This weekend I finally fulfilled a long-time dream and re-read The Cook by Harry Kressing. For anyone who loves cooking or who is interested in psychology and sinister plots, I highly recommend this book. For anyone who has worked in the service industry, catering for the excessively rich and snobby, this book is a delightful fantasy where the clever and hard-working cook turns the tables and soon has the boss for his butler. All the little details about cooking, the kitchen, the cookbooks (even a cookbook for cats!), the hunting and the shopping give a wonderful glimpse into what running an old manor kitchen might have been like. In this age of gluten-free and allergies for every imaginable food, The Cook also offers a parallel with every character’s special needs being catered to with the ease and flourish of a very accomplished chef. It is one of those books you just can’t put down, but with its 244 pages it is a quick read. You can’t truly call yourself a foodie if you haven’t read The Cook.

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I have been reading up on the diggers and levellers lately what with all of this land-grabbing that is going on around the world. Living in an apartment I always have my eye on any bit of land that looks fertile or even just neglected. Gerrard Winstanley was one of the original land-redistribution activists in the Western tradition. He wrote many pamphlets, this is his most extensive one which gives his ideas of the basic problem in our world (buying and selling) and how we can create a better world for ourselves and our children. It is quite extensive and the whole thing can be viewed here. I have taken some of my favorite passages for you below:

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I was given a special treat this year for my birthday–lunch out at the Sha Lin Noodle House in Vancouver, BC. They don’t take reservations so we crowded into the doorway to get out of the rain and hovered hungrily over the nearest table, the wait wasn’t long and we were soon seated with a great view of the glass-enclosed kitchen where noodles were being tossed, cut, pulled and cooked. We ordered noodles in various states as well as cucumbers in a toasted sesame dressing which was fantastic. The helpings were huge, even though we were stuffed we walked out the door with some hefty doggy-bags.

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I was very excited to get a message from a friend in London who was taking her man out for his birthday dinner to Mandalay, which is a very good Burmese restaurant in London, one of the few Burmese restaurants outside of Myanmar in the world. There is also a very good one in San Francisco and a couple in New York, if anyone else knows of any others, please let me know!

Burmese food is really it’s own thing and I highly recommend trying it out if you get a chance. Kat’s message follows:

I just got back from the restaurant and the food was fantastic! I had that coconut chicken noodle soup (Kaukswe) that you recommended and it was divine! It reminded me a bit of Penang Laksa only better ‘cus they use chicken breast which I prefer! So no bones or funny offal stuff that you sometimes get in noodle dishes. I had battered veg for starters a bit like tempura and some lovely chicken samosas. For dessert I had a tapioca pudding in coconut milk (a bit like Gula Melaka) and Jake had a lovely semolina cake (pictured above).

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GOOD FOOD: Film by Moving Images

“I hope the film will help generate grass-roots solutions.” -Producer Melissa Young

As the world breaks into rioting from hunger, Moving Images appears with the film, GOOD FOOD and puts the spotlight on the tip of a different kind of iceberg. Producers Melissa Young and Mark Dworkin bring the personal stories of a variety of local farmers, organizations and restaurants into direct communication with urban foodies. The film breaks apart the illusion, cast by corporate controlled media, that there is any benefit to the centralized, industrial food system. GOOD FOOD highlights the ingenuity, integrity and respect of the sustainable food movement in the Pacific Northwest.

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