Cooking with Zoe: A good book

I recently joined a book club in order to get to know some new women in town. The women I have met so far have been really great. The books we read for my first meeting, not so great. [Not My Daughter and Invisible Lives] And to add to my sad reading woes, the Borders in town was closing just as we arrived. The nice part about that was that they had some killer deals, and the compulsive-book-buyer in me got carried away. I found a little gem in that process and just have to share:



Cooking for Gracie: The Making of a Parent from Scratch

I love food, I love cooking, and I am living the first year of my first child's life. This book was totally targeted to someone like me [and you? anyone?]. It is the story of a father's first year, month by month, with his baby girl, born premature by about five weeks. I have enough friends who have given birth to babies premature for this to hit home. Despite the challenging weight of raising a premie in the first year, the book overall is delightfully upbeat. His passion [not job] was cooking, and he gradually learns to help his passion serve his new role and the new little person in his life, instead of resenting his child for getting in the way of his passion.


A few things I enjoyed about this book:


1) Honest struggles in the kitchen, not totally unlike Julie and Julia. Everything from straight up recipe challenges, to figuring out how to cook for company, and the obvious challenge of cooking with an infant around.


2) Hearing about the first year of a baby's life from the dad's perspective. I follow plenty of moms through blogs and have lots of mom friends, but don't have many guys I spend much time talking to about infant stuff [missing my community group dad friends, Paul and Adam - you two are great dads! they were fun to go through pregnancy and the first few months of pregnancy with, not just because their wives are so cool]. It was refreshing and eye opening to know what the other side of this equation feels like.


3) Simple lessons. Dixon definitely had opportunities to take himself too seriously, but there was such a nice, approachable tone to the whole book. He shared some insightful lessons, but not as if they were profound golden nuggets from on high, just a guy ambling through this new beautiful chapter of life. As someone who all too often takes herself too seriously, it was good to have a nice example to model myself after! Also, he didn't go on and on. The book is short, the chapters are quick [and half of the chapter is a handful of recipes for that month - many of which I am interested in trying]. It made for a great read for this chapter of my life, when I need something I can pick up and put down and enjoy each time, instead of spending the precious little reading time I have trying to get back into something too dense or complicated.


A hearty one claw up, Lobsters. Check it out and let me know if you like it! Especially you Daddy Lobsters out there - tell me, does he get it right?