A Feast of Four New Cook the Books Selections

Greetings Everyone! I hope you are all snuggling in with our current book selection, Sarah-Kate Lynch's The Wedding Bees and dreaming up something fun to cook and blog about. In the interim, I and my Cook the Books co-hosts have been rustling up some new book selections for us to read and cook from and I am pleased to announce the literary line up that will take us through the next year:

August/September 2015 Book Pick:

Yes, Chef, by Marcus Samuelsson (2012)
Hosted by Rachel, The Crispy Cook

You may know Chef Marcus Samuelsson from hearing about his New York restaurant Red Rooster or his time as head chef at Aquavit or from appearances on Top Chef and Iron Chef, but I found the story of his youth tremendously interesting in his memoir, Yes, Chef. Marcus was born in rural Ethiopia and when he and his mother and older sister contracted tuberculosis in a 1973 epidemic, his mother walked 75 miles with her children to a hospital in the capital city of Addis Ababa, where she unfortunately succumbed to the disease. Marcus and his sister were adopted by a Swedish family, where he squeezed in Saturday cooking lessons with his grandmother, Helga, when he wasn't on the soccer field. A sports career didn't pan out, so he poured his extensive energies into cooking school and various apprenticeships at world-class hotels and restaurants around Europe.

Samuelsson is passionate about "chasing flavors", and experimenting with ingredients and cuisines from around the globe, and I learned a lot about layering taste and texture in dishes from this book. I hope you all will enjoy it as much as I did.

Submissions due: Wednesday, September 30, 2015

-Rachel

October/November 2015 Book Pick:

The Hundred-Foot Journey, by Richard C. Morais (2011)
Hosted by Deb, of Kahakai Kitchen

"People have recommended The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais as a great foodie read to me over the past few years but I just have not gotten around to reading it. I did see the film adaptation, and it made me want to delve into the book, so what better way to get it onto my reading list than to choose it as my October/November 2015 pick? From Bombay to Paris, this novel traces the culinary journey of Hassan Haji from his childhood above the humble family restaurant in India, to discovering French cooking in a small French village, and then finding celebrity as a chef in Paris. I think there will be plenty of delicious food to inspire us in this book.  

Special Note: The fabulous Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla is hosting November's round of the monthly foodie movie event Food 'N Flix and has selected the movie version of The Hundred-Foot Journey. We will be pairing up and doing an optional tie-in of this book with Food ‘N Flix for those of you interested in both reading and viewing this charming story. Details to come!

Submissions due: Monday, Nov. 30, 2015

December 2015/January 2016 Book Pick:

A Place at the Table, by Susan Rebecca White
Hosted by Debra, of Eliot's Eats 

Do you like a good traditional pound cake recipe and inspired Southern cuisine?   Do you like a novel with Southern charm (and that Southern Gothic element as well)? What about a good quirky character ensemble?

Suzan Rebecca White's novel, A Place at the Table, combines all of these elements.   The novel's prologue describes a disturbing scene in Emancipation, North Carolina during the late 20s, but the bulk of the novel takes place during the 80s and 90s in Georgia, Connecticut and New York City.  How does a character from an era of lynchings and fear intertwine with more modern characters trying to make their way in NYC?  

I hope you enjoy finding out the answer and following the three main characters of Alice, Bobby, and Amelia as they all make their way to find peace with themselves and the world around them.

-Debra

Submissions due: Sunday, January 31, 2016

February/March 2015 Book Pick:

The Unprejudiced Palate: Classic Thoughts on Food and the Good Life, by Angelo Pellegrini (1948)
Hosted by Simona, of Briciole

What did America look like to an immigrant Italian child? How did this child applied his philosophy of life, rooted in Italy, to his new home in Seattle? In this book, the first he published, Pellegrini tells his story but also the way he sees life and in particular the way he approaches growing, making and eating food (and wine too).

Pellegrini’s prose is pleasant and precise (in his “day job” he was an English professor), with the affectionate intensity typical of Italians when they talk about things that are dear to them.

He was not part of any school of thought nor did he follow any fashion: with grace and kindness, he told things as he saw them and as he did them.

I hope you will enjoy this food writing classic.

Note: As this book was originally published decades ago, it exists in various editions, the most recent of which is part of Random House's Modern Library Food series(the ebook is also available). I have the 1984 edition, which has an afterword by MFK Fisher, describing the rather inauspicious beginning of her acquaintance, and later friendship, with Pellegrini. 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Unprejudiced-Palate-Classic-Thoughts/dp/0812971558

-Simona

So there you have four mouthwatering books that we hope will tempt you to read, cook from and blog about in the months to come. Please join us at our virtual table with your submissions for the roundup every other month. New bloggers are always welcome. 

Gotta buzz off back to The Wedding Bees.....

-Rachel

Our August/September 2014 Selection: A Thousand Days in Venice

Ciao!  

A Thousand Days in Venice: An Unexpected Romance was one of those paperback novels that you pick up on those ubiquitous "Summer Reading" tables at the bookstore.  Call these "beach reads" or "fun reads," I typically don't expect a whole lot from this genre.   That being said, this "Summer Reading" table is where I was first introduced to Marlena di Blasi.

Di Blasi, a former chef from St. Louis, chronicles a solo trip to Venice, a trip in which she falls in love with the "The Floating City" and with a Venetian named Fernando.  She speaks a little bit of Italian.  He speaks less English. A Thousand Days follows her spontaneous decision to live life and share her heart with Fernando (“the stranger”),  immersing herself in the food, culture and people of Italy.  It is a love story between a man, a woman and a truly beautiful city.  Di Blasi also includes some authentic recipes such as Prugne Addormentate (Sleeping Pears), Pappa al Pomodoro, and Porcini Brasati con Moscato (Wild Mushrooms Braised in Late-Harvest Wine) to name a few.  In this very romantic memoir, she describes their exploration of the city, their developing romance, and the realization that they have both found their soul-mates.

I soon became an über fan.  A Thousand Days in Venice led me to the sequel, A Thousand Days in Tuscany, which led me to The Lady in the Palazzo, then to That Summer in Sicily, and finally Antonia and her Daughters.   (All of these books follow Marlena and Ferdinand as they explore Italy together.) She is also the author of two regional cookbooks:  Regional Foods of Northern Italy (a James Beard Foundation Award finalist) and Regional Foods of Southern Italy.

I am sure that re-reading A Thousand Days in Venice will spark me to pick up di Blasi's other books: Dolce e Salata (a book that falls between their adventures in Venice and Tuscany) and Amandine: A Novel.  

Di Blasi and Ferdinand currently reside in Orvieto, Italy.

Submissions for this round of CTB are due September 30, 2014.  Anyone can join in the Cook the Books fun by reading and blogging about the book and cooking up a dish inspired by its contents. Just contact me when your entry post is up by commenting on this post and/or sending me an email at eliotseats@gmail.com.

If you're new to Cook the Books, check out our About and Guidelines pages or leave a question in the comments here.   Please also check out some of the previous Round-Ups for examples of members' posts.

Arrivederci,

Debra (Eliot's Eats)

Postscript: I am also über excited to be hosting my first CTB selection as an official co-host, so I hope you all enjoy this selection and get inspired to make something romantic, decadent, and delicious.  

The Next Four Cook the Books Selections for the 2014 Reading Season

Even as we travel through historic and contemporary America through the pages of our current CTB book selection, "Twain's Feast" by Andrew Beahrs, it is time to plan ahead for some other great reading to fill out the rest of the year.

To heighten the drama before this biblio-unveiling, I wanted to mention the changes that are happening with our Cook the Books band of bloggers. 

First, Heather of Girlichef, is regretfully leaving as a Cohost, though she notes that she will still join the group from time to time as her schedule allows.  I know I have always enjoyed Heather's writing and recipes, so I hope she can squeeze some time in for us and for some great reads in the coming months. The good news is that Debra of Eliot's Eats will be stepping up to the plate as our Fourth Cohost so we will still have a lot of "flavor and spice" represented in our foodie book selections. 

The second big change at Cook the Books is that we are doing away with the Guest Judge and winning post feature to our blog. While we have had a long line of wonderful Guest Judges and savored their comments about our posts, it is sometimes a mad scramble for the Cohost to secure a Guest Judge in cases where we've picked a very popular author that doesn't respond to our invitations (or an author who is deceased). We will still post a roundup of blog posts about our featured book, but there will be no Cook the Book winner. If an author wants to comment about our roundup, we'll pass it on. 

Now, onto the next four Cook the Books picks. 

Simona, Rachel, Deb and Debra have picked out the following books for upcoming rounds of Cook the Books. Here are what we have picked and why we chose it in the host's own words: 

April/May 2014 Round hosted by Rachel of The Crispy Cook

Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America by Firoozeh Dumas (2003)

This witty memoir is by an Iranian-born author who emigrated to southern California with her family in 1972, when she was a little girl. The essays about growing up with an engineer father who thinks he knows more about America and the English language than he actually does, adjusting to cultural differences in school and at-large, and marrying into a French family are full of humor and sparkle. And of course, there are some descriptions of lots of 
luscious Persian cooking to inspire us in the kitchen.

-Rachel

Deadline: Sunday, June 1, 2014


June/July 2014 Round hosted by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen:

The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen a Memoir by Jacques Pépin (2003)

Whenever I catch an old episode of Jacques Pépin on PBS or find him on a talk show or serving as a judge on a cooking show like Top Chef, I am struck by what a class act he is. Always respectful, thoughtful and with a true passion for food and for sharing his knowledge of cooking. Now 78, Pépin is a prolific chef, teacher and author, writing over 20 cookbooks and hosting or co-hosting 13 different cooking shows over the years. Several years ago a good foodie friend gave me her copy of his memoir, "The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen" and I reveled in his tale of growing up in France and working in his mother's kitchens, his time spent training and cooking in Paris, and his move to the United States in 1959. 

Stumbling over a copy the other day, I wanted to revisit this book myself and share it with all of you. Spanning several decades, his stories of how today's cooking scene evolved and his friendships with some of the greats like Julia Child, Craig Claiborne and James Beard make this book a charming and engrossing read for any foodie. (Anthony Bourdain called it "an instant classic!") The book itself includes some of Pépin's favorite recipes, and along with his array of cookbooks and online recipes, there should be plenty of inspiration and dishes to choose from. 

-Deb

Deadline: Thursday, July 31, 2014


August/September 2014 Round hosted by Debra of EliotsEats: 

A Thousand Days in Venice, by Marlena De Blasi

I cannot remember why I picked up A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena De Blasi.  I am sure it had something to do with the books tagline of “An Unexpected Romance” and obviously because it was set in Venice.   But, I soon became intrigued with the life De Blasi begins in Venice.  The thousand days of the title include her moving from St. Louis to Venice to start a life with a new and unexpected love.  It chronicles her spontaneous decision to live life and share her heart with Fernando (“the stranger”) and immerse herself in the food, culture and people of the city that is to be her new home.  Thousand Days in Venice is a love story between a man, a woman and a truly beautiful city.  Rest assured there are some authentic recipes included such as Prugne Addormentate (Sleeping Pears), Pappa al Pomodoro, and  Porcini Brasati con Moscato (Wild Mushrooms Braised in Late-Harvest Wine).  It has been a number of years since I have read this book so I am looking forward to rereading it.   Please note that De Blasi continues her adventures with Fernando in A Thousand Days in Tuscany and The Lady in the Palazzo:  An Umbrian Love Story. She also writes about other’s loves in That Summer in Sicily and Antonia and Her Daughters. These books are all full of food, bittersweet tales, love, and beautiful descriptions of Italy and its people.    

De Blasi is also the author of two cookbooks:  Regional Foods of Northern Italy (a James Beard Foundation Award finalist) and Regional Foods of Southern Italy.

I hope everyone enjoys this trip to “The Floating City.”

Deadline: Tuesday, September 30, 2014

-Debra

October/November 2013 Round hosted by Simona of Briciole: 

That Old Ace in the Hole, a novel by Annie Proulx (2002)

Although set very far away from the Newfoundland of The Shipping News, this novel shows some parallel to Proulx's earlier novel.The protagonist is a shy man confused about his place in the world, who finds himself transplanted into a new environment full of interesting characters and rich in local customs.

Adding to his clumsiness there is the fact that he is on a mission — to buy land to establish a hog farm— opposed by many of the people who also show him kindness.There are no recipes in the novel, but many dishes are mentioned and I hope that some elements of the story will inspire you. Above all, I hope that you will enjoy following Bob Dollar's adventure in the Texas Panhandle.

-Simona

Deadline: Tuesday, December 2, 2014

As always, we welcome everyone to join us for one or more of these Cook the Book rounds. The only requirement to join in the fun is to read the book and blog about it, including making a dish inspired by its pages.  Please join us.

-Rachel

Our Guest Judge Andrea Meyers Weighs in on our Animal, Vegetable, Miracle Posts

Our wonderful Guest Judge Andrea Meyers of Andreas Recipes was able to squeeze time in this busy  holiday week to look over our blog posts regarding our featured book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, by Barbara Kingsolver and her family and what follows are her very thoughtful comments:

"I was thrilled that Rachel invited me to be the judge for this round of Cook the Books, because in many ways I identify with the challenge that Kingsolver and her family set for themselves. While working overseas for eight years, I fell in love with many locals foods but also missed the foods I had grown up with. My first attempt at growing my own was in Bogota, Colombia, with a small calamondin orange tree in a pot. It was absolutely beautiful with all the tiny little oranges, and after that I was hooked. I've grown indoor avocado trees in pots that never produced a single avocado, but gave me immense satisfaction that I could actually grow something and it would live.

When we settled in our home on a quarter-acre lot in Northern Virginia in 2007, we had a container garden on the deck our first year as we studied the light and where it fell in the yard throughout the day. Then the next spring we dug up a bunch of inedible bushes on the south side and planted tomatoes and basil. Now we've turned about 300 square feet of grass, bushes, and weeds into an edible landscape that we continue to expand. In the spring we get chard, rhubarb, cilantro, dill, chives, and asparagus. Summer brings us blueberries, tomatoes, peppers, basil, oregano, lemon balm, green onions, and tomatillos, which often last well into autumn. The sage, thyme, and rosemary last pretty much year round now. And this year we had our first crop of grapes: muscadines, scuppernogs, concord, and a few other varieties that will produce in a year or so. We also have a few fig, apple, cherry, peach, plum, and pecan trees, as well as an experimental pomegranate in the yard, and some wild persimmons out in the woods behind our house. Just today we got our very first pecan, and we have two indoor Meyer lemon trees with lemons ripening.

We've worked hard at this for the past six years, and it hasn't all been a bed of roses (though we grow those, too). We've learned that local pests liked our squash, cucumbers, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and eggplant way too much for them to be viable crops for us. We did not want to resort to pesticides, so we stopped growing those things. And some years yield better harvests than others. The last two years we've had crazy good crops of tomatoes, but we had a late freeze last spring which killed off the blueberry blossoms and the apple, peach, and plum blossoms. We have to pick some critters off the plants almost daily, and we've lined our fence with chicken wire to keep out the local bunnies, who seem to think of our backyard as their own personal buffet.

I cannot credit Kingsolver's book for inspiring us to grow our own; that comes from our families and generations of farming genes. For us, it was the desire to use our bit of land for more than just growing grass and ornamental trees and bushes. We wanted to have more control over what went into our food, and we wanted our children to grow up with an edible garden and awareness of where food comes from and how to prepare it. We take them to pick local apples and visit the farms in the area to get local eggs, honey, pumpkins, and other fruits and vegetables. And we balance that with the things that we like that don't come locally: chocolate, coffee, tea, pasta, pantry items and spices. We shop at Costco, Wegman's, and local markets.

Kingsolver's challenge was obviously life-changing for her and her family, and reading about their decisions and how they learned about eating through the seasons and supporting their local farmers was fascinating for me. Each of us makes food decisions based on what we feel is important, what fits with our needs, and what is available. And I think that all of your blog posts illustrate this idea beautifully! I truly liked all of the stories and the dishes you chose to make, and I saved them for future meals.

As for a winner, my favorite post comes from Foodycat. I enjoyed reading the story of her journey to local farms in search of all the right ingredients, and love the finished dish with the roasted pork chops and stuffed onions and apples. Congratulations, and thanks for sharing your story, photos, and dish with us! "

--Thank YOU Andrea, for the care and time you took in looking over our blog posts about this great book! It sounds like you had fun along with us and we really value your input and the story of how you have been expanding your kitchen garden in Virginia. Congratulations to Foodycat for another well-deserved winning post and for giving us a peek at what was available at some local English farms and what happened to all those fresh ingredients in her magical kitchen!

And now, I am turning over the hosting duties to Deb at Kahakai Kitchen who will send us over to East Africa as we read Baking Cakes in Kigali, by Gaile Parkin. I just finished this quiet little novel about about Angel Tungaraza, a Tanzanian matriarch who is raising her five orphaned grandchildren with her professor husband in Rwanda, and also runs her own cake business. New participants are always welcome, so feel free to join our Cook the Books regulars in reading and blogging along with us in December/January.

-Rachel, The Crispy Cook