Over the past couple of months I have selected particular cookbooks to take with me. Whether they will all fit in the car on D day is another issue. We are driving our small four wheel car down and we decided to increase our storage space by installing one of those rooftop capsules. Not being used to the extra height I have already scraped the top in a car park and then this morning John hit the garage door with the capsule, you might say he misjudged the speed with which the electric door would rise…. We have had a tow bar fitted and that is for his bike rack. We will look like long distance driving veterans but as long as we are not mistaken for Grey Nomads.
The cookbooks I have packed are a bit revealing. The Italian Baker – it is a bible that I always keep near. A Taste of Morocco, a tiny Thai cookbook but a good one by Jennifer Brennan. Then there is Maggie’s Table and you cannot have Maggie without something by Stephanie, can you. I have never cooked anything from Moro but intend to….I love Carrier’s Feasts of Provence so it has gone in the box and a fat Larousse for good measure. I could not imagine a cookbook shelf without Claudia Roden’s middle eastern cookbook. Then something super practical or is it idealistic? a book on drying and saving. I could not make up my mind about which book to take of Brisbane chef Philip Johnson so they are all going in. I have popped in the side of the boxes slim paperbacks of Summer Cooking by Elizabeth David and The Clever Cook by Diane Holuigue and for when I am feeling clever, one of Vue Du Monde’s books. A reference book on herbs is a must and the one by Sophie Grigson should come in handy. I need a couple of good Italian books and so far cannot make up my mind as to whether to pack Giorgio Locatelli or the Anna del Conte.
The cooking equipment will almost fill the car though. I’ve bought a new pasta machine just for the Tasmanian house. It is an Imperia and the Atlas Mercato I have been using for years is staying in Brisbane. It drove me mad as its calibrations are just not as precise as the Imperia. So I am planning to make a fresh start in my pasta career. I am taking my faithfull Kenwood Chef electric mixer and leaving it there and plan to replace it when back in Brisbane with one of those snazzy coloured Kitchenaid’s mixers. If I listed all the other gadgets and cookware you would think I am obsessed so for now that is all I am sharing.
If you are reading my blog, do let me know in the comments area and if you have any food sources to share in Tasmania I would be grateful if you would send them in. I’ll be needing all the help I can get as a newcomer to find Tasmania’s food and wine bounty. Roz
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