Laurie Colwin, I have found, is someone you either like or don’t; there is no in between. I happen to be in the former group. I can read her books again, and again, always feeling as though I’m sitting down with an old friend. That’s why I loved this book. For people looking for a cookbook, they need to go elsewhere. This is more memoir than cookbook. Yes, there are recipes, but that’s not the main focus of the book. The main focus is talking about food, sharing food, loving food. The recipes are secondary.

I think what I liked the most about this book was reading about the foibles and failures that had befallen her throughout her culinary life. Her writing is laugh out loud funny in places, and made me feel so much better about my own kitchen disasters. The best part of any personal failing, is telling a humorous story about it, and this woman can tell a story.

This is both a very useful collection of recipes and a very funny bunch of stories related to cooking. I would have loved to be able to talk with the author -- she seems to have been a wonderful person!