Forever Summer by Nigella Lawson

book report by mb

author:	Nigella Lawson
title:	Forever Summer
publisher:	Hyperion, 2003
illustrations:	photographs by Petrina Tinslay
length:	279 pages
page size:	medium (7" wide, 10" high)

Fall is my favorite season, hands down. I love the colors, the smells, the temperature, the anticipation of the coming winter, the food, and the traditions (Thanksgiving is VERY important in my house). I spend all year looking forward to fall, just waiting until I can pull out my sweaters and start cooking soups again.

That said, though, let us admit that for pure food alone nothing can beat summer. For a chef who's interested in fresh, ripe, and delicious produce there simply is no contest between summer and any of the other seasons. And as much as I wait for fall all year long, every single year I am as excited for the coming of summer and all of the bounty summer brings.

Forever Summer is about taking the idea of delicious summertime food and making it last all year. Really, it's a great name for the book, because the name is entirely descriptive. In this book Nigella gives us recipes that have the very essence of summer in them, but are not seasonally dependant. She gives us foods that are as appropriate to eat now, at the beginning of July, as they would be in the dead of winter when you wanted a taste of something light and easy and reminiscent of summer.

Now, for those of you who don't know anything about Nigella, go out and get yourself one of her books or watch an episode of her cooking show immediately. She is wonderful. Nigella is an absolutely real person in the kitchen. She hates to do dishes, loves eating with her hands, believes that the messier the food the better, and thinks that butter is God's gift to mankind. She is extraordinarily flirtatious with her reader, emphasizing the deliciously dirty and visceral pleasure of food. She has been labeled as "the queen of food porn" and nothing could be more true. I would love to have the opportunity to sit in her kitchen and watch her cook. Nothing could be more pleasurable.

In case it isn't apparent, I absolutely love the woman. And Forever Summer does not let me down.

I need to tell you, though, that whoever designed this book should be shot. The table of contents goes like this ...

introduction vii
First Course 1
Second Course 70
Desserts 170
Drinks 250

Oh fine, you think, the detailed tables of contents are in the individual sections.

But no, when you turn to the sections you plunge immediately into the recipes, no detailed tables of contents anywhere.

So while I know by looking at the table of contents that the Second Courses start on page 70, I have no idea that the Poultry section doesn't start until page 126 -- or even that there is a Poultry section.

Pst!

If I want to cook chicken for dinner, I have to flip through a large portion of the book before I can find a recipe I'd like to try. I might serendipitously run into something else that appeals to me, but I find the formlessness annoying. I like to be well informed about where everything is and then make the decision for myself whether to go recipe-shopping serendipitously or exactly.

Pssst!

Yes, mom, what is it? I'm working here.

I was afraid you'd call me a book nerd if I conplained about the table of contents, so I didn't say anything, but now that you've brought it up yourself ...

Yes?

Well, I just sat down and typed in a proper table of contents myself -- here's a link.

That was very nice of you. I'm sure everybody will appreciate it. I'm printing a copy for myself right now.

Back to business ...

I love Nigella's prose almost as much as I love the recipes themselves. She reveals tiny intimate details about herself, which make her into that much more of a real person. She's self‑deprecating, but in a joking way. It's obvious that all she's doing is giving you the opportunity to find likenesses between herself and you, which I find endearing. And the things that she reveals are very often things that could also be about me. It is nice to feel like the person who wrote the cookbook is a compatriot instead of a know-it-all.

The recipes are all well laid out, following the pattern of intro, ingredient list, and then instructions. This is the format I like best for a recipe. Her instructions often seem simplistic; I have to read through the recipe twice to really understand what she's saying. But inevitably, once I've actually made the recipe, I discover that the instructions didn't need to be any more complicated than she made them.

And the food ... oh yum. The food that Nigella offers fits in perfectly with everything else about her. It's luscious and flavorful, a treat for every single one of your senses, spicy and cooling, full of fat and sugar and everything else that makes food delicious. It is a treat to eat from Forever Summer, and a treat that I will enjoy for many months to come, not just July.

Three recipes that I can't wait to make: Slow-Roasted Garlic and Lemon Chicken (pg. 138), Tagliolini al Pesto Amaro (pg. 33), and Baci Ice Cream (pg.234).

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