I'm eating lunch as I write this, but I'm still thinking about the fabulous pumpkin pancakes with sticky maple pecans that I had yesterday for breakfast at a pre-launch party for Nigella Lawson's forthcoming book, Nigella Christmas: Food, Family, Friends, Festivities (Hyperion, November 09).
The gracious, charming, and attractive Nigella told us how she's put her new cookbook together, and how sumptuous foods and delicious recipes don't have to be stress-making. With just a little planning and forethought, marvelous meals can come together efficiently and reasonably quickly--and be a force for bringing people together as well. (Everyone aspires to this, of course...)
Nigella, by the way, is the bestselling author of the cookbooks Nigella Express, Feast, Forever Summer, Nigella Bites, How to Be a Domestic Goddess, and How to Eat, which together have sold over six million copies around the world. She's a mother of two and lives in London.
As the sun shone outside and virtually every last one of us was thinking of the upcoming holiday weekend, it was fun to take a leap ahead to the wintry holiday season and start thinking about what to make when, how to have the best mix of meals, and how to actually accomplish it.
These days more than ever, that is my goal, now that my boys have moved way past the "white meals" of their toddlerhoods and now thrive on variety (one of them will even eat brussel sprouts, but that's another story for another time and place).
Most of all, I want great and healthy meals that are easy to pull off. Who has time to fuss?
Speaking of which, you must check out the hot new food column in Reader's Digest, called Eater's Digest, which features recipes from the very best cookbooks. In the July issue, you'll find recipes for grilling from the books of Emeril Lagasse, Steven Raichlen, and Bobby Flay--all worthwhile, all doable, all for those of us who want simplicity and delicious food at the same time. And all for people whose feet are firmly planted in July--and who can't wait to get the grills going.