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I’m much more comfortable writing than cooking. But a new book being released calls for a celebration, and that implies food.
When Lingo came out, my wife organised a surprise party, with friends, relatives and a professor. She sang a song in my mother tongue, the publisher sent a congratulatory video and a friend baked a special cake.
A few days ago, Babel hit the shelves, and as I announced in my previous blogpost, I threw a dinner for a handful of neighbourhood friends. I’m not at all a foodie, and my cooking is usually of the ‘chop, mix and eat whatever’s there’ sort. But for this occasion, I sought out a whole range of Recipes, so as to serve my friends actual Dishes. As a belt-and-braces safety measure – after all, recipes offer no guarantee – I also bought some fool-proof stuff, mostly comforting drinks, such as wines, beers and sake, and ditto sweets, including figs, biscuits and baklava.
But in the event, everything went surprisingly smoothly. I spent six hours in the kitchen – easily a personal record – and the only things that some of the guests didn’t like were things I had not prepared myself: the biscuits (sticky communion wafers) and the Chinese plumwine (sickly sweet). I a word, I was quite the ‘kitchen prince’, as we say in Dutch. For a day, anyway.
Should you find this whole story a bit tantalising, think of it this way: you missed the binge, but you can still read the book. You could even organise you own Table of Babel, if you are so inclined! Feel free to send me a message for more information about the dishes.