Looky Cooky Booky

I LOVE cookbooks. Sometimes, when I want to chill out in front of the tele and flick through an easy to read book, cookbooks are where I go to. I can rarely just watch tele - I always have to be doing something else. I have heaps - Nigella, Jamie, Rick Stein, Nigel Slater, etc, as well as some ol' 50s vintage cookbooks - great cakes and jams.

Do I cook from them? Sometimes. Mostly I just read them and pick up on little tips and good flavour combinations. I like to invent my own stuff too.

Anyway, my fave at the moment is a treat I bought myself at Christmas time with a little help from a Target voucher I got from my sister in law.

Stephanie Alexander's Kitchen Garden Companion. I love it. Tips for planting a whole range of fruit and veg, plus a special section for all those like me who live in a shoe box with no space for diggin' - potter's paradise. And a special list for ways that kids can be involved. It's not a cheapie, but I know that Kmart and Target sell it for a good price, particularly when they have a sale on. My copy was $80, but I know it can go for about $120?

I have some herbies growing - Greek basil, taragon, thyme, mint, parsley and chives. The mint has taken over the chives and the parsley, but I have now learnt to keep the mint in a pot by itself. I also have some cherry tomatoes which are snatched by the birds before I can pick 'em. The strawberries don't have any fruit, and the Christmas bush has lost its flowers for the season. I have only once seen a flower on the lavender. But do I love my plants? Yes, I just need some practice. Oh for a farm ;-)

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