Monday, 29 October 2001 | Food education

Yesterday I bought my first cookbook. Well, that's not exactly true. My mom gave me a couple my freshman year in college, but then somehow cooking oil got all over them and they were too sticky to hold comfortably and too illegible to be useful, the pages tanned and spottily transparent, words from opposite pages shining through and merging to form a new language. (Though I never had much chance to use them, I still have those cookbooks, because I am oddly compelled to keep things.) I also didn't buy the cookbook myself originally—Martin bought it, upon my suggestion, and it wasn't until later we determined that it suited my freakish tastes better than his, and he sold it to me. Anyway, I'm really excited about it, mainly because it makes me want to cook and experiment and try new foods and pay attention to presentation, none of which I've ever cared about before. Tonight I made a meal that looked complicated and attractive and it was healthy and good. I wonder how long I can keep this up.

As promised, I've put up some pictures from October/Halloween and from the farmers' market.