A Culinary Book Club? Yum!

Last week I received a beautiful new cookbook for my birthday. 

As I tore off the pretty wrapping my son raised an eyebrow as if to say (with a certain resignation) "Here we go again."  

I have been known to obsess a little with a new cookbook, I got a couple of Yotam Ottolenghi's books for Christmas last year and it was lentils, zaatar and roasted cauliflower around here for weeks.  

The initial excitement of the photographs, stories and recipes whisk me off to another world, but soon enough I resurface to rummage around for sticky notes and a note pad to start marking the most enticing recipes, planning menus and making shopping lists; eager to bring these foods from the page to the table. 

As I was busy going through my latest treasure the thought occurred to me, why not document and share what we are cooking to bring you on the journey with us?

And so begins the Bullocks in a China Shop Culinary Book Club.  Each month we'll choose a different cookbook to explore. We will include a mix of venerable classics and recent releases, foods from around the world and a selection of Canadian writers as well.  

Since these are not our own recipes we can share our opinions and our photos but, unless we receive permission from the publishers, we are not able to share the recipes themselves.  We will give you plenty of notice of the next month's selection, however, so you can reserve a copy at your local library, or check to see if your local independent bookshop has a copy in stock. 

We begin our journey with the book that started it all,  Falastin, A Cookbook by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley.