I received a list of ten books as suggested reading from SFCS. I like to read, so I’m all over this assignment. Plus the good student in me can’t help but finish every assignment I’m given.

I recently finished Heat – selected at random as my first read only because the book was available at the library.

I do a lot of food-related reading, so I’m surprised I never read this book before. It made me want to go to Italy and learn to make pasta that has the texture of a cat’s tongue. There are certain passages in the book that resonate with me, and that are clearly in line with the vision of SFCS. The way a cook knows by smell, by touch, by sound, when something is done cooking, or if it needs more time.

There’s a culinary intuition that the author develops over the course of the book. I think I have some of that culinary intuition, but it needs quite a bit of development. I’m recipe-driven. This will be a big hurdle for me, to cook solely by intuition and not strictly by recipe.

The second book on my list was How I Learned to Cook. I didn’t enjoy it as much as Heat, but I still got something out of it. First, it seems like every successful chef has at least one story about a spectacular failure. Second, there’s a lot of screaming that seems to happen in a restaurant kitchen.

I’m sure I’ll screw up along the way. I hope I don’t get screamed at.