Hitting The Books

A morning swim before the rains came was a good way to begin the day. The girlfriend was absolutely gleeful that we hit the pool in bright sunshine, and when we got out, the clouds rolled in grey.

In the fashion of typical unpredictable Singapore weather, it stormed throughout lunch. We didn't care. We were nice and cool in the flat watching E! and Style, feeling all stretched out from the swim.

As soon as the skies cleared, we went out. If we didn't, we would have fallen asleep all the way till dinner! The body was screaming for coffee. Then we hopped across to Books Actually to grab the GE11 magazine. Each time I walk into the store, I can't ever seem to leave with just one book. I always fall into the illusory trap of the brain telling the hand to pick out more, more, more!

So many lovely new books in there. I picked up plenty. Then I spied the food section. I'm not into the recipes per se, but I like the style of some snarky food writers. I also saw the cute books from The Edible Series of cheese, caviar, etc. These books are so cute! I love the writing. I spent some time trying to decide which one to purchase. I bought Potato by Andrew F. Smith, Curry by Colleen Taylor Sen and Pie by Janet Clarkson for a friend.

I leave you with an excerpt from Pie. Not at all vegetarian-friendly or helpful in the kitchen, but rather companionable.

"Mermaid-Pye

Take a Pig, scald it, and bone it; and having dried it well with a Cloath, season it with beaten Nutmeg, Pepper and chop'd Sage; then take two Neats-Tongues; when dried and cold after boiling, and slice them in lengths, and as thick as a Half-Crown, and lay a quarter of your Pig in a square or round Pye, and the slices of the Tongue on it; then another quarter, and more Tongue: and thus do four times double, and lay over all these some slices of Bacon, scatter a few Cloves, put in some pieces of Butter and Bay-leaves, then bake it; and when it is so, fill it up with pieces of sweet Butter, and make your Past white of the Butter and Flower. This Pig, or Mermaid-Pye, so called, is to be eaten cold."