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Family Life: Birth, Death and the Whole Damn Thing (Corgi Book) By Elizabeth Luard ISBN10: 0552145440

I really loved this book. 'Family Life' is written by the mother of four children and describes her experiences raising her family in England, Spain and France. The author, Elizabeth Luard, is an acclaimed cookery book writer and the book contains many recipies (I made the cauliflower cheese pg. 63). The description on the back cover well-describes the interesting life this talented family leads: 'Not everyone goes to school on a donkey, keeps an eagle owl in the spare cupboard, or plays chess for the french foreign legion.' One recommendation I will make is that you stop reading after Chapter 20. The subsequent chapters are not about the childhood years and are written in quite a different tone to the rest of the book. In addition the last chapters are really sad (I didn't tell the ending, it gives this away on the back cover).

Here is one of the recipes I made that is in the book:

Items Needed: 1 large cauliflower, 3 tbs butter, 3 tbs flour, 600 ml (1 pint) milk, 4 tbs grated cheese, 1 tps strong mustard, 1/2 tps nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Prepare cauliflower and cut a cross on the stem. Place stalk side down in a saucepan with enough salt water to come half-way up (the rest cooks with stem).
Bring to boil, turn down to simmer, leave to cook for around 20m mins and 'drip dry' in a colander.
Melt butter in a saucepan, add flour and fry - but don't let it turn brown, then add milk gradually while whisking.

Meanwhile:
Let sauce simmer while stirring for 5 mins to let flour cook.
Add cheese, mustard, nutmeg and salt/pepper to taste.
Place cauliflower in a hot gratin dish, spreading florets out like an 'exploded bomb.'
Pour over white sauce.
Sprinkle over cheese and grill until brown and bubbling.

This was *delicious* and the nutmeg gives it a great meaty taste.

Elizabeth has written at least one novel and also a sequel to this book, called 'Still Life' that I hope to read one day.