Category Archives: books

November 15, 2012 · 10:43 am

Amazon lists best food books of 2012

This week, Amazon announced the Best Books of 2012, including two separate categories for voracious food readers.

At the top of the Cookbook category, we have Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Foolproof: Recipes You Can Trust, Deb Perelman’s Smitten Kitchen and Nathan Myhrvold and Maxime Bilet’s Modernist Cuisine at Home.

Then, over in Food Lit, titles include Bee Wilson’s Consider the Fork and Bob Spitz’s Julia Child bio hit Dearie. Luisa Weiss’ My Berlin Kitchen also made the cut.

Amazon is offering all the “Best Books” at 40 percent off now through the end of the year.

What do you think should have made the list?

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September 28, 2012 · 6:53 am

Friday Reads: Roots & Meat

Two exceptional food authors are coming to town for the Chef’s Collaborative National Sustainable Food Summit, each armed with an extraordinary new (and hefty) book from the far ends of the food spectrum. I am deeply engrossed in both this week.

Diane Morgan, a prolific food writer with more than 17 books to her name, comes to town to promote Roots: The Definitive Compendium with more than 225 Recipes (Chronicle Books). Rutabagas, parsnips and carrots never looked so sexy, thanks to the photography of Antonis Achilleos. Diane’s research is exhaustive, the prose compelling and the whole book endlessly educational. Sure, we all know about potatoes, sweet potatoes and beets, but honestly, I didn’t know water chestnuts were a root, nor have I ever gave much thought to the possibilities of yuca or taro. (She includes a chapter on salsify, which readers of The Sharper Your Knife may remember as one of the required items in my final exam from Le Cordon Bleu; I’d never heard of it until that test.) The bulk of the 225 recipes are vegetarian friendly, an approach that I assume allows the roots to be the star, rather than the supporting player, as they tend to be relegated in their normal lives. The other massive book on my kitchen counter is The Great Meat Cookbook by Bruce Aidells, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. You might recognize Bruce from the packages of his sausages sold across the country. He’s a guy who knows his meat (no lewd context intended), and it shows in the pages of this exceptional book. When I’ve interviewed home cooks, one thing they frequently comment is that meat can be a mystery. So many cuts, so much lingo and, honestly, so much money. Many home cooks tend to stay within their comfort zone, unclear of whether they can grill certain cuts, or if they need braising. Fear not, Bruce explains all of this for you and then goes on to share more on the subject with strong visuals including loads of excellent charts, at-a-glance guides and charts  than you may ever need, but it’s there if you do.  He also addresses subjects relevant to modern issues for omnivores, tackling issues around sustainable farming, buying local, humanely raised cattle and so on.

Both will be signing books with me at the author’s event for the Chef’s Collaborative Summit, but alas, you need a ticket to gain entry. For those who’d like to meet these two amazing authors, they’re both doing events in Seattle next week. Bruce will be leading an ultra cool butchery lesson at Rain Shadow Meats on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Oct. 2nd. If you have any interest in meat or butchery, go to this event. It’s a rare chance for a small-scale event with someone so knowledgeable and to be able to ask questions up close and personal, plus there’s a hearty buffet of all the class results included. The event is $80 and includes a copy of the book.

 

Both are doing events at The Book Larder in Seattle. Diane will be doing her event on Tuesday, October 2nd and Bruce will be at the store on Wednesday, Oct. 3rd. Both events start at 6:30 and include a nominal entrance fee that includes food bites and beverages. Not in Seattle? Both are doing a national tour for their titles. Diane has her events listed here. You can keep up with Bruce’s tour plans on his Facebook page.

For dinner, I’m combining both books. I’m braising flank steaks, but making a side butter-roasted rutabagas. I wouldn’t want to be accused of playing favorites.

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August 31, 2012 · 11:51 am

Friday Reads: Our Rescue Dog Edition

If Mike ever thought he wanted a threesome with a young blonde, I don’t think this is what he had in mind.

About a month ago, Mike and I adopted an 18-month-old rescue dog we named Maddy who had been picked up by animal control in Yakima. Although the rescue organization thought she might be a Cairn terrier mix, we suspect she’s actually a Dutch Smoushound, a rare terrier breed that was brought back from extinction by a woman named Mrs. Barkman. (I’m not making that up.) Maddy had been adopted twice and returned to the rescue organization. The first adoptive family, an elderly couple, returned her in part because she didn’t “speak English.” The second, a doctor and his wife, decided after two weeks they didn’t have time for a dog after all.

She’s a sweet, loving little girl who was pretty terrified of people and traffic at first, but she’s getting more brave everyday. Mike and I have been trying to study and learn all we can about being good dog parents. Of course, since I’m a reporter at heart, I have checked out most of the books on dogs from the Seattle Library. Here are the best ones that I’ve read in the past couple of weeks.

We got a lot of general books on dogs, but The Dog Bible by Kristin Mehus-Roe was probably the most useful for understanding fundamentals of how to take care of a dog, variations on training styles and so on. Marion Nestle’s Pet Food Politics: The Chihuahua in the Coal Mine pretty much freaked me out about commercial dog food. That led me to the book Feed Your Best Friend Better by Rick Woodford aka The Dog Food Dude, provides a very helpful look at what foods you can safely feed your dog and how to supplement commercial dog food. He has some interesting tips, too, such as making sure your dog gets enough calcium by pulverizing eggshells into a fine dust and adding a tiny amount to their food. Good Dog, Bad Habits by Jeanne Carlson has been helpful in assisting us to understand why Maddy does certain behaviors. We’re much more aware of her body language and what it means. Finally, we picked up a copy of Best Hikes with Dogs in Western Washington by The Mountaineers.

I’ll never totally understand what Maddy thinks or what she’ll do. We have a lot more to learn. But one thing I can say, when Maddy comes to bed with us at night, we both tell her that’s she a beautiful little blonde.

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August 23, 2012 · 12:18 pm

Big News! My third book debuts in 2014

“I don’t have to tell you I love you. I fed you pancakes.”
– my grandmother, Inez Monk Henderson

It’s official.  I’ve sold my third book! Viking/Penguin, publisher of my first two books, has purchased my next one.  The working title is Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good: Culinary adventures from a Midwest childhood. The anticipated publication date is Winter/Summer 2014. My agent pitched it as The Glass Castle meets Ruth Reichl meets David Sedaris, except we were less poor than Jeannette Walls, and I’m not nearly as funny as David Sedaris. Also, we were Baptists, not Jewish. Otherwise, it’s just like that.

I’ve been working on this project on and off for a couple of years, digging into the collective memories of my  family, rifling through old recipes and photographs of scenes such as my sister wearing her baton tiara while showing off a mess of freshly caught fish set out on a wet newspaper.

Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good is a memoir with recipes that tells the story of my culinary lineage, but also provides insight into the values, morals and attitudes of food that span three generations. Food writing does an often unappreciated job of articulating so much about shifting culture, and the timeline focused on this book – from 1955 to 1981 – represents a watershed of change in how America viewed food and eating, and how what we think we want can come full circle.

The book starts with my parents, both Michigan natives and the unlikely proprietors of an Italian restaurant in San Francisco. No matter they were the offspring of Irish and Swedish immigrants at a time when Italian was still considered “ethnic,” they packed up their three kids, my mother heavily pregnant with a fourth and headed west, a crib and a rocking chair in a trailer tacked to the back of their station wagon. “It was a great adventure,” mom said. “Until, of course, the whole thing went bust.”

After San Francisco, they dragged the kids back across the country to a dilapidated farmhouse in the curious world of semi-rural Michigan on 10 acres where we lived in poverty for more than a decade. We raised chickens, tended a large organic garden and canned all the results for winter – all those homespun pursuits so much in vogue these days among domestic DIYers. My family did it because once the snow fell, you had to buy your food, and we couldn’t afford that. Of course, that made me long for Wonder Bread, HoHo’s and canned soup. Once our fortunes improved, we moved into the town of Davison, just down the street from a young Michael Moore. Once I had the money to buy Wonder Bread and Ho Hos, all I wanted was homemade bread and my mother’s chicken soup.

In reality, it starts earlier than the 1950s, heading all the way back to 1883 when my 14-year-old great-grandmother Anna arrived from Sweden with her brother and worked for a decade as a cook in middle class Minneapolis households in order to bring the rest of their family to America. My other great-grandparents hailed from Wales and Ireland and worked against the odds to make a life for themselves in American and passed on the recipes they knew from home. Over time, they shifted and bent their recipes to the will of American cuisine.

Hey, but I shouldn’t even be talking about this. I’m going to be resurrecting my recipe testing group once again to test recipes for the upcoming book, and I’ll be hosting a series of “work in progress” readings at the Richard Hugo House in Seattle November through May. I’ll be hosting at least one live online.

Thanks to everyone for their support. It means so much to me. So often, writing feels like a process that takes place in a vacuum.

Now, on to writing the darn thing.

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June 8, 2012 · 8:39 am

Friday Reads: Women & Cookbooks

This week, I’m continuing to barrel through research on gin and dining habits of the 1700s. But my research on foods of this era led me to an interesting book that I started a couple of days ago, Eat My Words: Reading Women’s Lives through the Cookbooks they Wrote by Janet Theophano (Palgrave, 2002). It reminded me of another book I read on the subject a few years ago, A Thousand Years over a Hot Stove by Laura Schenone (W.W. Norton, 2004). Theophano’s book is more academic than Schenone’s book which was a lively read as well as educational. Both demonstrate that cookbooks are about much more than just food but as Theophano notes, “illustrate a woman’s social interactions” at the time. I’m personally fascinated by culinary history and cookbooks in general, and both of these titles show how eating and recipes shifted over the years, and how the women who wrote them changed as well. It also has a universal message — that becoming a proficient cook can lead to confidence in area outside the kitchen as well. Anyone who has read my second book will know why I highlighted this comment in Eat My Words: “Cookbooks make evident the self-esteem some women developed as their matured in their domestic roles…” while in the past some areas were difficult for women to participate in, domestic pursuits were one in which “women could compete and excel.”

I also started to read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee to study the pacing and the language of her work. She also had such a natural way with dialogue and character development. I find that reading a great book while trying to do a lot of writing myself inspires me to write even more. Does that make any sense?

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May 18, 2012 · 1:26 am

Friday Reads: Drink Gin, Eat Vegetables

Anyone around me regularly knows I’m a voracious reader. Mike can’t seem to put in enough bookshelves. I’ve been posting what I’ve been reading via #Fridayreads on Twitter, but I’ve decided to list them here on the blog each week, too. What follows aren’t really reviews per se, but a book listed here is generally a recommendation.

I’m researching a new book that takes place in 18th Century London and focuses (in part) on the curious world of gin. So, in the past week, I’ve checked out all the books on gin from the Seattle Library System. (The look on the librarian’s face was worth the hassle of carting 22 books home.) I’m working my way through the stack, but so far my favorite book is Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of Reason. Author Jessica Warner offers thorough research combined with concise writing on the madness that took over the capitol in the early 1700s. It had so much good information that rather than mark up the library copy, I had to buy my own.

I had to track down a copy of London Eats Out: 500 Years of Capitol Dining published by the Museum of London, but it was so worth it. Organized by century, with break outs on early food writing, the dominance of beef steak dining clubs and loads of illustrations, it’s a thin volume that packs in a load of information. It kind of reminded me of one of those old Time-Life series books.

I also finished the galley of My Berlin Kitchen, the upcoming book by Luisa Weiss, creator of The Wednesday Chef. It’s terrific. I’ve been impressed by the clarity of her writing, her honesty, the story pacing and the gushy, wonderful love story. It comes out in September. Go pre-order it now.

I attended the launch party for Pike Place Market Recipes by Jess Thompson on Tuesday, so I’ve only had a chance to look through it but it’s a lovely book featuring purveyors and restaurants in and around Seattle’s iconic market along with 130 recipes. Talking to her the next day, I learned it will be one of four books she’ll have coming out in a two-year time period. I feel like such a slacker.

Every week, I rotate a couple of cookbooks onto my kitchen counter. This week (well, the past two weeks), one of them has been Cook Without a Book: Meatless Meals by the incomparable Pam Anderson. She writes recipes in such a useful way that I’m always recommending her books to people. This one features a clear “master recipe” and then countless variations on the main theme. I’ve used her book so much in the past couple of weeks that it’s actually changed our usual eating routine. I’m now making grain-based salads, versions of her grab-and-go breakfast tortillas and variations on Asian stir fry. If you’re trying to cut down on your meat consumption, give it a look. Pam has a knack for coming up with cooking strategies for busy people.

Finally, I’ve been entranced by Ripe: A Fresh, Colorful Approach to Fruit and Vegetables by Cheryl Sternman Rule with photography by Paulette Philipot. It provides a dose of gorgeous food porn plus pragmatic and useful ideas on how to use even the most obscure vegetables.

The latter has been useful in developing the class that I’ll be teaching at The Book Larder in Seattle next Tuesday. I think there are a couple slots left in you’re interested.

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August 1, 2011 · 7:09 am

What Do Food Writers Eat When They Write About Food?

The New York Times had a great visual piece in its Sunday Review of Books by illustrator Wendy MacNaughton that charted the favorite snacks of many authors. Best-selling writer Mark Kurlansky, author of two of my favorite books – Salt and Cod, likes to write under the influence of espresso, “as black as possible.” Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma likes tea out of a glass with a side of roasted almonds.

It made me think. What do I eat while writing? Do I have such a habit? I looked around at the stacks of food piled in my writing office and realized that when on book deadline, this is what I eat and drink:

It’s a short list, but I mix it up. Sometimes, I put peanut butter and jelly directly on crackers. Sometimes I pair the ak-Mak crackers with cheese and white wine if I am writing in the afternoon. The appeal of PB&Js on deadline is two-fold. One, it’s a comfort food that reminds me of my kid life. Second, it’s easy to make and won’t distract my train of thought to make one at noon or 3 a.m. When I get sick of PB&Js, I eat ramen noodles. But I throw out the flavor pack and settle the noodles into a bowl of steaming miso soup with tofu and seafood.

(At this point, Mike insists that I tell everyone rather than let me subsist on these items, he frequently cooks me dinner when I’m in serious crunch mode.)

I asked a few of my favorite food writers what they eat while writing:

Note how Joe sounds serious and all literate but then keeps it real with the chicken-fried steak reference, and Amanda kicks hers up with that admission to bourbon. What do you eat when you write about food?

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May 5, 2011 · 12:07 pm

Legacy: Read a book, do what you love

My friend Kim Ricketts died last Monday.  She was tough-minded, big-hearted, interested in seemingly everything, generous to a fault. She created book events featuring authors and in doing so, used her life’s passion for reading to create an unusual community. She was much loved here in Seattle, but her reach in the publishing industry was extensive. The day after she died, my publicist in New York sent me an email. “She’s meant so much to everyone here at Penguin,” she wrote. “She was an absolute dream to work with and so dedicated to the world of books–truly one of a kind in so many ways. She will be deeply, deeply missed.”

Mourners swirled around her departure with a flurry of social networking. They packed a huge cathedral for a memorial service; at the end of it, her daughter Whitney read Kim’s favorite poem.

Whitney, Kim, me at event last month

I last saw her at the Palace Ballroom for Grant Achatz. I mean, Grant’s a nice a guy and I enjoyed his book and all, but I went there to see Kim. She was skinny, with a new short bob of a haircut, a bit tired looking, yet herself. As the conversation focused on gritty details of Grant’s experience with mouth cancer, Kim became increasingly frustrated. “God, I wish they would get off this cancer talk!” she kept hissing to me in whisper as she scanned the silent crowd. “He’s so adorable, his work is so interesting and this is a total downer.” No concerns about her own illness, no concerns about anything other than the show and the audience and whether they would leave having had a good time. As the Q&A started, people asked about his food and restaurant. Kim sighed a breath of relief.

The event wrapped up, and she headed out. “I’m beat, I’ve got to go home and lay down,” she said.  ”I’ll see you in a couple of weeks.” I promised to bring her food and hang out with her after I got back into town from an extended trip I was leaving on the next day. We hugged good-bye. I chatted with her online, but never saw her again. Even though she was sick, desperately so, her death still struck most as a surprise.

As I reflect on her life, I keep coming back to a conversation we had at the bar of the Dahlia Lounge in Seattle about one of our favorite books, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. A teacher gave it to me shortly after my father died when I was 13. I think we both knew the entire book by rote. We talked and talked as we downed a bottle of red wine. I identified with Francie, the main character, a bookish, plain-looking young girl who aspired to grow up to be a writer, who also lost her father as a preteen. I told Kim that I often felt that the author had written that book especially for me. She laughed and said she thought it was written just for her. ”It made me feel like less of a freak for loving books so much.” When I came home after her service yesterday, I pulled my copy down from the bookshelf and started to reread it.

Fittingly, a reading list was included in the program at Kim’s service. The headline simply said “Read These Books.” A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is on it.

The Bunny Planet by Rosemary Wells
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillar
My Antonia by Willa Cather
The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx
Birds of America by Lorrie Moore
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genuis by Dave Eggers
The Silver Palate Cookbook by Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso

I didn’t link these titles to Amazon for a reason. She would hope you’d hit a local bookstore. One book on a shelf so often leads you to another, and sometimes, the multiple of things matter. Kim loved to read, she loved cooking and cookbooks, to throw a party, to introduce people to new authors, to drink good wine, to spend time with her husband and three kids. She thought big, worked hard and created for herself a career at the intersection where all her interests met.

How often do we meet people who truly chase and fight to live and share their passions? Rarely.

So, I ask, what do you love? What are you passionate about? Go do it. Life is short. Kim was 53. My dad was only 50 when he died. You may be waiting for “someday” to do that something you love, but it may never come.

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April 8, 2011 · 6:58 pm

Galleys!

Officially known as “uncorrected proofs,” a box of bound galleys for the new book arrived today. The inside design is lovely, too.

Amazon officially listed it on the site this week, too. Crazy.

We’re in full book tour planning mode right now. If you’d like to see if we can set something up in your ‘hood, drop me a line.

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March 8, 2011 · 4:52 pm

IACP Book Awards finalists announced

The finalists for the International Association of Culinary Professionals were announced this week. The contest includes two divisions, one for cookbooks and another for culinary journalism known as the Bert Greene Awards. I don’t think that I’m disclosing anything that I shouldn’t by publicly acknowledging that I’m a judge for Bert Greene awards, since that’s part of my job as the chair of the Food Writers, Editors & Publishers section.

I’m pretty psyched that some of my favorite writers and friends made the short lists. (I didn’t have a dog in this fight, but my next book will be eligible for next year’s awards…)

The complete list includes a couple of my favorite new cookbooks from last year, including Seattle-based Lisa Dupar’s fabulous Fried Chicken & Champagne and Around my French Table by Dorie Greenspan, plus the excellent American Wasteland by Jonathan Bloom, which I included in my 25 Food Books roundup late last year.

Congrats to all the finalists, and may I also add that this link also makes for a great shopping list?

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