Coming to My Senses by Alice Waters

This is a funny book, and when I say funny, I really mean that. It is a little bit comic and a little bit odd.  The one thing that it does not come across as is arrogant.  She looks back on her youth, her growing up experience, going away to college and becoming more independent, and then her first forays out into the world, all in an attempt to show how she came to be the woman who opened Chez Panisse at the age of 27, without any experience in cooking, running a restaurant specifically, or a business in general.  There were several pivotal experiences that she had that made it crystal clear to her what was important to her and what was not. She had the strength of character mixed with equal amounts naivete and hard work that she started a revolution.  Ruth Reichl was in Berkeley at about this same time, and has already described the cool chemistry that was available there to do new and great things with new and great ideas as they relate to food, and Alice Waters did it right.  She had support and talent and luck, but it was also great timing.  She tells a great story about salad, which I think is at core what I have learned from her.  Put the very best food you can find on the table, and let it speak for itself.  Treat it as well as you can, and the food will follow.  This is a must read for anyone who cooks in a serious way as a home cook.