Announcement: our Next Four Selections

Once again, we are unveiling the next four books selected by our virtual book club's co-hosts. As always, a nice variety of titles. We hope the reading will delight and inspire you in the kitchen. Are you ready? Let's go! 

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Debra (Eliot's Eats) will open the new series: for the December/January 2027 edition, she chose the epistolary novel Kate & Frida by Kim Fay  (March 2026)

From the publisher: 

Twenty-something Frida Rodriguez, daughter of Love & Saffron’s own Joan Bergstrom, comes to Paris in 1991, relishing the city’s butter-soaked cuisine and seeking her future as a war correspondent. But when she writes to a bookshop in Seattle, she receives more than just the book she requests. A friendship begins that will redefine the person she thought she wanted to become. Seattle bookseller Kate Fair is transformed by Frida’s free spirit, spurred to kiss her handsome coworker, to believe in herself as a writer, and to find beauty even in loss. Through the most tumultuous years of their young lives—personally and globally—Kate and Frida’s friendship sustains and nourishes them as they show each other how to overcome self-doubt and the necessity of embracing joy even through our darkest hours. A buoyant, mouth-watering oasis of a novel, Kate & Frida is a love letter to bookshops and booksellers, to the way stories shape how we perceive ourselves, to the passion we bring to life in our twenties, and to the last precious years before the internet changed everything.

“A buoyant, mount-watering oasis of a novel”? This is high praise and I hope this book stands up to the Cook the Books’ high standards. 🙂

Debra, Eliot's Eats

Deadline for contributing your post is Sunday, January 31, 2027

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For the February/March edition, Claudia (Honey from Rock) has chosen the novel Above the Bay of Angels by Rhys Bowen (February 2020)

I first read Above the Bay of Angels by Rhys Bowen in 2020 and again this March, enjoying it each time, and noting that it would be a great selection for our Cook the Books Club.

A single twist of fate puts a servant girl to work in Queen Victoria's royal kitchen in this suspenseful, historical mystery by the New York Times bestselling author of The Tuscan Child and The Victory Garden.

Isabella Waverly is confronted by the sight of young woman struck down by an Omnibus on a London street. She crouches next to her, to comfort or possibly help the woman, when in her final dying moments, she thrusts a letter into Bella's hand. It's an offer of employment in the kitchens of Buckingham Palace, and everything the budding young chef desperately wants: an escape from her grinding life as a lowly servant. In the stranger's stead, Bella can spread her wings. She arrives at the palace as Helen Barton from Yorkshire. Once employed, she is able to pursues her passion for creating culinary delights, served to the delighted Queen Victoria herself. Best of all, she is chosen to accompany the queen to Nice. What a dream come true! Until the threat of blackmail from Helen's unscrupulous brother shadows Bella to the Riviera. Will she overcome that, as well as possible arrest when a guest of the Queen dies after eating a meal she had prepared? Bella becomes a suspect in a murder investigation! Will she find the killer or die on the gallows?

This delightful mystery neatly blends the historical details of late Victorian life, from rich foods and royalty, into a story spiced with humor and romance. Bella is depicted as a modern Victorian woman, bravely navigating class differences while struggling to further her ambitions.

I hope you will all enjoy the novel as much as I did, and be inspired by all the delicious culinary creations mentioned.

Aloha,

Claudia, Honey From Rock

Deadline for contributing your post: Wednesday, March 31, 2027.

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For the April/May edition Simona (briciole) chose the novel Murder in Chianti by Camilla Trinchieri (July 2021)

I don't recall how I learned about Camilla Trinchieri's mystery series set in the Chianti region of Tuscany, but as it was available at the library, I borrowed the first novel. 

From the publisher:

Mourning the loss of his wife, Rita, former NYPD homicide detective Nico Doyle moves to her hometown of Gravigna in the region of Chianti. Half Italian and half Irish, Nico finds himself able to get by in the region with the help of Rita’s relatives... 

Early one morning, he hears a gunshot and a dog’s cries near his new home and walks out to discover a dead body in the woods, flashily dressed in gold tennis shoes... 

Salvatore Perillo, the local maresciallo, discovers Nico’s professional background and enlists him to help with the case. 

Rita's relatives, it must be noted, own a restaurant, and Nico besides helping there as waiter, starts developing recipes for it, so there is plenty of food in the novel, and not just from Tuscany: Perillo comes from Naples, while his brigadiere, Daniele Donato, comes from Venice, so we get glimpses of their culinary traditions. I hope the novel will be a pleasant read and a source of inspiration in the kitchen.

Simona, briciole

Deadline for contributing your post is Monday, May 31, 2026

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To round up the list of selections, for the June/July edition, guest host Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm chose the historical novel Like Wafers in Honey by Leah Eskin (April 2026)

My selection is a Historical Fiction that follows two timelines and features many Italian Jewish recipes. 

From the publisher:

This debut novel from food writer Leah Eskin of the Chicago Times combines the historical sweep and emotional power of The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer and the resonant use of food and recipes of Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. 

The story opens on the mountaintop city of Pitigliano, Italy, once called Little Jerusalem for its vibrant, centuries-old Jewish community. But the year is 1943. Mussolini has enacted anti-Jewish laws across Italy, and the family of Stella Fortuna struggles to maintain any sense of their former life. Then one night a neighbor comes to their door holding a ricotta pudding, and tells them “You must leave now. You’re in grave danger.” The Nazis have arrived to help the Fascists of Italy enact their own Final Solution. 

Grabbing what few things they can carry (and the pudding), Stella Fortuna escapes into the woods below Pitigliano with her two older brothers and younger sister, Marcella. What follows is a desperate months-long flight. Precarious stays with sympathetic, but fearful families in the countryside, dodging the ever-closer Fascists in pursuit while Stella dreams of romance, the comforts of home, and the food that was not just her mother’s it was the delicious expression of an entire culture in danger. 

In a separate timeline, Edda Servi Machlin is a housewife in 1960s Westchester trying to make sense of a new culture, and the “spaghetti and meatballs” food that passes for Italian cuisine. With caustic wit, we see twentieth-century America through an immigrant’s eyes, someone who can never return to her former home, because it no longer exists. Someone who comes to understand that it might be up to her to preserve the indelible flavors of a Jewish-Italian way of life that is in danger of extinction, as her family once was. 

In between these two remarkable stories are more than forty recipes (updated for today's cooks), all inspired by the life and example of Edda Servi Machlin, author of The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews.

Wendy, A Day in the Life on the Farm

Deadline for contributing your post: Saturday, July 31, 2027.

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Remember that membership in our book club is open to anyone and we hope you will join us by reading these selections and creating inspired recipes. For more information about participating, click here.  

As always, specific announcement posts can be found at Cook the Books at the beginning of each two-month period and the current selection is always shown on the right side of the homepage.

And do not hesitate to leave a comment on this post or the specific announcement should you have any questions. 

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To recap:

December 2026 / January 2027: Kate & Frida 

by Kim Fay (hosted by Debra at Eliot's Eats)

February / March 2027: Above the Bay of Angels

by Rhys Bowen (hosted by Claudia at Honey from Rock)

April / May 2027: Murder in Chianti by Camilla Trinchieri 

(hosted by Simona at briciole)

June / July 2027: Like Wafers in Honey by Leah Eskin (hosted by Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm)

Happy reading and cooking!

 

Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford: August - September Selection

 Please join us in reading this latest selection from Cook the Books Club,  Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame, by Olivia Ford.  Reality TV producer Ford debuts here with the charming story of a British home baker's turn in the spotlight. I originally picked it due to my love for stories about "seasoned citizens" getting out and doing unexpected, adventurous things!  And Mrs. Quinn, Jenny, has been feeling that her life is lacking any forward motion, that everything exciting has passed her by.

From the Publishers: "A huge-hearted, redemptive coming-of-old-age tale, a love story, and an ode to good food. Nothing could be more out of character, but after fifty-nine years of marriage, as her husband Bernard's health declines, and her friends' lives become focused on their grandchildren--which Jenny never had--Jenny decides she wants a little something for herself. So she secretly applies to be a contestant on the prime-time TV show Britain Bakes. Whisked into an unfamiliar world of cameras and timed challenges, Jenny delights in a new-found independence. But that independence, and the stress of the competition, start to unearth memories buried decades ago."  Ones she would rather forget and that Bernard not find out about. 

The action starts now!  Read, then post your review and food inspiration.  Leave a comment below with your link or email me at claudiariley@yahoo.com when you post your review and food inspiration. Deadline for contributing your post is Wednesday, September 30, 2026.

Aloha,

Claudia, Honey From Rock

Kitchens of the Great Midwest: The Roundup

It's time for the roundup of Cook the Books' Club June /July edition for which we read the novel Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal. 

As I've done in the past, I will present our club members' contributions as a menu organized in courses. For each dish, I will give you the official information (author, blog name and post title) and a quote from it, a taste: follow the link and read the author's take of the book and how the reading inspired the cooking. 

Cook the Books Club's Kitchens of the Great Midwest-Inspired Menu 

Main dish:

French Onion Rigatoni

Side Dish:

Succotash

Carrots, Onion and Apricot

Dessert:

Rhubarb Crumble Bars

Triple Layer Bison Bars

Cocktail:

Spicy Margarita 

Make yourself comfortable and enjoy the menu.

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Marg of The Intrepid Reader & Baker prepared French Onion Rigatoni

"Over the years, we see Eva's passion for food morph into an unrivaled food career, all of which she manages on her own terms. The other thing about Eva is that she is a collector of people, but as reader's we don't really see this all come together until the very end of the book!... So how do you decide what recipe to make when there are so many food mentions in a book. It almost happens by osmosis. I had written down a few notes, one of which was French Onion Soup, which was the subject of one of the chapters. And then I realised that I had this recipe already saved in my blog to share at some point, and that the recipe would definitely count for Paris in July and voila!"

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Claudia of Honey from Rock made Succotash

"[Lars] was pretty amusing as he prepared gourmet baby meals for little Eva in the first section... On the upside, and in between, there were many mentions of food and recipes I wanted to try, so lots of inspiration in that department. As for the meal inspiration, I was quite taken with the description of her Succotash. Luckily, it being the right season, I was able to source organic, farm fresh corn, actually the day picked! And to which I added my garden fresh, green, winged beans, rather the green beans Eva used. A truly fabulous dish! I will be making this again, whenever I can get that corn! You need to call ahead and see if it's in. ;I"

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Simona of briciole made Carrots, Onion and Apricot

"While I never wished to attend one of the dinners, I appreciated how Eva helped people in her life, family and strangers. The best moments of the novel for me were those describing kindness and generosity... The book includes many references to food... I was inspired to create something new in terms of flavor combination, but also simple, since an additional challenge was that I traveled for four weeks..., so didn’t have access to my kitchen. Thankfully, I had access to farmers markets and farm stands, and seasonal produce was once again my main source of inspiration: apricots, fresh onions, particularly walla walla, and carrots." 

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Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm prepared Rhubarb Crumble Bars

"I was inspired to make these Rhubarb Crumble Bars by a section of the book dealing with a State Fair Bake-Off competition. One of the categories included was Bars, a staple at Potlucks in the Midwest. I decided on these bars because Rhubarb requires freezing-cold winters to grow, and the Midwest has the perfect terroir. Not to mention that, living in Michigan, my rhubarb was abundant this time of year... I recommend this novel, which explores heritage, family, relationships, and coming of age. I also recommend these delicious bars while rhubarb is still available."

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Amy of Amy's Cooking Adventures prepared Triple Layer Bison Bars 

"As with his other book, the author totally nails small town Midwest and I found myself chuckling as many of the characters (and the bars! Ah! Such a Midwest staple!)... I’ve come to realize that the author’s writing style (don’t get me wrong, he’s an excellent writer) is just not my thing..., but what I’ve appreciated in both the author’s books was the spot-on descriptions of the midwest, especially Minnesota... I also knew immediately after starting Pat Praeger’s section of the novel that I was going to make bars. As in the book, “bars”, much like “hotdish” are an institution of the midwest... Are these real Bison Bars? Who knows, since I don’t have a hyper specific church cookbook. Were they delicious? Absolutely!"

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Debra of Eliot's Eats mixed some Spicy Frozen Margaritas 
and made two types of Pepper Jelly

"I originally thought (back when I was not going to re-read the book) that I would just whip up some jalapeno margaritas and call that good. But, once I re-read Kitchens, I had to make some pepper jelly in honor of Braque, Eva’s cousin. (Honestly, some of the passages with Braque were indeed the most comical)... I did include the Spicy Margarita recipe here just because... My sister introduced us to this recipe and then we basically had to buy a Vitamix. The hardest thing about this recipe is peeling the limes. I threw in the jalapeno to make this cocktail more representative of the Scoville scale heat of the first part of the novel."

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A great Thank you! to everyone who joined in this edition of Cook the Books.

I believe all the submissions I have received are presented in the roundup. If you find anything missing or in need of amendment anywhere in the roundup, please do let me know.

And now, I’ll pass the baton to Claudia of Honey from Rock, who is hosting the August / September edition in which we are reading the novel Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford.

Arrivederci a presto!

Simona, of briciole

June/July selection Kitchens of the Great Midwest

For the June / July edition I chose the novel Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal (July 2015)

On our club's website, we have a page where people can suggest readings. One of them caught my attention and when I followed up and looked at Stradal's books, I was intrigued by the words on the publisher's page "a novel about a young woman with a once-in-a-generation palate who becomes the iconic chef behind the country’s most coveted dinner reservation." Such an introduction is hard to resist. 

The structure of the book also sounds intriguing:  

Each chapter in J. Ryan Stradal’s startlingly original debut tells the story of a single dish and character, at once capturing the zeitgeist of the Midwest, the rise of foodie culture, and delving into the ways food creates community and a sense of identity.

I hope the novel will make for an pleasant read and a source of inspiration in the kitchen.

Simona, briciole

Deadline for contributing your post: Friday, July 31, 2026.

Leave a comment below with a link to your post or email me at simosite AT mac DOT com

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Remember that membership in our book club is open to anyone and we hope you will join us by reading these selections and creating inspired recipes. New participants are always welcome and so are returning ones. For more information about participating, click here.  

Call of the Camino Round-Up

 Call of the Camino by Suzanne Redfearn is part travelogue, part family history, part sacred journey, part coming of age story and part family feud (more like a vendetta). Redfearn manages to keep the alternating tales of Isabelle and Reina separate but parallel and makes the reader want to know more about the two women: 1997 Isabelle and 2024 Reina.

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I read the novel during the winter of 2025. As I read, I kept thinking this might make a good CTB selection. I finally decided to host it for the April/May round.

You can read more about the book here at Redfearn's website. (Redfearn walked the sacred trail herself.)

Wendy was first up with a delicious sandwich: a traditional Spanish Bocadillo.

This book inspired Wendy on a number of different levels: 

I have always dreamed of walking the Camino.  I know I will never have more than a month to walk the entire 500 miles, but I could, and hope to, walk the last leg in 5 days.  I think that it would be an amazing journey for me and my eldest daughter, Amy, to experience together.  Every year, I try to challenge myself, I think this challenge would be perfect for my 70th trip around the sun.  If my dream becomes a reality, I will strive to try a different Bocadillo each day of the trip. 

Amy (Amy's Cooking Adventures) used the setting for the novel as inspiration for another group, Eat the World, and hosted Andorra. Amy made a lovely bruschetta from the region called Pa Amf Tomaquet or “Tomato Toast."

Amy pointed out a important question after reading the novel. "When did 1997 become historical fiction?" Indeed!

She was a bit skeptical about the novel but ended up rating it 4 stars.

Claudia from Honey From Rock researched and shared some of the history of the trail:

As for my thoughts, and research, I'm starting with the back story of Camino de Santiago, also known as the Way of St. James.  There were three disciples by that name, none of whom ever made it to Spain, dead or alive.  The Apostle Paul planned to go to Spain, and had also said he was resolved not to go where the gospel had already been preached.  See Romans 15:20-24. One St. James was the brother of the Apostle John and early on was slain by Herod.  The other James was the author of the book of James in the New Testament, written about A.D. 45-50, and had a leading role as head of the early church, mainly in Jerusalem to the Jewish believers.  Paul's main outreach was to the Gentiles, hence his many journeys. 

 

Claudia wasn't a huge fan of the plot so she continued to focus on the legend. She was inspired, though, to make a delicious sangria based on Isabelle's mother's recipe with "a dash of brandy, green apples and blueberries  -- a combination that tempers the sweetness and makes the drink deep, dark mulberry."

I was next up with my post and a hack for Spanish Tortilla. Tortillas are mentioned maybe as much as Bocadillo. I stumbled across a recipe for Potato Chip Tortilla from a Milk Street Cookbook. Honestly, this is kind of genius.

You definitely don't have to risk your fingers cutting potatoes super thin on a mandolin. Just open a bag of kettle chips. 

Marg enjoyed the book and her summary is great. For her recipe inspiration, she pulled out one of her favorite cookbooks, The Food of Spain by Claudia Roden. Roast chicken is mentioned toward the end of the book but she was also inspired by the pilgrims' stopover at  La Casa de los Dioses (The House of the Gods) where fruit was available for them.

Simona rounded out the crew with a green cabbage, bean and new potato stew. She took her inspiration from an Andorran dish plus a Spanish dish called escudella (except without the meat):

As Isabelle is from Andorra, I looked up traditional recipes from the country, which is located between France and Spain in the Pyrenees mountains. One popular dish, also mentioned in the book (chapter 51), is trinxat, a cabbage and potato hash for which you can find recipes online. If you decide to try it, something I didn’t do, make sure you read José Andrés’s tip about cooking the potatoes with their skin on.

That's it for this round!

Join Cook the Books in June and July for Novels of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal. Simona (briciole) is hosting. Look for an announcement post soon at Cook the Books.