The cookbooks I value the most in my collection are the ones where you hear the author's voice and point-of-view in every recipe.
The irony is that Iraq actually has one of the richest and most sophisticated cuisines in the world. So many classic American or European foods - ceviche, albondigas, even the mint julep - have roots in Iraqi cuisine, which was a crossroads of Persian and Arab and Turkic traditions. The oldest written recipes in the world are from Iraq!
Here in the hospital, I say,that is not my body, not my body.I am not here for the doctorsto read like a recipe.
I can cook to please people, but it's quite conventional. I make a good sponge cake. I find it hard to follow recipes.
I'm not very good with drink recipes. If I'm entertaining, I like to come up with a house drink for the evening, one thing I'll make for the whole evening of the whole month.
One recipe for happiness is to have to sense of entitlement.' To this she added a star and noted at the bottom of the page: 'This is not a lesson I have ever been in a position to learn.
Giulia Melucci has written a wonderfully funny and moving book. It's like Eat, Pray, Love, with recipes.