The Secret, Book and Scone Society: The Roundup

It's time for the roundup of Cook the Books' Club October-November 2020 edition for which we read the novel The Secret, Book and Scone Society by Ellery Adams (2017).

Miracle Springs, North Carolina, is a place of healing, a quiet town with natural hot springs and a renowned spa. Visitors often find their way to Miracle Books, where they tell their stories to owner Nora Pennington who in return chooses some books for them. She also recommends they visit Gingerbread House and talk to the baker, Hester, who will then bake a personalized “comfort” scone for them. Food for the body and then food for the mind and heart.

Cook the Books Club's The Secret, Book and Scone Society-Inspired Menu

Scones (of course):
Cinnamon Apple Scones

Gingerbread Scones with Eggnog Glaze

Peanut Butter Chocolate Scones

'Secret' Meyer Lemon Scones

Taste of Three Scones

Other dishes:

Sweet

Muffin Tin Cinnamon Rolls

Savory
Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Honeynut Squash, Blue Cheese & Walnut Bites

Beverages (prepared by Nora)

"The chalkboard listed the literary names of the beverages Miracle Books offered: 

•  The Ernest Hemingway—Dark Roast 
•  The Louisa May Alcott—Light Roast 
•  The Dante Alighieri—Decaf 
•  The Wilkie Collins—Cappuccino 
•  The Jack London—Latte 
•  The Agatha ChrisTEA—Earl Grey"

Make yourself comfortable and enjoy the treats.

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Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm baked Cinnamon Apple Scones

"This is the first novel I have read by Ellery Adams and I thoroughly enjoyed it... Many times, Hester provides scones that bring back memories of happiness and security. Thinking about what she would provide for me inspired me to make these fresh apple and cinnamon scones. When I was young my family had numerous fruit trees. Every year for my birthday in August the apples would be ready for picking and my mom always made me a yellow cake with sliced apples and cinnamon sugar on top... Flaky dough studded with apples and flavored with cinnamon, these fresh apple scones are a delicious way to start the day."

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Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla baked Gingerbread Scones with Eggnog Glaze

"I loved the concept of the book - that the right books can soothe our souls, improve our lives, and teach us things that we desperately need to know... Of the characters, Hester is my favorite and I loved how she would bake comfort scones that would help people... But the book leaned a little too saccharine for my tastes. Still this was an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon...  In the end, I decided that gingerbread scones would be my comfort scones! I am a gingerbread fanatic. No, seriously. I really love gingerbread."

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Claudia of Honey from Rock baked Peanut Butter Chocolate Scones

"In my opinion this is a delightful novel, featuring not only tempting food, secrets and some magic (or call it inspired intuition), but healing and a bit of romance as well. On top of all that the new found friends solve a mystery... Since I enjoy experimenting with scones, one particular combination near the end of the book sparked real inspiration - Hester's own 'comfort' creation - the peanut-butter cup scone. I didn't use peanut butter cups, but chopped, toasted peanuts and some peanut butter, with melted chocolate swiped on top... my ganache didn't really melt and pour properly; also should have been more glossy, but the taste was totally there." 

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Debra of Eliot's Eats baked "Secret" Meyer Lemon Scones

"I have to say that Adams had me from the start and I could connect with the characters, the sisterhood they establish, the town of Miracle Springs, and the entrepreneurship of both Nora and Hester... I did enjoy learning about everyone’s secrets and seeing the friendships form, maybe more than the mystery itself. And, I loved Nora who judges food items on 'Can I eat this without putting my book down?'... As you might surmise, The Secret, Book & Scone Society, since it is set in Nora’s bookstore, is also full of reading recommendations."

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Sheila of Art, Food, Law & Wanders baked Three different Scones 

"The book had an interesting premise... Just too many problems with the writing... To end the review part of this post on a positive note, one thread in the book had promise. Every one of the members of the Secret, Book, & Scone Society had a secret. Could they trust each other enough to tell their secrets? What would finally be each character’s motivation and when would they feel confident enough to trust?... The book did send me off on a deep dive for Scones... I soon found that 'The definitive Scone', well, that’s as much a myth as the definitive pasta e fagioli. I decided not to make a choice but to make three different scones."

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Amy of Amy's Cooking Adventures baked Muffin Tin Cinnamon Rolls

"In this novel, law enforcement is corrupt, necessitating our regular citizens to take action. Our main character, Nora goes a little too vigilante toward to end, but overall, the book was captivating and well-written... Many bakery items made an appearance in this story and circumstances presented themselves for cinnamon rolls... I wanted to experiment with baking these in a muffin tin with the purpose of sending these in the cold lunch.  Mission accomplished!  The cinnamon rolls were delicious as ever and easy to pack in a lunch."

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Deb of Kahakai Kitchen prepared Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Pimiento Cheese Biscuits

"I  had purchased the e-book ages ago and needed that push to finally get it read. I had even forgotten the premise of the book and had it in my head that it was set in Scotland (the scones I guess?) instead of western North Carolina. But once I opened the pages I was hooked... With all of that inspiration, I did have in mind to try a scone but... I was more intrigued by the mention of the pimento cheese biscuits and the roasted red pepper spread out of a bread basket Nora and her friends noshed on than I was with the scones... Being not a baker, and wanting something easy, I doctored up a cheddar biscuit mix for my biscuits (this one), but if you have a favorite recipe, you could use it instead. "

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Simona of briciole (your host) prepared Honeynut Squash Blue Cheese & Walnut Bites

"The novel strikes a balance between the murder plot and the background stories of the four women, particularly of Nora. She emerges as a courageous person and steadying force in the group. It would have been fitting to develop a recipe for scones, a pastry of which I have been a great fan ever since tasting it for the first time in London, many years ago. This blog includes eight recipes for scones using ingredients like carrots, persimmons, strawberries, red beets... But as the story focuses on the slow opening up of each woman to the others, I thought I would prepare a dish that could be shared during one of their meetings."

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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. However, if you find anything missing or in need of amendment anywhere in the roundup, please do let me know and I will gladly make the necessary correction.

And now, I’ll turn things over to Deb of Kahakai Kitchen who is hosting the December 2020-January 2021 edition in which we are reading the Eat Joy: Stories & Comfort Food from 31 Celebrated Writers edited by Natalie Eve Garrett.

Arrivederci a presto!

Simona, of briciole

October/November selection: The Secret, Book and Scone Society

The novel The Secret, Book and Scone Society by Ellery Adams (October 2017) caught my attention first because of the words "book" and "scone" in the title (aren't they perfect together, a book in one hand and a scone in the other?),  then because it revolves around a bookstore, and finally, because it is a mystery.

The bookstore's owner, Nora, having once been healed by books, has chosen to do the same to other people. But healed from what? (I cannot say: it's part of the mystery)

Besides Nora, the society of the title includes three other women, quite different from each other, each with a secret to share, a story to tell. One of them is a baker with a special gift (which you will find out about when you read the novel). 

From the author's website:

Miracle Springs, North Carolina, is a place of healing. Strangers flock here hoping the natural hot springs, five-star cuisine, and renowned spa can cure their ills. If none of that works, they often find their way to Miracle Books, where, over a fresh-baked “comfort” scone from the Gingerbread House bakery, they exchange their stories with owner Nora Pennington in return for a carefully chosen book. That’s Nora’s special talent—prescribing the perfect novel to ease a person’s deepest pain and lighten their heaviest burden.

The novel is therefore a mystery on more than one level: there is a murder to be solved, but there are also the mysteries of the women's past, which are slowly revealed, just as the plot that led to the murder is also slowly revealed. 

There are no recipes in the book, but food and hot drinks play an important role in it and I hope the story will inspire you.  

Simona

Deadline for contributing your post: Monday, November 30, 2020.

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

Remember that anyone can participate in Cook the Books: simply pick up a copy of the selection from your local bookstore or library, take inspiration from said reading, cook and post the inspired dish. We look forward to having you read and cook along with us in this selection period and beyond. New participants are always welcome. (Leave a comment here or check out our Guidelines page if you have any questions.) 

Announcing Our Next Four Selections

Are you ready? Here are the next four selections of our book club, with which we will keep each other's company during the year 2020:

Deb (Kahakai Kitchen) opens the series with Hippie Food by Jonathan Kauffman (published January 2018) for the April/May edition

For our April/May 2020 pick, I had to go with the book that was just edged out by The Food Explorer as my choice or the last round: Hippie Food: How Back-to-the-Landers, Longhairs, and Revolutionaries Changed the Way We Eat by Jonathan Kauffman. Food history fascinates me and I want to learn more about how tofu, brown rice, and veggie burgers made their way into the mainstream. It's also a good excuse to hit up my Moosewood Collective cookbook collection for some hippie fare.  

From the publisher:

An enlightening narrative history—an entertaining fusion of Tom Wolfe and Michael Pollan—that traces the colorful origins of once unconventional foods and the diverse fringe movements, charismatic gurus, and counterculture elements that brought them to the mainstream and created a distinctly American cuisine. 

Food writer Jonathan Kauffman journeys back more than half a century—to the 1960s and 1970s—to tell the story of how a coterie of unusual men and women embraced an alternative lifestyle that would ultimately change how modern Americans eat. Impeccably researched, Hippie Food chronicles how the longhairs, revolutionaries, and back-to-the-landers rejected the square establishment of President Richard Nixon’s America and turned to a more idealistic and wholesome communal way of life and food. 

From the mystical rock-and-roll cult known as the Source Family and its legendary vegetarian restaurant in Hollywood to the Diggers’ brown bread in the Summer of Love to the rise of the co-op and the origins of the organic food craze, Kauffman reveals how today’s quotidian whole-foods staples—including sprouts, tofu, yogurt, brown rice, and whole-grain bread—were introduced and eventually became part of our diets. From coast to coast, through Oregon, Texas, Tennessee, Minnesota, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Vermont, Kauffman tracks hippie food’s journey from niche oddity to a cuisine that hit every corner of this country. 

A slick mix of gonzo playfulness, evocative detail, skillful pacing, and elegant writing, Hippie Food is a lively, engaging, and informative read that deepens our understanding of our culture and our lives today.  

And how can you resist that cover?!? 

Aloha, 
Deb

Deadline for contributing your post is Sunday, May 31, 2020

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For the June/July edition, Claudia (Honey from Rock) chose Kitchen Chinese by Ann Mah (published February 2010)

I read Kitchen Chinese last year, loved it, and immediately thought it would be a great pick for our Cook the Books Club. Though fiction, it resonates with the author’s real life experience. Not quite memoir, though the novel is loosely based upon her own experiences in China, when her husband was posted there. Mah says, “My husband’s diplomatic career brings frequent international moves, as well as lots of fresh material (and occasional angst) to write about, and we always have another relocation on the horizon.” 

Ann Mah's funny and poignant first novel about a young Chinese-American woman who travels to Beijing and in the process discovers food, family, and herself, is a delight--complete with mouth-watering descriptions of Asian culinary delicacies, from Peking duck and Mongolian hot pot to the colorful, lesser known Ants in a Tree that will delight foodies everywhere. 

Her tale of clashing cultures, rival siblings, and fine dining is also the story of one woman's search for identity and purpose in an exotic and faraway land. After her magazine career comes to a halt, Isabelle Lee, the author’s protagonist, leaves New York, wanting change, and hoping also to reconnect with her family roots in China. Her older sister is an attorney living there, so she has a place to stay. However, her familiarity with the language and culture is limited to 'kitchen Chinese'. 

Isabelle lands a job at a magazine for the expatriate community in Beijing and finds a circle of friends. However, her relationship with her big-shot attorney sister, Claire, who's lived in China for a while, gets off to a rocky start, with the two not knowing quite what to make of each other. Isabelle's Beijing immersion provides a refreshing and fun narrative, with insights into modern China and the expatriate experience, making for an enjoyably intriguing read.

Aloha,
Claudia

Deadline for contributing your post is Friday, July 31, 2020

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For the August/September edition, Debra (Eliot's Eats) has chosen Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown (December 2019)

  

I am always on the lookout for a new Cook the Books suggestion. I was rambling through a book store recently and saw a table devoted solely to Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown. 

The blurb on the inside cover had me. This tale of two women in two different times (yet in the same house) had me. I figured that if the book had "recipe" in the title (and with at least one reference to meatloaf in the first few chapters), I decided I would choose Recipe for a Perfect Wife for my turn at hosting. 

From the publisher: 

In this captivating dual narrative novel, a modern-day woman finds inspiration in hidden notes left by her home’s previous owner, a quintessential 1950s housewife. As she discovers remarkable parallels between this woman’s life and her own, it causes her to question the foundation of her own relationship with her husband–and what it means to be a wife fighting for her place in a patriarchal society.

Debra

Deadline for contributing your post is Wednesday, September 30, 2020

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To round up the list of selections, for the October/November edition Simona (briciole) picked the novel The Secret, Book and Scone Society by Ellery Adams (October 2017)

This book caught my attention first because of the words "book" and "scone" in the title, then because it revolves around a bookstore, whose owner, Nora, having once been healed by books, has chosen to do the same to other people. And finally, because it is a mystery.

Besides Nora, the society of the title includes three other women, quite different from each other, each with a secret to share, a story to tell. One of them is a baker, one with a special gift (which you will find out about when you read the novel). There are no recipes in the book, but food plays an important role and I hope the story will inspire you. 

Simona

Deadline for contributing your post: Monday, November 30, 2020.

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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.

To recap:

April/May: Hippie Food by Jonathan Kauffman (hosted by Deb at Kahakai Kitchen)

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June/July: Kitchen Chinese by Ann Mah (hosted by Claudia at Honey from Rock)

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August/September: Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown (hosted by Debra at Eliot's Eats)

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October/November:The Secret, Book & Scone Society by Ellery Adams (hosted by Simona at briciole)

Happy reading and cooking!