the traditionally built goes to Botswana for its recipes, and is of course tied to the Alexander McCall Smith's No 1 Ladies Detective Agency novels. Lots of great photos. I've just opened it to a page with a recipe called Fat cakes. They look yummy but sadly I won't be making them because they're deep fried. I'm scared of deep frying, and figure that with so many places selling you deep fried food, why bother learning yourself. I know it's not a good argument.

Moving on, Get cooking is by Mollie Katzen, and I'm very fond of Mollie Katzen. The Moosewood Cookbook, and the Enchanted Broccoli Forest were probably the first cookbooks I ever bought, and they still get a lot of use. Interestingly, Get cooking isn't a vegetarian cookbook - there's even a drawing of a roast chook on the cover! The Complete Food Makeover caught my eye, although I have mixed feelings about it. Its got pretty pictures, but I have to do an eye-roll whenever I see low-fat cottage cheese mentioned. If standard cottage cheese was the most high fat thing in my diet, I'd be "hanging off a charm bracelet", in the words of Erma Bombeck.

I suspect Style me vintage: tea parties (more pretty pictures! and a soupcon of social history), BBC Good Food, and Cherry cake and ginger beer were grabbed in reaction. That cake on Good Food's cover looks seriously scrummy, and I'm hosting my book circle tomorrow evening. Cherry cake and ginger beer I've read before, and adore it. It's recipes based on the food mentioned in classic English children's books - like Enid Blyton, Swallows and Amazons, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It even has a recipe for pickled limes a la Little Women. I worked with children's literature for 13 years at the National Library, and still regularly re-read my favourite books from my childhood.

And finally, Envy. Palmie library uses the dewey decimal system but arranges its non-fiction in a series of living rooms, where quite disparate dewey ranges may appear. For example, the Health living room will include books from the 100s (emotions, self-esteem), the 300s (relationships), and the 600s (medicine, nutrition, grooming). Very well set up for browsing. The Beliefs (philosophy and religion, plus UFOs etc) living room is right next to the Cooking living room, so I was walking past it as I was leaving. This little book was facing out on the end of the shelf. The blurb says "Writing in a conversational, erudite, self-deprecating style that wears its learning lightly, Epstein takes us on a stimulating tour of the many faces of envy."An extended essay, a literary form I enjoy. (There's something pompous about that statement, but never mind.) Essays are like good speeches - they are written to educate but also to persuade - to present a point of view. Even if you don't agree with the conclusions, they are often illuminating and thought provoking.

I also have to confess that the subject spoke to me. Envy is probably the deadly sin I consider myself most prone to. It goes hand in hand I think with a lack of self confidence, which I also suffer from at times (along with the rest of the world, of course). Like all sins, it does have it's place: if I'm feeling envious, what is that saying about me and my life? Does it mean that I'm bored with something in my life? Does it mean that there is a need (or want) in my life that I need to address? If those are legitimate, then do something about it, otherwise remind yourself 1) of all that you do have, 2) that you shouldn't compare your inside with someone else's outside, 3) envy is not going to make you any happier. Choose the mix of these that best suits the situation!