One Nation Under...Arugula?

Among the many shelves stands book after book. Not just cookbook but autobiographies, traveler's words and a lot of knowledge. I have quiet the collection, but the first book I remember reading back in the beginning of my Culinary study was The United States of Arugula.

Funny name to a book? Maybe, but that's just the start of it. The full book title is actually "The United States of Arugula- The Sun-dried, Cold Pressed, Dark Roasted, Extra Virgin Story of the American Food Revolution" by David Kamp. Also is a national bestseller and a "notable book" from The New York Times Book Review of the Year in 2006. If the title doesn't cover it in the every beginning then the front cover picture with fourteen well known chefs from America's beloved Julia Child to even the French Jacques Pepin to the legendary James Beard in the center makes you think about the picture of the famous "Last Supper"...this time it's way better because it's all chefs.

Now, you can look up this book at your local book store or even go online to check it out. I highly recommend this book and your personal set of cookbooks isn't complete until you get the United States of Arugula. Minimum of $15 to $20 this book will certainly be a page turner as you learn about how American cooking was the melting pot influenced by many cultures throughout history. You will also learn about the famous Culinarians who helped shape traditional dishes and learn why it is we have a James Beard Award in the Culinary World.

Enough talk! Go read!

Cook, drink, and be safe!
Half Pint

In The Beginning...

There was light!...Ok, just kidding!

Hello, my name is Half Pint. Yes, I know it's not a really name but just a nickname that I'm used too. I'd rather keep some of my personal life a bit of a secret. (However, if you do know who I am that's alright. Just please don't share it on here. Thanks!)

You're probably wondering why my nickname is Half Pint. Well, two good reasons- one, I'm pretty short for my age, but number two is because I belong to an industry that deals from fast food restaurants to the old and traditional to the newer and modern trends that are starting up everywhere. I'm talking about the food industry and the amazing Art of Culinary.

I am currently a Certified Culinarian and also (a bit to my disbelief) a Certified Pastry Culinarian. (More on that one later if I have the time). I graduated not from a huge Culinary school like Le Cordon Bleu or the Art Institute...no not even the Culinary Institute of America...but one can dream. No, my beginning didn't start until my junior year in high school in the Midwest. Just an ordinary starting trade school and progressing into a small town community college. I however, believe that it doesn't matter where to go to for school for anything Culinary. We all cook, we all read the same books, and we all have an understanding of what it is we do.

This blog Half Pint's Whole Circle covers not only food, but traveling to places I've come across food and other chefs, (both famous and local), photographs of some amazing memories, and of course cookbooks and recipes. So, looking forward to writing some more to my new readers (and old), until then...

Cook, drink, and be safe!

Half Pint