“A
Cookbook for Katie” by Daphne Simpkins is not your average cookbook. The
recipes are laced with history (of ingredients and family dynamics),
suggestions for ways of doing things (creating cornbread with crust, making
meringue, separating eggs—it’s a sin to throw yolks away, they are given to the
dogs, one yolk per dog, including the neighbor’s dog, Mr. Mooney) and woven in
between delightful stories.
Several months ago Daphne asked if she could reference my work in the book. The reference is in the last essay “The Bride’s Room.”
“Standing
in front of a series of carefully crafted drawings, I experience Melissa Tubbs’
exquisite work on the wall. They are architectural drawings of specific
locations of this building. Deceptively austere, they draw you into not the
place they represent but into a timelessness, a serenity so peaceful that I can
hear the whisper from heaven, ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ In those
pictures I enter that stillness and know a deeper way of breathing, of being,
but once I turn away I find myself wondering about the artist who capture those
still moments. I deduce that the artist has a pure heart, and I wonder what that
feels like and if she sees God. The Bible says that pure-hearted people do.”
On one
hand it’s amazing for me that I could be seen as pure-hearted, on the other
hand, that is what creating art is all about--making a profound connection deep
within a person for the better. My hope is always that it would be true.
This is
a delightfully good read. As Daphne says, “…eating and recipes always come with
stories. That’s one of the reasons they taste so good.”
Get your
copy at bookstores and on Amazon. As a matter of fact,
beginning on Valentine’s Day you can get a free Kindle version of the book on
Amazon.
No comments:
Post a Comment