7.8.10: Summery Sideyards
The warm weather of June inspired me to select a number of cooking volumes to review, as well as a title geared towards helping homeowners give their outdoor living spaces a more ‘Mediterranean’ feel, thus setting the mood for summer gatherings about the grill. Already our barbeque has seen considerable use, both before and after rainstorms, but I am especially grateful for the grill’s presence on sweltering days, when I can stand under the jasmine-shaded canopy and cook, keeping heat and smoke out of the house. No indoor designer kitchen can hold a candle to this open forum of food with its fresh breezes blowing by, its swaying vine-tendrils studded with flowers and the scampering sounds of children at play.
Stonewall Kitchen: Grilling stole the top honors this month, with its “year-round grilling” focus and mouthwatering montage of photographs. I most appreciated the included tips and hints, which actually helped produce better grilling results.
BBQ Makes Everything Better took some searching to fully appreciate, but proved a useful book nonetheless. Besides gaining a few recipes to try, I learned a handy trick for grilling bone-in chicken and getting the blackened skins off grilled peppers a bit more easily. A word of warning, however: bacon, Italian dressing, bacon fat and sausage feature prominently in many of this book’s recipes.
For some excellent dinner conversation ‘morsels,’ immerse yourself in A Revolution in Taste: the Rise of French Cuisine. It’s full of intriguing facts about how food was prepared prior to the “nouvelle” cuisine that flowed out of Parisian kitchens and caused much of the civilized world to re-think its cooking methods. What BBQ could not use more simple, nutritive flavors woven together with complimentary art?
Not merely relegated to the food, Italian Rustic also brings art into play, transplanting design ideas and methods straight from Tuscany to your backyard, and also to your home. The pages of this book have inspired us to consider re-plastering our master bedroom and apply a natural “wash” for subtle, earthy tones, in lieu of a blank of latex paint. Outside, one looks with new eyes at the sun-drenched spaces for ways to dress them up: fruit-bearing lemon trees (bought on sale) planted in large pots are a smart stand-in for expensive topiaries; several broad lengths of breezy, light colored fabric sewn over fishing line at the sides can be stretched across hot spots and anchored to eye-hooks embedded in the good neighbor fence, providing an immediate alfresco dining area.
Green-thumbed individuals with small outdoors spaces will heartily enjoy this earth-conscious tome: Garden Anywhere, reviewed back in March 2009; these pages yet influence my garden plans each season.
May pleasant gatherings be yours this Summer.
–Meredith Greene
Meredith Greene has been a reviewer for SBR/SFBR since April of 2009; a wife of thirteen years, mother of four and self-published novelist. She, nevertheless, finds time for poetry, blogs, home projects, and gardening. Come on over and read what Meredith has to say about home, gardening, and other general musings in her column Greene Ink. Visit Meredith’s website www.BelatorBooks.com.
