reading | the homemade kitchen

recently i got my hands on a copy of the homemade kitchen by alana chernila and i’ve found myself thumbing through it during my spare time. i’m completely captivated by the writing, the recipes, and the photography.
let’s just say this is one of the best recipe books i’ve had the pleasure of owning.
alana walks through the cooking basics:
how to cook an egg | fried, poached, soft-boiled, hard-boiled, scrambled,
how to cook a vegetable | steaming, roasting (loved this one! – she walked through so many different vegetables!)
how to turn fruit into jam | blackberries, cantaloupe, cherries, nectarines, peaches, pears, raspberries, etc
how to make a pickle & salads | cook rice and roast a chicken | make pie crusts & how to use fresh herbs.
those are just a FEW of the things in the first chapter of “be a beginner”.

i really, really enjoy this cookbook.
and it’s so much more than that – the chapters on “put your hands in the hearth” and “be active” and “slow down” and “do the work”…ok so ALL OF THEM really resonated with me.
i feel like a broken record – but not only are the images gorgeous, and the recipes looking beyond scrumptious, alana’s writing tone just brings you in and is welcoming.
it’s like i’m having coffee with a good friend and she is sharing all of her tips and tricks for the kitchen.
and did i mention how beautiful this book is?
i mean, if you don’t cook you could just buy it to sit on your table to impress your guests 😉