You know what’s really great about being older? You become much better at seeing right through nonsense. You’ve got good not only at seeing that the emperor has no clothes on but also at being confident enough to say out loud that the dude’s naked. I don’t like the physical part of getting older. But, man, this part, I love.
Years ago when my nonsense detector wasn’t working as well as it is now, I used to think that anything worth your while must be difficult to obtain/attain, difficult to understand, difficult to emulate, long, fussy, complicated, convoluted, mysterious, or out of reach in some way. I’m so through with that kind of thinking; it’s childish and rooted in a lack of self-trust, and it had never served me well.
This change has affected all aspects of my life these days, including how I eat, how I cook, and which cookbooks I buy. I’ve noticed that the older I get, the easier it is for me to part with certain types of book and the more tightly I cling to certain types. I’ve come to treasure cookbooks that are simple, humble, approachable, and highly usable. It’s these cookbooks that have survived the annual pruning of my book collection year after year after year. Continue Reading →
