Cooking the books

I could lose hours in cookery books. They provide me with great inspiration, both in a culinary sense, but a photographic one too. My mum always taught me not to follow a recipe closely. Once you learn the basics, then you can kind of adapt things to what you fancy. She gave me a copy of The Dairy Book of Home Cookery informed me that it was the dhammapada of basic cookery. And it is exactly that. If you need to learn how to make a basic white sauce, a basic sponge, or even a cheese sandwich. The recipe is in there.

A chef that I really respect for his similar attitude to cooking is Jamie Oliver. I find his books very inspiring - both from a cooking sense and photographic one. Jamie makes recipes easy, encourages you to play around and the photography is sublime. I've been really inspired by his photographer David Loftus. Loftus has a lovely style. Real, unapologetic and punchy. They've worked together a long time, and you can really see that in the integrity of their work.

It's time to get my head in that stack of books :D