This is Spinal Tap

I collect cookbooks, but not any ol' cookbooks - they have to speak to me, inspire me. Really old dated cookbooks, kid's cookbooks, and a few category specific ones. While I rarely cook from them, I do use them to think outside the box and create my own recipes. Also I like pretty pictures.

And even though I weed them out frequently, I hate clutter and found that the books were taking over the shelf.

So I found the perfect storage for me: the Spine bookshelf. Minimal. Visual. Just perfection. I smile everytime I walk by it.

And now my cookbooks feel new, so I've been going through them again. I happened upon my autographed copy of Morimoto's New Art of Japanese Cooking. Stunning photos, his recipes seem too challenging to attempt - but if you read a bit closer, you'll see that they are actually simple recipes, with a whole lot of flavor.

I'm such a big fan of his, everything he makes is so beautiful and full of flavor. Out of the cookbook I made my super-simplified version of his Hayashi Stew. While it's a zillion degrees in L.A. right now, I anticipate the fall weather when I can eat more stews and just curl up on the couch and go through all my insanely organized cookbooks...

Morimoto's Hayashi Stew recipe, here.