Wednesday, February 26, 2014

10 favourite cooking books

As you can see from this photo of me when I was 2 years old, I've always loved food...
Not only that but I love big, happy gatherings with friends and family and I love pinning beautiful imagery of food and food styling and inspiring cafés from around the world on my Pinterest. I started working on a post of my top fav interiors books and cooking books and realised that I had so many cooking books that they deserved a post of their own.

//BOOKS I OWN
It's All Good: Delicious, Easy Recipes that Will Make You Look Good and Feel Great by Gwyneth Paltrow. One of my favourites. Recipes are easy, the whole book has a feel-good happy vibe and it has opened up a lot for me when it came to changing my eating habits and learning more about food allergies like gluten, finding out where our food is coming from etc and taking care of my body inside out. I know some people get annoyed with her, personally I like her very much (like team Vanessa I'm a team Gwyneth too). She is a picture of health in this book and that's all it matters to me.

Marie Claire Seasonal Kitchen: Inspired Recipes and Food Ideas by Michele Cranston. I first spotted this book at my sister-in-law's beach home in New-Zealand (the one who gave me this delicious banana muffin recipe) four years ago and as soon as we were back in the UK, I ordered it. Cranston took over Donna Hay when she left Marie-Claire and I love her relax, healthy approach to meals and family gatherings. After loving my first Cranston's book so much, I also bought Marie Claire Fresh + Fast but I have to admit, I use it less.

Seasons by Donna Hay. I bought mine Christmas 2012 while we were in New-Zealand (read my post back then)...and it blew my mind! I've never seen such wonderful food styling and Donna Hay literally moved my love for Australian cooking to the next level.

Bill's basics by Bill Granger. By then, deeply in love with Australian lifestyle and approach to cooking rather than the traditional French one I grew up with, my next Aussie love was Bill Granger. I have to admit I actually spent more time at his restaurant Granger & Co in Notting Hill than trying his recipes but I love what I'm eating there....fresh, tasty, healthy so I make it my mission to try out his book more over the next season.

Miss Dahl's Voluptuous delights by Sophie Dahl. One that I use more in Winter time, I LOVED her poached eggs on portobello mushrooms with goat's cheese and her Sunday suppers.

Sweet Paris: A love affair with Parisian pastries, chocolates and desserts by Michael Paul. Michael is a New-Zealander Photographer who shot our house in France years ago and most recently our home in London, featured in ELLE DECORATION UK in 2013. He is an amazing Photographer and great stylist too. We've done several shots together and I've learnt a lot of styling tips from him. Last year, he and his wife went to Paris for 6 months to explore the best of our pastries and cakes, came back with a few kilos on and amazing photos of Paris, best places to eat, classic pastry dishes, etc. It's a beautiful book with amazing French recipes, highlighting Paris's architecture - a great gift.

// ON MY WISH-LIST
Honestly Healthy for Life: Healthy Alternative for Everyday Eating by Natasha Corrett (daughter of Kelly Hoppen). Highly recommended by Polly who is coeliac, Natasha's book is all about making better choices and eating healthily. Her website Honestly Healthy is very inspiring and a goldmine of information. 

What Katie Ate: Recipes and Other Bits and Bobs by Katie Quinn Davies. I'm in awe with Quinn Davies' photography and her styling and if you're not familiar with her work, check her website.

Yvestown in de keuken (Yvestown in the kitchen) by Yvonne Eijkenduin. I'm actually featured in this book, photographed and written by Yvonne from Yvestown.
I'm sharing my favourite recipes (chocolate coconut brownie, spicy prawns bulgur salad, etc..). I haven't seen the final copy, only a few spreads but I think it's going to look fab as Yvonne focused on interiors too so you will get a wonderful mix of monochrome, white interiors along with some very Cath Kidston, colourful interiors and some yummy recipes from all around Europe.

Kinfolk Table, The: Recipes for Small Gatherings. I almost got it at Christmas for my sister-in-law but then Steve said she had plenty of recipe books (men!). Yet, anything by Kinfolk is always great and I think this book makes a wonderful gift to any food and photography lovers.

I hope you enjoyed this. I would love to hear from you and to know which book is your favourite.
I'm sure there is a lot more books out there that are very inspiring and interesting and I would love your recommendations on books about juicing for instance and as I know there is a lot of Australian readers, I would also love your help to discover new Australian cooking books. Have a fabulous Friday and amazing weekend. See you on Instagram. Bises

//(C) Photography by Nicole Franzen with thanks

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