Love Cookbooks But Don't Cook

I’d happily live in rooms lined with bookcases. Something about the warmth, look and feel of books has always enhanced my mood. Whether they are piled in stacks, open on tables, neatly arranged on shelves....I like being around books, and they’re the only clutter I encourage in my life.

Oddly enough, I love cookbooks a whole lot, yet I have little interest in cooking. Yes, I enjoy flavorful food, and very much like drinking wine, but playing with food holds no appeal. In fact I’m the guy who doesn’t even eat oranges because peeling them is too much hassle. So why do I like cookbooks so much, and have them on my shelves? None of them have food spatters, they don’t make it into the kitchen, yet they sit proudly on a shelf, next to my prized The Way To Cook by Julia Child. Weird, isn’t it? I won’t bore you with a rundown of my cookbook accumulation, but here’s a few recently published examples I’ve hung onto and admire.

I Know How To Cook, by Ginette Mathiot, translated into English by Clotilde Dusoulier, is a nearly 1000-page monster whose fun cover attracted my attention. The photos in here make me hungry; I most enjoy the illustrations, with their whimsical air and European feel. Turns out I Know How To Cook is French, has been in print since 1932 in France, and this is it’s first turn in English. 

Logical categories, such as “meat” and “soups,” and simple yet elegant graphic design help this volume be at ease in the kitchen. This isn’t a book to casually put on your lap and read; use it for inspiration, then lug it into the kitchen, lean it up against something, and get cooking.

In France people routinely give I Know How To Cook to young families setting up their first home; it’s a staple in their society. Happily for us, updates have been consistently made so the secrets of simple, French home cooking can easily take place in your kitchen.

The Phaidon Press website is marvelous and beautiful. Among many features, photo essay and journals, Mathiot has an entertaining essay about what it was like to translate the book and adapt the recipes. Should you like her writing, click through to her Chocolate & Zucchini blog, where you’ll lose yourself in recipes, articles, photographs and links. The book is $49.95.

Suddenly I’m hungry!

www.phaidon.com

www.chocolateandzucchini.com

 

Gourmet Today continues the tradition of big, heavy, 1000+ page cookbooks designed to be useful in today’s kitchens. Furthermore, as the venerable magazine’s print edition was put to rest in 2009 to great outcry, the Gourmet website and books such as this are left to carry on. Editor and author Ruth Reichl, writing with personality and wit, creates a gigantic reference volume that’s actually useful. I cannot speak to the true quality of the recipes; remember, I don’t really cook. But many of these recipes read like I could pull them off in the kitchen, and they certainly awaken my taste buds.

Illustrations carry the graphic design; no photos likely helped keep the cost down to $40.00. Reichl does something in this book I find enjoyable and useful; she takes a topic such as Balsamic Vinegar and devotes a half page to history, use in the kitchen, and shopping/buying advice. These types of features set Gourmet Today apart from many other cookbooks. I’ll say this again; Reichl’s writing makes this book.

There is a huge number of recipes in this book; I doubt you would ever become bored with any food topic or run out of interesting dishes to attempt. The more I dip into the book, the more I appreciate it.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt www.hmhbooks.com 

Enhancing Performance with Healthy Food

I love to eat, and bet most of you do too. If you’re the type who actually likes preparing meat and cutting up vegetables, know how to use more than just a blender, you’ll get a great deal from John Berardi’s Precision Nutrition newsletter, blog, and Gourmet Nutrition cookbooks. Berardi is an old friend, dating back to my Testosterone magazine days, and is one of the most effective trainers in the world. This guy knows how to combine nutrition with exercise to gain increased performance.

Periodically on his site he offers interesting recipes, all based on his principles of “gourmet nutrition.” Simply put, he presents ways to help us enjoy food that tastes great, contains lean, complete protein, is low in sugar and processed carbs, has much more healthy fat than bad fat, isn’t too calorically dense, and additive-free ingredients. Easy claims to make, difficult to follow through on. But Berardi does.

Setting himself apart from many other smart foodies in the exercise world, Berardi makes certain his recipes distinguish between “post-workout” and “anytime.” In my mind, an important distinction and one people always ask about.

Check out www.precisionnutrition.com for all manner of insightful commentary, essays, and news about nutrition applied to athletics and healthy life. Many people issue newsletters and blogs, but Berardi speaks the truth and knows how to apply his knowledge to real people.

Why I Love the Arnold Classic

Arnold Schwarzenneger began promoting bodybuilding contests in Columbus, Ohio, in the 1970s, while still competing. Back then the contest was called “Mr. International,” and the first event was held in a downtown Columbus movie theater. Several friends and I drove down from Michigan; we were bodybuilding enthusiasts and had seen the recently released movie “Pumping Iron” in the theater, but hadn’t seen live bodybuilders, other than on a local level. I don’t remember much about the actual contest, but I’ll never forget Arnold, Franco Columbo, Ed Corney, and most of the rest of the cast of “Pumping Iron” hanging out in the lobby behind card tables, selling 8x10 photos, and waiting (hoping?) for people to come up and talk to them. I wish I still had the autographed photo of Arnold I bought from him and he signed to me (I wonder what it would bring on eBay today?).

Flash forward 30 years. The Arnold Sports Festival is the largest multi-sports event in the United States; over 17,000 athletes compete in more than 40 sports over three days. Last year 170,000 people attended. What took place in the lobby of the theater at the beginning has morphed into a 700-booth Expo filled with every fitness, weight training, supplement and related business set up. Hundreds of the best strength athletes in the world are working the booths, handing out samples, literature, selling product, posing for pics, and generally enjoying the largest gathering in one place of the fitness world.

I still attend, as does one of those original buddies from Michigan. We learn, meet old friends, buy supplements cheaply, watch amazing athletes do crazy things, and generally enjoy a three-day immersion in the world of fitness and strength and supplements. The Expo is my home; I have worked the show for different companies, and attended and written about it for magazines and websites. This is where I buy some of the “interesting” workout gear and supplements you’ll read about in this column. 

For years the original Gold’s Gym in Venice Beach has been called “The Mecca,” but to me and many others, the Arnold Classic is indeed The Mecca!

www.arnoldsportsfestival.com   March 3-6, 2011

Hanging Out with Blast Straps

Bodyweight exercise comes to the gym in the form of Blast Straps. After you’ve taken half a minute to set these up in a squat rack, you’ll realize the benefits and fun of performing pushups, rows, and tricep extensions in such an unstable and challenging way. If the first try is too easy for you, lower the handles closer to the floor and do pushups, maintaining stability with your body while those handles want to wander all over the place. You’ll feel the stress in your pecs and triceps, while simultaneously your abdominal and low back muscles (known as your core) will fire. 

Of course, the first couple of times you use Blast Straps you’ll wonder why you fail after such a small number of reps, but keep going back for more sets. You’ll recover easily. Tate says you can do the movements more often, or do more sets per workout, and you won’t have to worry about overtraining. I’ve found this to be true, and for pushups and rows, often include ten sets in a workout. Blast Straps provide a great opportunity to change your routine, good for both your mind and your body. 

Next time someone wises off to you in the gym about their strength, get them onto the Blast Straps and watch ‘em struggle! It’s a wake-up call for many.

This is a rugged, heavy-duty product. The nylon is tough, thick, and isn’t going to stretch  or come apart, no matter how heavy or strong you are (they’re rated to 600 lbs.) You won’t be able to bend the handles if you try, and your squat rack won’t be scratched by set-up. Dave thought of that, as well. These are cool, they’re effective, and not at all a gimmick.

www.elitefts.com, $50

Fried Butter Balls and Deep-Fried Jelly Beans - Not Just at the State Fair

Thanks to Dan Lambert for this latest sign of the coming food Apocalypse.... unbelievable.