I can’t say I’ve been a big fan of French cooking in general… but that was before being exposed to Chef Balek at Google and before taking cooking seriously. I’m really looking forward to exploring this book. And it seems that several of my friends are also looking forward to my exploration of it.

This is the classic book in America on the topic of French cooking. Also, if you’re a foodie and haven’t seen Julie & Julia, see it! It’s endearing, cute, and inspiring. It’s worth it just to see Julia Child (well, Meryl Streep) juggling hot cannelloni and commenting “these things are as hot as a stiff cock”.  The Lobster Thermidor sequence is a comedic high point. More on the movie in another post.

This book is insane. Production values are outstanding with gloss paper throughout. It appears that there is a vivid photo of every dish. This will be a pleasure to cook from. It’ll be a pleasure to read through: it’s pure, hardcore food porn. I have the feeling that I’ll be making Babbo a must-go-to stop the next time I’m in NYC.

This book looks absolutely, ridiculously incredible. I love how it’s structured around ingredients. It will make it easy to work with what’s locally in season. That’s one thing I want to do with my cooking… strive to be as seasonal and local as possible. I learned that from Chef Lucke, and was recently reminded of it by a friend.