Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg have been publishing innovative books about cooking and the chef world for longer than I have. Their popular Becoming a Chef was published the summer I was harrassing the Culinary Institute of America to let me in to write about, well, becoming a chef. I was mortified they'd beat me to it. It proved to be not just a different book from what I was attempting, but a valuable research tool for me then and throughout the years (its history of American restaurants and chefs with opening dates or significant restaurants is something I've returned to throughout the years). It remains a valuable book especially for people considering entering the profession.
Their most recent book, The Flavor Bible, published last year was one I kept hearing about. Finally I got around to having a look ...
The most exciting cookbook of the season, to me, is without question, 
I've been forcing myself to explore more creative compositions in my shots. I think we all have a first instinct as to how to frame a subject. As we approach it, our minds are deciding overhead vs. low—real tight or backed off to include other elements. With this shot I had been taking some shots when Michael said to me, "I really want to show this", and he pointed to the little holes at the end of the cut chives. I started getting in real tight, but was losing the length of the full chive, so I tilted the frame to get the most out of the corners. If this shot were not tilted, the rest of the chives wouldn't be there, and if I made sure they were in with a straight frame, I wouldn't be as close as ...
Here is the interior of a gougere, a cheese puff that was made for the video. I like this photo because you can see how it could also be a pastry puff filled with puddings, creams or chocolate. I photographed this for Michael's Ratio book which ran in B&W. Below is a photo of pets de nonne (nun's farts). Little donuts sprinkled with confectioners sugar.
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