BEHIND THE SCENES
It’s Friday and what is up at Lange? Before we say thank you for this week and welcome the weekend, here is a word from the Publisher Manager Lilith.
Happy Weekend!
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My home is filled with books. Books in different genres and cookbooks. I don’t only have my home country’s cuisine either, I have multiple cookbooks from different cuisines, such as Persian, Thai, Italian, Indian and much more. I love to read and cook. My beautiful cookbooks are an inspiration for me because I do not follow recipes that much. I like to explore, try and fail. More often than failing I succeed though.
When I grew up I was not a great cook. My parents didn’t teach me to cook and I was not interested in learning. When I lived on my own I relied on pasta and bread. And pizza from the restaurant. Oh, my absolute favourite.
I remember when the first pizzeria came to my little childhood town. I was convinced from the start that it would be my main course for a while. So I lived on pizza and pasta only, for a while.
I had my first child in my early twenties, and nope, I didn’t think I should start learning how to cook even then. I tried once in a while and did okay, but the passion was not there, yet. So the trusty old pasta, bread and pizza stuck with us. But as I got older, my interest in cooking grew and I enjoyed my time in the kitchen more, until one day when I got the chance to become a mother again in my thirties. I then became obsessed with cooking and took care of my children all day. I baked and all kinds of things. I got so obsessed that I even started my own restaurant later!
I made food that contained meat that I never ate myself because I have always been a vegetarian. And I got the best reviews in town. I had found something I was good at. I even taught cooking to others. But even if I loved it and still am passionate about food, my passion for words and books took over. I always had a passion for words and books and for writing, even as a child. So it was a natural step to change my restaurant to my own publishing house.
But in my spare time from working and writing, I am often in the kitchen. The home that I live in today is divided into two parts. Half of my home is my big, big kitchen and dining room, the other half is my writing studio and publishing house.
I read my cookbooks and they tell me a story, every ingredient tells me a story. I look at the pictures and read the text. I never cook the meal that I am reading because I prefer to experiment more. But I love to read my cookbooks as if they were fiction books or whodunit books. It is so amazing. You could say my house is like the hobbit’s hole. Big garden. A kitchen with lots of food, dark colours in my interior and a lot of cosiness, filled with books and spaces for writing. I never get bored in my home. I have all my passion surrounding me, and a home filled with food, books, passion and writing. I have all that I love to do just right here. A house filled with books and the smell of food.