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.

---

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!"

---

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"

---

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." 

---

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."

---

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!"

---

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."

---

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

---

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.

2

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.

 

Miss Eliza’s English Kitchen: The Roundup

Thank you all for joining me this month as we read Miss Eliza’s English Kitchen by Annabel Abbs.  It sounds like the book was enjoyed by participants and was even a reread for a couple!  Way to commit to the group!

---

First up we have Claudia of Honey from Rock.  She says, “ I enjoyed the novel immensely, so true to life, it's close to being a memoir. The characters, flaws and all, are well developed and inspiring. It also helped that the story is close to my own heart for gardening, cooking and finding new uses for the plants and herbs God has so magnificently provided us.”  And with that inspiration, she made Soft Sourdough Potato Rolls.

---

Next up is Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm. She says, “One of the many dishes they prepared was Fried Perch with Crisp Parsley.  Since we are celebrating the Lenten Season and Fish Fridays, and I am lucky enough to have some locally sourced perch in my freezer, I decided to make this for dinner tonight.”  Here is Wendy’s Fried Perch with Crisp Parsley.

---

Next up is Marg from The Intrepid Reader & Baker. She says, “I have a potted history with this book, which is also published under the title Miss Eliza's English Kitchen. Originally I tried to read it on an Easter road trip back in 2022. I struggled to keep interested so I put it down, only picking it up again 6 months later. I had to start reading the book again, and this time I thought it was quite good! However, I think it is a book that grows on you because when I started it again for this post, I struggled to be able to put it down. It's a book that seems to get better each time you read it!”  She made Egg Curry (Anda Tarari).

---

Next is Debra from Eliot’s Eats. She says, “A couple of things surprised me about this book. I had no idea that Eliza was a real person, a domestic goddess of the Victorian age. I kind of wish I would have realized this before I read the book; I think I would have enjoyed the tale more.”  She made these Lemon Lavender Butter Cookies.

---

Next up is Simona from Briciole.  She says, “Through Eliza, Abbs addresses the topics of marriage, motherhood, and the narrow options open to creative women at the time (Eliza is a poet and playwright), while through Ann, she addresses the narrow options open to poor people, particularly women, and also the care of patients with mental health problems.”  She was inspired to make Roasted Carrot, Parsnip, and Apple Soup.

---

And last up is me from Amy's Cooking Adventures!  I always love a good historical fiction, especially when I can learn about a new person, in this case, Eliza Acton.  While not much is known about her in real life, this fictionalized account brings her to life.  Additionally, I was able to find a digitized copy of her actual cook book online and shared a recipe from the cookbook, Geneva Rolls, in my post.

---

As we enjoy the lovely roundup of the recently concluded edition, the current one has started, hosted by Debra from Eliot’s Eats. In April and May we are reading Call of the Camino by Suzanne Redfearn. Join us!