COOKING WITH FEELING by Pat Haley is a new collection of charming essays on the pleasures of gardening, cooking and eating. In this cookbook, her second, Ms. Haley treats themes that readers can touch, taste and feel–friendship, healing, beauty, fun, contentment and more. Each of Cooking with Feeling’s 30 delightful essays celebrates such joys as cooking with flowers, brewing fruit liqueurs, appreciating our Native American potato and tracking down the ultimate Yankee bean supper. Pat Haley offers a culinary journal that explores the traditions, myths and people that have created our contemporary foodstuffs. Each topic–from aphrodisiacs to the autumn chestnut crop, from an August garden feast to a macadamia nut orchard tour–is accompanied by five tempting recipes tested by Ms. Haley, a home economist. Some of the delectable selections include Chocolate Chestnut Torte, Not-at-All the Mall Cookie, Santa Fe Noodle Salad, Curried Red Lentil Soup, Healing Chicken Soup Deluxe, and Fresh Pear Macadamia Nut Chutney. Even the advanced cook will welcome the clearly-written recipe instructions with none of those vexing and vague orders to cook until done. Haley’s first book was the brisk-selling Nine Seasons Cookbook from Yankee Magazine’s book division. The author is a national award-winning journalist. A First Prize for Excellence from the University of Missouri is among her many awards for journalism, photography and community service. Her work has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Keene (NH) Sentinel and Country Journal. If your idea of relaxing is settling in with good cup of tea and a book by M.F.K Fisher or Laurie Colwin you are sure to savor Pat Haley’s thoughtful insights on food and flora. Even if you never wield a whisk or a hoe, you will treasure Ms. Haley’s wry sense of humor and distinctive voice.
