Book review: The Australian Women's Weekly Chocolate Cookbook

dream-er [dree-mer]

noun

1. One that dreams.

2. a. A visionary.

    b. An idealist.

3. A habitually impractical person. (ouch)

 

I'm a dreamer. More in the final sense of the word. A bit of harsh self-criticism, but its true. This is parallelled in the kitchen; I spend about the same amount of time browsing through and studying the in's and out's of recipes, and never end up making them.

Having said that, reading cookbooks is a pleasure in itself. Please don't all grab a pitchfork at once and tell me to get a life. In fact, you could say I'm making the most out of my youth; enjoying the fact that I can unashamedly still live under my parents roof and not put in much hard graft for it!

 This is the cookbook I spend a good proportion of time reading, for the reason that it's wholly divine. Get your napkins ready, its time to salivate.

The Aussies know how to hit the spot

The Australian Women's Weekly 'Chocolate Cookbook'. The recipes here should hit the spot for even the most menopausal of women. Published in 1991, the photography is dimly lit, and exudes a sense of devlish luxury not acheived in the brightly lit food shoots you see in modern cookbooks. Of course, the desserts and cakes are stunning. There's a great section at the back showing you how to handle chocolate and create tempting decorative effects.

Sometimes recipe books, like albums, include 'fillers' which are there just to bulk up the book, but aren't much of anything special. What I particularly love about this book, and the Australian Women's Weekly in general is that you're tempted by all, not just some of the recipes. 

It pains me that this book is not in stock anywhere online! Thankfully, eBay can always be trusted to deliver when nowhere else will. Have a browse there, someone is always selling this book (although why they are is beyond me!)

Perhaps being a dreamer doesn't equate to being a time waster; its a form of escapism after all, and a lot of people need a bit of escapism from time to time. At least flicking through a cookbook won't send me to rehab any time soon.