Alice Waters: Reluctantly, I Begin

I'm having a crisis of enthusiasm as I approach my Chez Panisse project.

First of all, I'm just not that EXCITED about cooking from these books. I sat down today with a whole stack of them and there were very few dishes that I really wanted to make. Roast chicken? Tomato salad? Strawberry ice cream? So simple and restrained and tasteful. So very good. So very boring. It's like shopping at an elegant boutique where you'll never find a leopard skin print, a sequin, or the color fuchsia. 

Secondly -- I'm tired! It's been a chaotic summer, what with the house project and my general tendency to overreach. I just got back from four days in New England, an interlude that should have been restful but turned out to be severely stressful due to a last-minute work assignment involving a crummy 750 page vampire novel. It's hard to write a book review while chatting on a screened-in porch. 

By the same token, it's hard to be a gracious daughter-in-law while writing a book review.

So there you have it. Totally screwed. The Baker's long weekend -- maybe even her whole overreaching life -- in a nutshell.

And now it's time to throw myself into Alice Waters, however exhausted and unenthusiastic I may feel. Off to Whole Foods to buy some local rocket, organic chicken, and chervil.

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