Julie Ray and I were talking about cookbooks. She is, among other things, a graphic designer and she talked about the beautiful pictures in her favorite cookbooks, the type of paper, the layout of the books.

I remember my father sitting in his wooden upright chair in front of the TV with the rest of the family, reading during the shows. He read the entire Fannie Farmer cookbook, cover to cover, through a few seasons of 1950′s television. And he never cooked.  He liked the way things were put together and mostly he liked the stories.

I am my father’s daughter, I love to hear about how a recipe came to be and who thought it up. I was fascinated by the beautiful line drawings in the original Moosewood Cookbook* by Mollie Katzen because she told about the kitchen where the food was constructed and gave hints of the people who may be there. I have a cookbook put together in the 1960′s by the Woodstock, N.Y. library as a fundraiser using the recipes and stories of many of the artists in town. Most people’s cookbook collection includes a “fundraising” book from their hometown, church or social club, that includes lots of jello and Cool Whip recipes and the local stories behind them.

There are books and  movies galore featuring kitchens, food lore and magical properties. One of my favorite is Bryce Courtenay’s The Family Frying Pan, beautifully illustrated by Ann Williams. It’s the fictitious story of Mrs Moses who is the only survivor of a Cossack raid on her village. She flees with The Family Frying Pan that is “blessed with a Russian soul” from which she feeds all the refuges that travel with her. At night each of the group members share their stories in exchange for the meal. The book even includes recipes.

And I must mention Hidden Kitchens by Nikki Silva & Davia Nelson the Kitchen Sisters on National Public Radio. In this 2005 book they chronicle their travels across the nation looking for stories of “food and culture in America.” Because I lived in Owensboro, Kentucky and frequented the Moonlight Bar-B-Que, I really enjoyed the story of burgoo, a culinary oddity that even has its own website.

Alice Waters wrote the forward to this book and she says:

Just as we can’t live without food, we can’t live without stories.  The curious and wonderful things about the stories in this book is how much they resemble good things to eat: They can be surprising and they can be reassuringly familiar; they can be comforting and they can be outrageous.  To me, stories are food . . .

Last night Julie, Sheila Wilensky and I had dinner at Jax Kitchen and the waiter enthralled us with stories of the garden where the food came from and elegantly and enthusiastically described the flavors of wine selections. The meal was so fabulous that Sheila blogged it and Julie took pictures of the  beautiful presentation. We all will go on to tell of eating the peanut butter chocolate chip and bacon cookies served with bourbon infused sweet milk. The food stories continue!

I just listened to some amazing storytelling. On Fresh Air, Terry Gross interviewed investigative reporter Robin Fields and Dr. Barry Straube, the director and chief medical officer for the Centers for Medicare on What Dialysis Taught Us About Universal Health Care.

And then I heard Neal Conan talking with Laura Sullivan, National Public Radio’s police and prisons correspondent and Beau Hodai, freelance journalist covering private prisons about How Corporate Interests Got SB 1070 Passed on Talk of the Nation (a piece that all Arizonan’s should listen to.)

Both of these excellent radio hosts ask the kinds of questions that evoke stories from their guests. So in addition to presenting facts, they tell stories about how things work, and the listener gets more of a complete picture. It’s especially important on radio where there is no visual and everything needs to be explained.

I’m a big radio fan. In addition to listening in real time, I’ve discovered podcasts where I can download episodes of my favorite shows to my computer and ipod for free. That way I don’t have to miss anything, I can plug in on my own time schedule.

My present line up is Story Corps, This American Life, Science Friday, Fresh Air and The Moth. I change them around occasionally to keep myself amused.

Did you know that Finland is the first country in the world to make broadband internet access a legal requirement. According to a story on NPR, spokesperson Suvi Linden said that broad band connections with speedy access are a necessity for all of the nations five million people.

I consider it a necessity too.  Technology has a way of taking over chunks of our lives – in a good way.  I’m a bit weary of hearing how “addictive” the internet can be and how bad it is that we spend time in front of a screen.  I enjoy it, both in the way it enhances connections in my life and in the challenge of learning new things.  I love that I can keep in touch with friends on Facebook, send out updates about my businesses by email, buy plane tickets to visit my grandchildren, print out coupons, pay my bills, share this blog, etc., etc.  All this in the privacy of my own home without burning up any gasoline.

For me, its even more fun when I have the right tools to do the job.  I just upgraded to a fancy new computer and I’m a very happy camper. I’m in that new love affair euphoric place  - I can’t wait to get home to see it, I stay up too late hanging out with it, I’m neglecting my other obligations, and I want to know everything about it.

I thought my old computer was just fine but now that I’ve made the switch I realize that the old keyboard was the equivalent of a 1920′s Royal manual typewriter in comparison and the monitor suddenly looks out of focus.  I guess it’s like driving a perfectly reliable old clunker for years and not knowing what you’re missing with cruise control and power steering.

The technologies, like high speed internet, are a means to an end of course.  To me it all boils down to having yet another tool in my bag of tricks for strengthening my link with others. Making connections and being able to communicate in more effective and efficient ways, is the payoff.

Anything that makes telling our stories easier is OK in my book.