The weather is hot and humid and I feel really lethargic. What a good excuse to sit around reading or posting.
The book above is possibly one of the most beautiful cookery books I have found. Rose Petal Jam is by Beata Zatorska and her husband Simon Target and follows their return to her native Poland after some years in exile. It is a special book, so much love and sentiment are inside this visually enchanting volume. Beata speaks of her beloved Polish Grandmother and her farmhouse kitchen in the foothills of the Karkonsze mountains. Her Grandmother fed her wonderful food and taught her to make pierogi , the rose petal jam of the title and many more polish dishes.
This is the sort of food that brings the tastes and smells of Beata's childhood to life for her and for us.You feel her emotion very strongly as she visits relatives and places she has not seen since childhood.
I love the photography and the inclusion of Polish poetry both translated and in the original. Her book will do so much for the Polish tourist industry , now I would just love to wander in the scenery shown there so lovingly. I am enchanted by the wooden painted buildings,white net curtains and the gardens where flowers tumble around vegetable plots. Beata's book is in the great tradition of really special cookery books that bring together love, life, memories and family food! The most important things in life I think. The great thing is that there is a follow up coming out sometime next year about her winter in Poland entitled Sugared Orange Zest.
Follow this link to find out more
Think I will be trying to make pierniki, ginger biscuits and knedle ze sliwkami translated plum filled potato dumplings!
Some other books on the go, of course they are
on the bed where I do most of my reading!
