Last Writes: A Daybook for a Dying Friend Book

I read Keeping the Feast after hearing the author speak at a conference. She talked about writing and cooking to cure depression. Something about that combination of topics intrigued me, but I didn't begin her book for a year. Once started, I read through in a couple of days. The paragraphs below are from my blog that I wrote the minute I finished the book.

"Having just finished reading Paula Butturini's Keeping the Feast, food is much on my mind. Butturini peppered that memoir of her years in the news capitals of Europe with lists of the fresh vegetables she bought daily in their street markets. Her descriptions of her father's polenta-making and husband John's risotto, in addition to the repasts she prepared, read like a cookbook. No matter that she included not a single recipe; she made me feel like I could whip up a quick pesto while a chicken roasts for dinner guests.

I want my cooking to be like Butturini's, to be a time of energetic preparation that precedes family gathering at the table. That is the way I grew up. I cannot remember eating a childhood meal alone. Our family of six sat in appointed places, passed the dishes clockwise until everyone had helped himself to a portion of each--meat, potatoes, vegetables, salad, always fresh bread. . . . "