One of my favorite things in the whole world is cooking. There are few things I find more satisfying personally than preparing a delicious meal for my family and making the plates as pretty as I can.
To me, food is art. It takes skill to prepare a good meal. It takes something special to appreciate not just the flavor but how beautiful good food is too.  I am no chef, but I appreciate the finer things that chefs bring to a dish and try my hardest to emulate it in my own cooking.
My food has never been bad. My mom wasn’t afraid of herbs and seasoning, and she wasn’t afraid of the messes us kids made in the kitchen experimenting when we were growing up. I think having the freedom to create and explore food and the kitchen as a child is what made me love it as much as  I do now. I learned and improved on everything I learned from her, and was always looking to take it to a new level. Thanks to food network, I’m a much better technical cook today than I was 7 years ago!
I’m a vegetarian, and my cooking has always been a bit free style. I usually turn to my fridge for inspiration instead of a cookbook. I’ll follow a new recipe more or less the first time, Â but don’t hesitate to ad lib as I go based on what I already know about food.
With pinterest and dozens of recipe databases available online, cookbooks don’t play the part in the modern kitchen that they use to, either. But, for the love of food and pictures of food, I still have myself a little stash of cookbooks. Pretty food makes me happy. It inspires me and makes me feel creative.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more beautiful book of food than The Homemade Kitchen. When I pulled it out of the box and saw the cover for the first time, I was completely smitten. Every page was so beautiful.
From the incredible photography through out to the beautiful layouts, it is a stunning book. I had no problem spending an hour or two just turning the pages. It was like a garden path that lead you in and let you wander and explore and never tire of the beautiful scenery.
It was also quite likely the most inspiring cookbook I’ve ever read.
Start where you are. Feed yourself. Do your best, and then let go.
With stories and experiences woven between the recipes, it felt like talking with a fellow food lover in their own kitchen.  Best piece of  food advice ever, in my opinion, is this one.
Don’t be afraid of food.
Food is a wonderful, creative and nourishing medium that we should have fun exploring and learning about. And if a recipe doesn’t turn out once, there’s no shame in that! I once heard a famous chef say that he had to try dozens of time before coming up with a recipe worth perfecting into his now signature dish. I figure a flop or two along the way in my own kitchen isn’t so bad after all. ;)
And The Homemade Kitchen isn’t just about food. It’s about living, too. With tips about being frugal and caring for our environment, I found it an all-round educational and enjoyable read, besides being beautiful.
So if you are looking for something beautiful and food-filled to enjoy, I recommend browsing The Homemade Kitchen. As a vegetarian, there were not a lot of dishes I could make straight from the book. But every picture gave me ideas and made think of new ways to combine some of our favorite ingredients. The results have been so fun!
Now tell me, what’s your favorite place to go for food inspiration?
