friday poetry blogging

Drinking Alone With The Moon

From a pot of wine among the flowers
I drank alone. There was no one with me –
Till, raising my cup, I asked the bright moon
To bring me my shadow and make us three.
Alas, the moon was unable to drink
And my shadow tagged me vacantly;
But still for a while I had these friends
To cheer me through the end of spring....
I sang. The moon encouraged me.
I danced. My shadow tumbled after.
As long as I knew, we were boon companions.
And then I was drunk, and we lost one another.
...Shall goodwill ever be secure?
I watch the long road of the River of Stars.

-- Li Bai (Tang Dynasty)

(no subject)

What's your favorite cookbook that's not a general reference? (IE, I am appreciative of the general usefulness of things like The Joy of Cooking or the Betty Crocker Cookbook when you're going 'argh, I have no idea how long to cook a roast beef' or 'I need a pineapple upside-down cake recipe, stat!,' but that's not quite what I'm looking for.) It could be a cuisine cookbook (mediterranean, Japanese, etc), a single-ingredient cookbook (everything to do with cheese!), a single-method cookbook (grilling, baking, etc), a single-category cookbook (vegetables, desserts, etc.), or a theme cookbook (Star Wars! medieval! cheap eats!), or based around a particular culinary theory (California cuisine, nouvelle French, organic, retro, kitchen science, etc), or just quirky and unusual in some other way.

I love these cookbooks, I collect them, I read them voraciously, and I'd love recs for more. :D If you, like me, can never pick a single favorite book, you can name two or three (or five or eight). I would like to know what makes the cookbook(s) special or interesting to you, though, if you could.

I'll post my own cookbook list/favorite cookbooks shortly.