A Visible Feast

Vibrant Food
by Kimberley Hasselbrink

is so beautiful that it could serve as a coffeebook, too.  Filled with gorgeous, colorful photographs -- it's art on a plate.

It is often said we eat with our eyes first and this book is sure to stir your appetite.  The recipes use fresh, seasonal ingredients and most of recipes are not difficult or time-consuming.   She is right that many of the recipes, the artistic presentation is intuitive and all you need is a good eye and a discerning palate.  

As an organic gardener and home chef, I enjoy seeing how Hasselbrink mixes up the color and taste.  How she reminds you the dish is your palette.

There are a lot of salad recipes, lighter fare recipes, and not so many stick to your rib entree dishes.  Very California cusine.  Her photos launch a thousand ideas.  I recommend this book to anyone who believes, as Charles Darwin did, "There is grandeur in this view of life." 

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

My Irish Table

My Irish Table is a beautiful cookbook with stuninng photographs, hearty recipes, and warm personal stories.  Totally relate to many of the stories, my family also never missed an opportunity to celebrate with food.   Food was and is love.

The book also feels like a travel book as it takes you all over Ireland.  Turns out I visited Ireland during the culinary revolution (1995-2007), something I learned from the Introduction.   Oh how I remember those Irish breakfasts, how filling and well they prepared me for the day's adventures.  I fished with the locals and my B & B cooked my fresh fish that evening.  I also toured a Tunisian snail farm in County Cork.

In spite of the mouthwatering photographs, this isn't a cookbook I'd use everyday.  More of a special occasion cookbook.  The ingredients are expensive -- lobster, rack of/leg of  lamb, duck, roast prime rib of beef, roast leg of pork, Dublin Bay prawns (langoustines), venison, foie gras (banned in CA) -- and many recipes are time-consuming.   I limit carbs and sweets.

I will, however, look forward to trying his potato leek soup and President Obama's Stew when fall arrives with cool brisk temperatures.   And maybe I'll be lucky enough to dine at Restaurant Eve.  My Irish table confirms that there's a little bit of Irish in everyone.

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."