My wife bought this book for me and I love it thus far.  I started reading it last week and it’s great.  I haven’t cooked a recipe from it yet but they look interesting and creative…exactly what you would expect from Mario Batali.  The best part of the book, however, is that contains anecdotes regarding farms and farmers from around the country.  The farm to table movement isn’t new but it has certainly gained steam in recent years and this book celebrates the farm, eating seasonally and locally produced food/ingredients, etc.  If you read this blog regularly you know that I’m a fan of farmer’s markets and getting ingredients as directly from the source as possible and that’s the reason I was interested in reading this book…and it doesn’t disappoint in that way.  At any rate, it’s a good read and certainly worth your time if you are interested in purchasing another cookbook.

…and a little housekeeping:  recipes for chili, a classic French apple tart straight from culinary school, apple butter, pita bread, and curing your own bacon are all forthcoming.  Winter vegetable salad is on the horizon as well.  Putting that out there will hopefully set expectations so that I can keep to a schedule and catch up on writing the recipes and getting them to you!  I’m woefully behind and I apologize for that.  This fall has been crazy busy…I’m not sure where the time goes but it certainly is moving quickly these days.  Anyway, stay tuned for new recipes and I hope all is well with everyone!