Blood, Bones & Butter

A couple of weeks ago I walked into my local bookstore to pick up a book that was ordered.  As always I can't even think of going near that store without coming out with something new.  This time the book was staring at me from behind the counter.  A book about food and becoming a chef, "I'm in!"

I purchased Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef a memoir, by the owner and proprietor of Prune, Gabrielle Hamilton.  I devoured this book as I would a meal at her famous restaurant Prune.

Gabrielle Hamiltion maps out her life in three sections.  Blood gives the background of her troubled  childhood.  Her description of the family parties and her mother's pantry make you feel as if you were there stepping into the stream for a cold brew yourself.  This section also describes the abrupt dismantling of her home life as well.  You learn the basis of her love of all things food.

Bones, tell of how this young and restless youth supports herself and finds her calling in the process. Butter is the latest installment of her life, her own family.  Hamiliton has a successful restaurant and is wooed by an Italian professor.  Although her life is not the fairy-tale you would believe it would turn out to be.

Her prose is beautifully written.  You can see, hear, smell and taste all she describes.  If you love food read this book.  If you love a great read pick it up.