Plat du jour

To be incarnate is to be able to experience the realm of the senses, to revel in touch, sound, sight, scent, and taste. Add to that: memory, and whatever it is in our minds that allows us to imagine sounds, colors and flavors.
To picture a favorite tree.
To understand a music review because we can hear the music in our heads.
To pore over cookbooks, savoring how a recipe might taste.

There is an art to writing about food, an art that I have long appreciated. I have read M.L.K. Fisher's books, and Julia Childs can send me into a bliss trance, because, though I am not a fantastic cook, I am a world-class reader.

WIth that credential, let me recommend to you the blog of Miss Eydie Gourmet, aka Janis Siegel, of Manhattan Transfer. When Janis and I were touring together in the 1970s , we both spent our limited off-time pursuing our passions. I still remember the wonderful idiosyncratic book shops I discovered all over the world, where I sometimes bought beautiful books in languages I didn't understand yet because I planned to someday learn to speak... Swedish, say, or Arabic, or Anglo-Saxon. Languages and the stories continue to enthrall me.

But my girl Janis spent her time developing a different sense : taste. She educated her palate, and continues to do so. She is a fearless taster, a very fine cook, and a delicious writer who has just posted a new entry to How I Spent My Per Diem. I highly recommend it both for its savor and its sauce.

Do check it out, and bon appetit!