1+1+1 for 365, day 23: Ode to a cook book

TODAY'S QUOTE
“Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.” Harriet van Horne

TODAY'S BOOK
Kook en Geniet (Cook and Enjoy It) - S J A de Villiers

I would have included this book anyway at some stage, but decided to talk about it today as a small tribute to its author, Mrs SJA de Villiers, who passed away 2 days ago at the age of 91.

Kook en Geniet was my first cook book.  It was a book prize at school (for doing well in Biology, no  less!) and I was only too happy to have a copy of it, since it had been more or less the standard cook book in the country for a long time already by the time I received a copy of its 22nd impressum. It is illustrated by only four colour photographs - the rest, although numerous, are in black and white and if one looks at them today, the table settings and other items also tell quite a lot about of the interior decoration and style of the times.

1+1+1 for 365 day 8: A love story about books

TODAY'S QUOTE:
"You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.”  - Paul Sweeney

TODAY'S BOOK:
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

Something for bibliophiles, travellers and those who still enjoy the gentle art of letterwriting. This true story about transatlantic friendships that developed as the result of a simple trade enquiry about some books is also a reminder that small things matter and how kindness and simple courtesy affect our lives in many ways.  Furthermore it also tells us quite a bit about  London and New York at the time, although two of her later works go further and focus specifically on the those two cities as they were in the 1970s and 1980s respectively.

From the 1950s until the 1970s, Helen corresponded from New York with Frank Doel, the chief buyer of Marks & Co, an antiquarian bookseller in London.  By the time that she finally visited London, Frank had passed away, but