If you like to cook or eat, you will love this book.  I certainly did, spending  hours with Tucci as he navigated a complicated life with his four children (two adults from his late wife and two young ones from his second, much younger wife), his acting career (the book starts with him in Rome filming ‘Conclave’. a wonderful movie we saw last week), his TV series, his writing, his rich sets of friends in NYC where he lived for many year and London where he currently lives.

Tucci has a light touch mixing funny anecdotes about family and friends with recipes and detailed descriptions of his daily meals, many cooked at home and many eaten at restaurants from the local Italian place to fancy gourmand restaurants in London, NYC, and Rome.  I made note of the London and NYC restaurants for upcoming trips and also made copies of several recipes including minestrone soup, spaghetti with purple onions, and a baked pasta dish with vegetables.

The book is organized as a day-by-day diary focused on his meals, but also including wonderful anecdotes.  On February 2, he dines with one of his co-stars in ‘Conclave’, Isabella Rosellini, daughter of Ingrid Bergman at a restaurant run by French Carmelite nuns that was her mother’s favorite.  As he savors the food, the company, and the singing of hymns by the nuns, Tucci obseves that “…in the early winter of my years, it’s through nature, art, and my children that I experience reverence, and in moments around the table that I experience ceremony.”  Well put as so many of his observations are.

Later in the book, he decribes how he loves to go to farmer’s markets, “…even if it’s the same purveyors every week, selling basically the same things. I take great comfort in going to the market.  We all know that it’s the small consistencies of life that are vital to keeping us grounded.”  Again, well said.

This is a fine, fun book that once again reminded of how much I would love to be Stanley Tucci’s friend. Alas, our paths are not likely to cross, but I loved his book and look forward to watching the videos of his cooking travels through Italy.