Recipes

This is my Moleskine recipe notebook. I first saw it in a bookshop in Kyushu, Japan. Foreign things are usually much more expensive in Japan so I waited until I came back to buy it on Amazon.co.uk. I'm never a creative person (even with art - I'm only good at life drawing and not at anything abstract/original), so I don't come up with my own original recipes. I do, however, use existing recipes and tweak it into my own. With American recipes (e.g. Martha Stewart and the ones from the Magnolia Bakery cookbook) I have to change all the measurements into metric, and often have to reduce the portion.

I also search for recipes online (Delia Smith, the Guardian and the Observer are exquisite) and copy them into this notebook. And obviously I gather my favourite recipes from a variety of cookbooks and copy them into here. Today the Marcella Hazan cookbook arrived in the post - I had no idea how big and heavy it was! It's a paperback but it's the size of an encyclopædia. The structure is similar to French Provincial Cooking and Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I haven't had the time to read through all the recipes yet but I'm already falling in love with it! There are entire chapters devoted to pasta sauces and risotto and pizza toppings. These dishes are simple but the variations could really make a difference. Can't wait to cook! Let's start planning this week's grocery shopping list...