book review: the art of eating in

The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove
by Cathy Erway

Operation prepare for the baby/learn to self motivate has had some competition from operation hotter than hell outside/TV calling. Some days I self motivate, some days I watch TV.

But after taking back all of the labor books to the library I happened upon this book in the new books section. Bringing new books home to read from the library is strictly prohibited right now. We need books going OUT.

But one thing I have wanted to work on is eating at home more, especially since I am not working. It is a good way to save money and I am a decent cook (queue comment from Brent.) As a child, we only went out to eat for special occasions. But somewhere along the line, eating out became something that was just a normal part of my life. Even when I am bored with the food options, I often don't get my act together to bring my lunch to work.

The author spent two years not eating out in New York city. In fact that is what her blog is called: Not Eating Out in New York.

I can imagine her blog and book could readily be compared to the blog that inspired Julie and Julia. But her book is better that that book. By far!

Erway chronicles all the different experiences she has while eating at home. She learns how to cook new things, although the title is a bit mis-leading, because she is already a great cook when she started the experiment. She hangs out with friends at home, she goes on picnics, she goes to food cook-offs.

Unfortunately, we don't have similar palates, so many of her recipes I would not try, but she has inspired me to be more creative with my cooking. And her blog is great too.