Well, I could make dinner, or I could just eat this cheese and read about food

Food... reading... reading about food.

To my mind, this is a logical progression, which explains why I own so many cookbooks and cook so infrequently anymore. The nice thing nowadays is, I can read some really interesting, informative books about food, like the following, without guilt (and with take-out.)

A Revolution in taste: The Rise of French Cuisine, by Susan Pinkard, from the august Cambridge Press. (Is Bakery Nouveau still open this late?)

Tuna: A Love Story, by Richard Ellis, who's coming to the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture on October 30th, to give a talk on tuna, presumably. (Maybe I want Sushi.)

And, new in paperback:

The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food, by Judith Jones, a who's who memoir of modern cookery.

The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter and Tears in Paris at the World's Most Famous Cooking School, by Kathleen Flinn. (I want to go to Paris too, just to eat of course.)

Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter, Phoebe Damrosch. (Dishy.)