In the Mood For Food

"Julie and Julia" is pretty much the story of your life — minus the tiny New York apartment. You devour cookbooks like they're Dan Brown novels (and please don't try to pretend you don't read Dan Brown novels). In other words, you can't put them down and you won't stop cooking until you've tried every last recipe — or, the ones that sound good, at least.

For you, we recommend "A Taste of It All: Celebrating the Mood of Food" by Georgia Manzo Joachim of Millinocket. Joachim grew up in the Little Italy section of town, a place where food was celebrated and shared. Her parents, the Manzos, were the founders and original owners of Orvieto, a lovely Italian deli and market in Millinocket, and they instilled in her a deep love for cooking. She has fond memories of her grandmother, Emma Manzo, calling to her grandchildren to come help with the sauce.

"Sometimes it was pizzelle cookies, or meatballs, or chicory stew. But we learned, without recipes and without question," Joachim writes.

In "A Taste of It All," Joachim combines her love for family, food and the natural world around her in a cookbook spiked with poetry and prose. Her recipes range from simple to sophisticated — homemade ham salad sandwiches, chicken stew, spicy crab cakes and, of course, homemade tomato sauce and meatballs. But in the end, this is more than a cookbook. It's more of a guide to making the most of life. She offers movie, book and music suggestions that complement each meal, while color photographs from her home and gardens give readers a glimpse of her own life on South Twin Lake.

The book is a feast for the senses — one you'll devour from cover to cover.

"A Taste of It All" is published by Thyme & Moss Publishing of Millinocket. For a list of retail locations throughout Maine or to order online, click here. To read excerpts from the book, including sample recipes, click here.

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