Get Your Bake On!: The Color of Tea by Hannah Tunnicliffe (with Exciting Judging Announcement!)

It gives me great pleasure to introduce our Cook the Books selection for April and May; The Color of Tea by Hannah Tunnicliffe! In a busy life with an often demanding schedule, I love a book that I can fall into and that takes me away and helps me escape. The wonderful The Color of Tea does just that!

From the delectable French pastries and perfect little macarons, to scenes of life in exotic busy Macau, this novel had me hooked from the start. I'll confess it was the gorgeous cover art that first drew me in and I was immediately captured by the story about Grace Miller, an English expat who moves with her Australian husband to the tiny island of Macau in China. Grace, to escape the realities of the shattered dreams of her life and to do something bold and unexpected, uses her passion for baking to open a café. Serving coffee, tea and pretty-colored macarons to the women of Macu, Grace begins to find her strength and herself and to blossom. There is plenty of food, coffee, tea and of course baking inspiration in this lovely book!

If you would like to join in this round, have The Color of Tea finished, make a dish or dishes inspired by the book and post it by the deadline, Monday, May 27th.

Email me at debinhawaii@gmail.com or leave a comment here with your entry. You can also link up your dish by using the inlinkz link below. 

***The Color of Tea Judging Announcement***

Do you ever read a book and think that the author seems great, and that you know you would "click" and be friends in person? That's the feeling I got from the book and from reading about author Hannah Tunnicliffe, world traveler, food lover, tea drinker and baker, former HR professional and now published author. ;-) She seemed very down to earth and easy to like. When she quickly responded back to my email asking her to be our judge for this round and agreed, my feelings were confirmed. Hannah was excited that we selected her book for CTB and is very enthusiastic to be the judge, even offering up a small prize for the winner. How great is that?!? 

So our judge for this round is the author herself, Hannah Tunnicliffe!

You can find Hannah at either of her two websites: http://www.hannahtunnicliffe.com/ or http://www.forkandfiction.com/

I am looking forward to finding out how you like the book and seeing what delicious creations you are inspired to make from it!

Aloha,

Deb

Inspector Montalbano Uncovers the Mystery of the Winning Post!

Our wonderful guest judges, Lavonne and David Neff of The Neff Review thoughtfully reviewed the submissions for this latest round of Cook the Books, in which we savored Andrea Camilleri's "The Shape of Water". Here's what Lavonne had to say:

"Both of us enjoyed the Camilleri books we’ve read, but we still have quite a few left to go. We got waylaid by Donna Leon’s 22-book series featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti. She’s one of our very favorite mystery writers, and her descriptions of the culinary creations of Paola Falier, Brunetti’s wife, would drive you all to your kitchens. But given the absence of a Paola in Inspector Montalbano’s life (and his own reluctance to do more in the kitchen than open the refrigerator), you’ve all done wonderfully well to come up with food he would love.

I love the idea of an international book club, with hosts from (left to right) Hawaii, California, Indiana, and New York, and other participants this month from Australia, Hawaii, Vancouver, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and the U.K. On the other hand, food is best whenprepared and eaten with friends—and kudos to Marla and Louise who got together in person to make delicious looking arancini.

Claudia’s adaptation to the “current trend of stacking things” is right up my alley. One of my blog posts last year, “Make It Modular,” puts “stacking things” in chart form. I’m going to try your recipe, Claudia. Alicia, I love the way you used leftovers in your pasta. I often say my refrigerator is my best cookbook. And the cat’s mother’s acquacotta maremmana looks enticing—did you choose “cooked water” to go with the title?

Thanks to Heather(and Ana) for càlia e simenza, which looks better than trail mix any day and is easy to make, to Simona for cookies that I’ll bake as soon as I figure out where to buy baker’s ammonia, and to Debra for a dish that I think best exemplifies Inspector Montalbano’s approach to food. I too love food that can “be served up without any problem,” especially if garlic is involved. Ana, how appropriate to choose pasta alla puttanesca—and is there a pasta in the style of corrupt politicians too? And Rachel, the pollo e pomodori looks delightful.

(By the way, my go-to Italian cookbook is Trattoria by Patricia Wells. I’ve never had one of her recipes go wrong. Friday evening I fixed two of her recipes, petti di pollo alla salvia (sautéed chicken breasts with fresh sage) and risotto al limone—but I digress. They aren’t even remotely Sicilian.)

Well, David and I read all of your blog posts and then read them all again, and as we ate leftover risotto (“As they ate, they spoke of eating, as always happens in Italy”) we talked about what we most liked. Since we found it hard to decide, I asked him one question: “Which recipe do you want me to make for dinner tomorrow night?” He didn’t hesitate: he wanted sciuscieddu, though he didn’t try to pronounce it: egg and bread crumb soup.We both thought Deb wrote an excellent review of the book, both its plot and its food, and she bravely not only researched Sicilian food but even adapted English-language recipes to be truer to the Sicilian original. A bonus for us is that the recipe can be made vegetarian (we call ourselves part-time vegetarians). So the winner is Deb of Kahakai Kitchen—but really, you’re all winners, and so are we, with all these good new recipes to try. Now go make more of that Sicilian food and invite the neighbors over to share it!

P.S. Deb, do you think it would hurt to cook the garlic a little before adding it to the dumplings? And is there a wine you’d recommend to complement the soup?"

Hats off to our winner, Deb, and a big thank you to our delightful guest judges!

And now, to pass the torch to our CTB winner and current Host of the next CTB round. Hope you are all enjoying our next book, "The Color of Tea", by Hannah Tunnicliffe.

-Rachel, The Crispy Cook

Sciucieddu Update:

Lavonne made a batch of Deb's award-winning soup and here's what she had to say:

"It's delicious! Just before serving, I added the juice of one lemon, which I think made it even better. Oh, and if it really bothers Deb that her dumplings fell apart, tell her to keep the broth just at or just below boiling, and to let the dumplings cook in it for at least 5 minutes. Then they turn into little meatballs."

Looks scrumptious~!

The Cook the Books Roundup for Andrea Camilleri's "The Shape of Water"

Our February/March 2013 Cook the Books book selection was Andrea Camilleri's"The Shape of Water", the first novel in his bestselling, long-standing mystery series featuring Sicilian Inspector Montalbano. We were joined by many regulars but we also had some new Cook the Books participants this time, so I would like to start off by welcoming our new bookish friends. Welcome!

One of these new Cook the Books bloggers is Marla of Sightsbitsandbites. Her blog post about our featured book revealed her appreciation for the " laid back, almost conversational style" and the "quick-witted and funny" Inspector. She made Arancini, a delicious rice ball stuffed with cheese, rolled in crumbs and fried. I'm sure Montalbano would have enjoyed finding this tucked into his refrigerator by his housekeeper, Adelina.

Marla's friend Louise, of Books, Cooks n Clubs (as in golf clubs), were a kitchen duo in their submission of the delicious arancini shown above. Louise really enjoyed the wittiness and playfulness of Camilleri's writing, from his phrases "“splendid specimen of a nincompoop” to “Magical shamanistic practices” (used to describe how people might have learned about things that only the head of crime labs was to know!).

Cook the Books regular Claudia of Honey from Rock, enjoyed rereading this first Montalbano mystery, though she admits it is not her favorite in the series (not enough food references?  too much sleaziness and corruption?). She was inspired to make up three tasty dishes for a Montalbano homage: La Vignarola (a springtime vegetable stew), polenta and boiled shrimp with lemon and olive oil.

Hopping across the Hawai'ian islands from Claudia's home to Deb's Kahakai Kitchen, we have another take on the book. Deb took awhile to dig the book, but "By the end, I found myself quite fond of him and willing to follow him again on at least another adventure". Her culinary inspiration is a version of Sicilian Egg and Breadcrumb Soup with the charming name of "Sciuscieddu". 

The paper cones of roasted chickpeas and pumpkin seeds that Montalbano snacks on in one scene in the book sent Heather the Girlichef to the kitchen. Her take on Calia e Simenza looks tasty indeed!

Ana, from the Mediterranean-flavored blog, Sweet Almond Tree, wrote an intriguing post about the book, food and opera. I really enjoyed reading her long and informative post. She also made a batch of Calia e Simenza and also whipped up a briny version of Pasta Puttanesca to celebrate our featured title.

The Cat's Mother wrote a guest post on her daughter Foodycat's blog, not able to resist joining us in rereading and cooking from one of her favorite book series. Cat's Mother says "I dream of Sicily", and she not only cooked up an interesting and luscious looking dish, "Acquacotta Marememanna" (Cooked Water), but she procured and planted an Italian herb called calamint to make it. Kudos for going the extra mile for this little book club!

The Cat's Daughter, aka Foodycat, and intrepid cook Alicia, took on the Shape of Water but was not as enamored of the book as her mum. She was, however, delighted to try out a couple of pasta dishes, a twist on the classic Pasta alla Norma and an exotic Pasta with Roasted Duck, Walnuts and Pomegranate. Awesome.

It was on Simona of Briciole's advice that I decided to read and select The Shape of Water for our delicious little book group. She enjoyed rereading her favorite mystery series and I enjoyed reading this evocative snippet from her blog: "Sicily smells of sesame seeds. Not the actual island, but the Sicily of my memory. I close my eyes, I whisper "Sicilia" and I smell toasted sesame seeds. The same thing happens if I read about Sicily: I open one of my Montalbano books and my nose smiles."
For her CTB post she decided to try her hand at making Reginelle, a kind of Sesame Seed Cookie".  

Eliot's Eats had a witty post chock full of fun quotes from the book and topped with a tasty serving of Whole Wheat Pasta with Garlic Two Ways. 

Finally, we have my own contribution from The Crispy Cook to this virtual literary feast. I shared one of my favorite Shape of Water witticisms " ("Ingrid apparently belonged to that category of woman who cannot resist the sight of a bathtub), and shared my adaptation of a Sicilian Pollo e Pomodoro, perfumed with apples and allspice.

What a creative roundup. I always love reveling in the variety of reader opinions and the dishes we all cook up from our reading. I look forward to what our guest judges, Lavonne and David Neff of the Neff Review, will think of our posts. I'll be back soon with the Neff comments.

In the meantime, please look forward to our next CTB book pick, The Color of Tea, by Hannah Tunnicliffe, which will be hosted by the lovely Deb of Kahakai Kitchen. 

Italian Mystery on the Menu: The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri

For our next round of Cook the Books, I have selected the first novel in author Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano mystery series, The Shape of Water. I have read so many lovely reviews of the novels in this series by my CTB co-host, Simona, of Briciole, that I knew I had to dive into this book.

A few years ago, I was really smitten with the Inspector Brunetti mysteries by Donna Leon and the clever Aurelio Zen mysteries (each set in a different Italian region) by Michael Dibdin and I voraciously read my way through them. I needed a break from my Year of the Italian Police Procedural, but after a hiatus of reading an assortment of other wonderful books I took up Simona's recommendation and read The Shape of Water.

And now I am hooked again on an engrossing mystery series. Perfetto!

Here's my introduction to this great book:

Our very first Cook the Books pick focused on Sicily (we read Lily Prior's novel "La Cucina" and I propose we return to the "scene of the crime" by reading the first book in Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano mysteryseries by author Andrea Camilleri. "The Shape of Water" is the book and in it, the scrupulously honest Inspector searches to uncover the facts behind the death of an engineer that local bigwigs, including Montalbano's police chief, don't want investigated. However as the rear cover blurb on my copy of the book notes, "Picking his way through a labyrinth of high-comedy corruption, delicious meals, vendetta firepower, and carefully planted false clues, Montalbano can be relied on, whatever the cost, to get to the heart of the matter.

We will have not one but two delightful guest judges for this round of Cook the Books: husband and wife Lavonne and David Neff, who blog about "books and films on religion, politics, murder, and other congenial topics for polite dinner-table conversation" over at The Neff Review. You can read Lavonne's excellent review of The Shape of Water there.

Submissions to this round of Cook the Books are due Monday, March 25th.

And now, hie thee to the bookstore or library, grab this luscious book and enjoy!

You can leave a comment here to let me know that your post is up or use the Mr. Linky link here:

WINNER of The Hunger Games {announcement}

Hey all!  I just received word back from our guest judge this round, Wendy from Bookcooker.  Below are her thoughts and choice of winner...

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First, let me say how much I enjoyed all the entries in the Hunger Games “Cook the Books” challenge.   I was really impressed by everyone’s creativity, imagination and ambition in coming up with recipes inspired by Panem.   Like many of the participating bloggers, I did not immediately join The Hunger Games bandwagon, as I generally try to stay away from Young Adult fiction because sadly I no longer qualify as a “young” adult.   But as soon as I read the first few pages of the book, I was hooked (and read all three in quick succession) and realized that the book was perfect for my blog bookcooker, which is filled with recipes inspired by books.  When I blogged about the book, I went the obvious route and made a lamb and plum stew.  I was particularly impressed with the entries in the challenge that stayed away from the food of the capital and instead focused on the food of District 12 – more humble stews and Peeta’s bread.   These recipes were more of a challenge and truer to Katniss’ real identity.  With this in mind,  my pick for the winner of the Hunger Games Cook the Books challenge is…Honey from the Rock’s Roast Duck with Cassava and Wild Dandelion Greens.  I picked Claudia’s entry because it was as close to the type of wild, foraged meal that Katniss would have pulled together in District 12.  I thought Claudia’s post was original, interesting and a genuine representation of the food in the book.  I will say I wish Claudia posted some recipes!  Some honorable mentions – kudos to the ambitious bread bakers (Eliot’s Eats, Sweet Almond Tree), Squirrel Head Manor’s intriguing Rabbit Stew, and This Mama Cooks’ beautiful photographs.   Thanks so much for letting me participate in this fun challenge! I look forward to following everyone’s blogs in the future!

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Congratulations Claudia...Katniss would be proud!  Wear your winner's badge with pride (and alongside your five (!?) others...).  And thanks so much to Wendy for being our judge for this round!


Next up: The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri