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My sister Sandy works in a card and gift shop. She has told me about the last minute rush during every holiday. We know the culprits who save their Christmas shopping for Dec. 23 and head to the card store to find the shelves almost bare.
Dear readers, I know many of you are procrastinators. You wait until the last day to go foraging for gifts and cards. Mother’s Day is May 9. Here, I will give you more than enough time to search for a special gift. Simply tear out my column, set it on your desk or tape it to the fridge. Here are my suggestions.
Since the success of “Julie & Julia,” “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” made No. 1 on The New York Times best-seller’s list for the first time last summer. Written by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck, edited by Judith Jones at Knopf, this tome is the bible for French cooking in America. Since its first publication in 1961, “Mastering” has gone through numerous printings. The most recent ones were updated for those of us who use food processors.
My copy holds sentimental value. I found it in a used New Hope bookstore. The handwritten inscription reads: “To Ted and Dottie, bon appétit for all the good things of life!” Freddie and Charles, February, 1970. Charles was Paul Child’s twin brother. Freddie was his wife.
I also recommend “The All New, All Purpose Joy of Cooking,” by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker and Ethan Becker. It’s an all-around book and encyclopedia because it runs the culinary gamut from A to Z. The only downfall: I do not care for the way the recipes are written. I like to see all the ingredients listed first followed by directions.
My favorite authors include: Marcella Hazan for Italian cucina; Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa, for global contemporary cooking: books by the late Sheila Lukens, such as “The Silver Palate;” and ones by my friend and mentor, Barbara Kafka. Her book “Roasting” won a James Beard award.
If Mom enjoys the culinary literary style, I recommend works by the brilliantly funny M.F.K. Fisher, including “How to Cook a Wolf,” “The Art of Eating” and M.F.K Fisher: “A Life in Letters.”
“The Man Who Ate Everything” and “It Must Have Been Something I Ate” by Jeffrey Steingarten also are worth considering. He is a frequent judge on “Iron Chef America” and mixes culinary scholarship travels with witty thoughts.
I am not a mom, but I would adore anyone who handed me $500 to go on a shopping spree at Fante’s Kitchen Wares. Setting me free in there is like setting Liz Taylor free in Cartier. I have a super well-equipped kitchen with a Wolf double wall oven, Wolf halogen induction cook top and a sub-zero refrigerator. It does not matter what type of appliances mom has, she loves her kitchen.
I do not own a KitchenAid but if Mom bakes, go for it. I use my Cuisinart and immersion blender all the time.
There are a number of items I do not own, but Mom may like. I intend to purchase a mortar and pestle, a top-quality mandoline, a digital kitchen timer, a round mesh hand strainer to fish foods out of pots, good steak knives, a stainless steel hand-held colander and a stainless steel ladle.
You may want to put together a basket of goodies and gadgets. It could include a bottle of extra-virgin olive oil, imported red wine vinegar, a jar of raw honey, French preserves, imported dry pasta from Italy, a can of San Marzano tomatoes and a jar of white anchovies along with a microplane, a colorful vegetable peeler, oven mitts, an apron, a meat thermometer and a spoon made from olive wood.
If you are taking Mom to brunch on Mother’s Day, I guarantee you will be hungry by 8 p.m. You could set up a small buffet of bread, cheese, crackers, fresh fruit and wine. If your brunch was more like lunch, have breakfast for dinner by scrambling some eggs, add some ham or bacon, toast and put on a pot of coffee.
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