Apples for Jam

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post about how I had started getting into cooking and all the things that I wanted to try. Well, today I thought that I would write a post about a cookbook that I recently acquired.

I remember it well, the first time that I picked up Apples for Jam. It was the first time that my mother and I were eating out at Cafe Delicieux - a cafe that had opened up the road from our house. I sat down on a grey pouffe in amongst the delicate paper pattern decorations (depicting gardens filled with fauna and flora) and chandeliers. This was not somewhere to come for your everyday cuppa Joe. This was a treat in itself. We opened the menus and scanned the delicious sounding options before setting on some drinks and a sandwich to share. While we waited for our meal, Mom picked up a magazine and I, not really in the mood for a magazine, picked up the first book that appealed to me. I think it was the cover that perked my interest, the bright red shoes on little feet, the delicately detailed embossment on the cover that could only be seen when you looked at it out of the corner of your eye. I picked it up and opened to the introduction:

This is food for families, for young people, for old people, for children, for the child in all... for life.

The line captured me. From that moment I was hooked. I wanted to page through the recipes and memories at a frantic pace, try to take it all in and remember everything word for word, but before I knew it, our food had arrived and I was not even halfway into the Red section. I reluctantly put the book down, but remembered the name so that I could look it up the next time I was in Exclusive Books. Apples for Jam became my personal motto. Apples for Jam, I repeated to myself over and over again. It became my aim, my philosophy, my ideal. If there was one cookbook that I was going to buy, I said to myself, Apples for Jam would be it. And then I entered Exclusive Books and, amazingly, came across the book almost immediately. It stood out from the rest. It called to me. I gingerly stroked the spine and carefully removed it from it's shelf. And then put it straight back after a momentary glance at the price. There was no way that I could afford to pay R500 for a cookbook, especially since I didn't do all that much cooking.

Over the next few years, I searched for Apples for Jam in every book shop I went into. I found sales on other Tessa Kiros books (Tessa Kiros, of course, being the woman responsible for my addiction), but never Apples for Jam. Years passed and I could never justify buying the book for myself. And then, before I left Cape Town to come to Grahamstown (after my year in Korea), I got given a gift voucher for Exclusive Books. It was a particularly generous voucher, a birthday present from my grandparents, and within moments I had decided what I would spend it on. It wouldn't cover the whole book, no. But I was prepared to put in the difference and made my way to Exclusive, straight to the cooking aisle, and there it was, where it had always been, still calling me and drawing me towards it. I took it to the counter and, after a bit of rude service from the sales assistant that fortunately didn't manage to deter me from my purchase, I left with the book in hand.

It was still a good few hours of shopping, window shopping and driving before I could finally be alone with the book. I gingerly opened the cover once more and, skipping the introduction this time, wanting to jump straight in, started devouring the pages that the book had to offer. The book itself is divided into colours rather than food types - Red, Orange, Yellow, Pink, Green, Gold, White, Brown, Monochrome, Stripes and Multicolour - to symbolise the colour that the food will turn out to be. In Red, for example, you will find a number of recipes that use a large amount of tomato or berries; in Orange you will find foods that use pumpkins, butternuts, oranges, apricots and numerous other orange ingredients; while in brown you will find a number of baking bits and pieces - cakes, breads, etc. Though it does make it a little difficult to find specific recipes if you know what it is that you are looking for, I thought that it added a childlike, sweet quality to the book. At the start of each chapter you will find a memory attached to that colour, and Kiros weaves stories at the start of each individual recipe, turning it into more than just a cookbook, but a small window into her own world.

I have not yet endeavoured to cook any of the recipes that are hidden in the book. I am saving that for a special occasion or for a very specific craving. But I completely intend to indulge in almost every recipe in the book, as I haven't found a single one that doesn't make my mouth start to water - from Chocolate and Cranberry Biscuits, to Wholemeal Apricot and Apple Pie, to Angel Hair Pasta with Zucchini, Mint and Feta and beyond. I can hardly hold myself back!

My question for you today is this: What one book have you been eyeing for ages?