Wednesday, February 25, 2009

NEXT COOK THE BOOKS...BOOK: Kitchen Confidential!


kitchencon
Hello everyone!

It is finally my turn (oh yeah, I am Jo from Food Junkie not Junk Food) to be the host of the next Cook the Books and I have something for the boys this time. I don't know if you realized (I certainly did): we haven't had any male participation so far, which is a real shame, because I know there are readers-bloggers-cooks out there, that would have liked to cook our books, but admittedly the books were a bit...girly!

Moreover, I wanted a book translated into Greek also, so perhaps some of my Greek readeres will be able to participate (not that I hold my hopes very high...).

The next pick therefor for Cook the Books Club (and one of my favourite books) will be: Anthony Bourdain's, Kitchen Confidential, Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, a " deliciously funny, delectably shocking banquet of wild-but-true tales of life in the culinary trade from Chef Anthony Bourdain, laying out his more than a quarter-century of drugs, sex, and haute cuisine".

What more do you want?

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS:  25th of April 2009

P.S.  Anthony Bourdain is the executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles in New York, and he is the host of the series No Reservations on the Travel Channel. He is the author of A Cook's Tour, Les Halles Cookbook, and the novels Bone in the Throat and Gone Bamboo.

Monday, February 23, 2009

And...(Drumroll Please)...The Winner for The Language of Baklava is...


Hi Cook The Books Friends,

As promised, I have the announcement of the winner for our second book, The Language of Baklava by the wonderful Diana Abu-Jaber.51khwv1941l_sl500_aa240_Not only did she give us a winner, Diana was kind enough to comment on each post and entry, really going above and beyond because she was so impressed with all of them. Without further ado, I will let her announce our winner in the email she sent me below.

-----
Hi Deb,

I've been dazzled by the beautiful cooking as well as the beautiful entries that everyone submitted. There is so much feeling, substance, and authenticity in every single blog, it's been a pure delight to get to read each and every one of them.

Where to start?

I loved the charming and inventive "nest" of special rice that Arlene made for the grilled chicken, as well as the lovely purity of Betherann's school-ready hummus; I was thrilled with the range of recipes that Maria tried out, as well as the many personal connections she made with the book. Rachel's book review was wonderfully insightful, and I wanted to attend her Middle Eastern feast! Simona's interpretation of Muhammara enchanted me with all her personalized touches, like hand-grated bread crumbs and a topping of freshly made ricotta. Maggie must have created the most photogenically beautiful version of sambusik cookies ever; and Deb's Middle Easter Platter looked more gloriously tempting than anything I've seen at the best Arabic restaurant.

I couldn't help laughing when I read Judy's rationale for making Shaking Tea (I hope it helped!) I loved that Foodycat's used copy had notes in it and a sense of history; I was just delighted that Natashya decided to mark Valentine's Day with Ful For Love and that she related her own "ful-related" remembrance; Tina had the most charming idea to bring her own childhood dish to the table; I was so impressed that Christine took on the tomato chicken mensaf dish AND that she took to such a challenging character-- Aunt Aya! Suzi gets big points for forging ahead on such a yummy stuffed dates dish-- while waiting and waiting for a book.

It was exciting to see that Johanna-- who also related to the book--tried on the baklava recipe so successfully. And I was dazzled by the abundance and beauty of Mango Missives' entry alongside her "Feast of Love." Finally, I was moved deeply by the story that Laurie told about reading the book while confronting her own personal journey with an ailing father.

Of course, in the end I found it impossible to pick a winner, because each of these entries felt so special and intuitive and "true" in such wildly different ways. Even my Facebook friends couldn't pick a winner after I posted it to my page. So, finally, I decided that I'd liked to give special recognition to Laurie, for the beauty of her story of caring for her father. In the end, I suppose my book is, in large part, a tribute to fathers, and I really appreciated the special way her post reflected that sentiment (not to mention how yummy her spicy kofta looked!)

Thank you again for including me and my book in your grand event. What fun it was to get to know-- at least of sliver-- of each of you. I'm hoping to return to all of your blogs and I've bookmarked several recipes! It will all have to wait till some future date of course--our one-month-old daughter is keeping us running, and we're living on leftovers for the time being!

Please stay in touch, everyone. And thank you again.

With great gratitude and admiration,
Diana

------
mail
Congratulations Laurie! (Mediterranean Cooking in AlaskaYour beautiful post and your Jordanian Kofta and Yogurt Sauce was the winner! You win the coveted Cook The Books Winner's Badge for your Blog, a spot on the CTB blogroll, and Rachel will be selecting a special cookbook from her wonderful bookstore to send to you.
e-jordanian-kebab1
Thank you to everyone who entered. A special thank you from Rachel, Johanna and I to the wonderful Diana, for taking such time and care in selecting our winner.

Johanna will be by soon to announce our next selection and we will follow that up with our next two books as promised.

Have a wonderful week!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

The Language of Baklava Update--No we don't have a winner...yet!


cover
Well I have good news and I have bad news so I'll start with the bad. (It's not really bad unless you are utterly lacking in patience!). We don't have our Cook The Books winner quite yet and probably won't until next week. The good news? Our author, Diana Abu-Jaber, thought that everyone did such a great job and the choice is so difficult, she has requested a little more time to decide. Here is an excerpt from the email I received from her today:

"Wow-- I am SO impressed with the gorgeous blogs and dishes and images-- what an accomplished and gifted group of cooks and writers! I can see I'm going to have some serious trouble deliberating over this one. Do you think anyone in the group would mind if I also posted this link on my Facebook page and invited my friends to weigh in as well?"

I took the liberty of answering back for everyone and telling her it would be fine to get her friends and family involved. She's going to get back to us at the first of the week with her choice. How cool is it that Diana is so delighted with all the skill and passion that everyone put in their entries?!

In other exciting news Johanna will be popping by very soon with her choice for Book #3 and then Rachel and I will be following up after that and announcing Books 4 & 5. We thought it would be helpful to let you know what is coming up in order to allow everyone time to get the books since several people have had some struggles in obtaining them.

Happy reading, cooking and eating everyone! I'll be back soon to announce our Language of Baklava winner!

Aloha,
Deb

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Cook The Books Round-Up: The Language of Baklava by Diana Abu-Jaber


Rachel, Johanna and I are so excited about the response and turnout for our second Cook The Book's selection; The Language of Baklava, a wonderful foodie memoir by one of my favorite writers, Diana Abu-Jaber. I am happy that everyone seemed to really love this story of growing up caught between two different cultures, Jordanian and American. There was a lot in the story that we all could identify with and many delectable recipes to try, and try them we did! Here is the round up!
51khwv1941l_sl500_aa240_
First up, our earliest entry was from Arlene at The Food Of Love, who loved the book and related to the tales of food and family within. Arlene chose two dishes from the book to recreate, Bud's Special Rice and "Distract The Neighbors" Grilled Chicken. Both were a success! Her husband declared the chicken "fantastic", and although Arlene was initially doubtful about the cinnamon in the rice, she found she need not have worried, even lightened up a bit, it was incredible.
100_0744
Betherann from Kitchen Courage found herself engrossed in the "vivid, sensory language" of the book and found the recipes included much more compelling once she learned the stories behind them. Betherann chose the "Start the Party" Hummus, and while she found it too have a bit too much tahini for her tastes, she liked dipping the black olives into it and her co-workers enjoyed it. She gives the book itself 5 stars.
3240677816_b94eac0b97
Maria from Organically Cooked, found many similarities between Diana's family's relationship with food and her own life and family. She also enjoyed the similarities between the ingredients, cooking techniques and dishes to Greek cooking. This led to the desire to make multiple recipes from the book and she settled on two: "Nostalgic Chicken Livers""Perfectly Tender Bamia". She accompanied them with a dessert tray of strained yogurt with quince, a nougat sweet, Greek coffee and "raki", an anise- flavored apĂ©ritif similar to the araq from Jordan.
3238240103_04a83754b6
3238240125_61490471c41
Rachel from The Crispy Cook enjoyed the book so much she did a special book review on her book blog, Book Trout, and she was inspired to create an incredible Middle Eastern feast including : a pot of Mint Tea, Magical Muhummara, Labneh Balls, Stuffed Grape Leaves and Oil-Cured Olives over Lettuce, Sesame-Rosemary Crackers, Steamed Rice and Fava Beans. The exotic, spicy and complex "Magical Muhummara" came straight from the book and has already been repeated in Rachel's Kitchen.
baklavafeast
muhumarra
Simona from Briciole also wanted to give the Magical Muhummara a try, liking how it was described by Diana Abu-Jaber as "An enchanting opening dish, this dip or spread is good for when you want everyone to quit running around and come to the table.". Also savory spreads like this one are more of a novelty for her as she is more used to butter, jam or creamy cheese spreads. She enjoyed this spicy dish and served it with a dollop of freshly made ricotta.
6a00d835508b1869e201116851d4b8970c
Maggie at Dog Hill Kitchen loves foodie books and foodie memoirs as much as I do so she found the book and Diana's stories of growing up engaging. Being a chicken liver fan, her original plan was to make the ones in the book but she decided she would have better luck in photographing the "Forget Me Not" Sambusik Cookies. Maggie made them dairy-free by changing out the butter to walnut oil and also swapped out the rose water for orange flower water. She found them to be delicious with the enhanced walnut flavor.
3266382009_57f83495d3
Reading this gorgeous and soul satisfying book made me (Deb from Kahakai Kitchen) so inspired and and hungry, I went with a few different recipes to make up a healthy Middle Eastern Platter. I made the “Eat It Now” Shish Kabob, Fattoush: Bread Salad, and a Tahini Sauce, featured in a fish recipe towards the end of the book. Served with some Couscous with Apricots it was a great dinner. I especially liked the Fattoush, which I made with whole-wheat pita bread.
cimg0034
Judy, of Judy's Gross Eats, had a couple of extremely busy and drama-filled months, so a cup of the Shaking Tea Infusion seemed like the perfect easy cure-all. A love of spicy drinks like chai and the cold and rainy weather made it all the more appealing. She found the brew to be delicious, although next time she would leave out the pistachio nuts as they fell to the bottom of the cup.
tea2
Foodycat, our big winner from our first CTB selection, felt like much of the book, especially the migrant experience, resonated with her. She settled on making Diana's "Lost Childhood Pita Bread" as her used copy of the book had notations from the previous owner and she felt a connection. She also used the marinade from the "Distract the Neighbors" Chicken on some lamb shoulder. A great dinner with garlic-yogurt and roast courgettes and equally wonderful leftover the next day, for lunch with homemade hummus.
thelanguageofbaklava
"Ful For Love" and "Sentimental Hot Chocolate", were the recipes that struck a chord with Natashya from Living In the Kitchen With Puppies. Although a ful fan, since being introduced to it by a friend years ago, she had never tried making it at home. She enjoyed the cooked spiced fava beans and found it like a Middle Eastern/North African taco, when served with the toppings on soft pita bread. The spiced choclate made a wonderful warming dessert.
baklava2
baklava5
Tina from Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor, loved how descriptive Diana is in her writing, she was almost able to "feel and smell the foods and sights" she writes about. The images of the "familiar comforts" congured up memories for Tina of her childhood and her Mother's recipe box so she chose to make a childhood favorite of her own, her Mother's Beef Vegetable Soup. What beautiful memories of her Mom happy in the kitchen and garden!
veg-soup-008-small1
veg-soup-003-small1
Auntie Aya was the favorite character in the book for Christine from Kit's Chow, loving her strong will and aphroisms. Christine enjoyed the book she borrowed fom the library so much, she is buying a copy. She chose Diana's "Invite the Audience" Tomato Chicken Mensafas her dish. She really enjoyed the chicken cooked in tomatoes and spices over rice and served with pita.
ctb5
Poor Suzie at Munch + Nibble, waited and waited and is still waiting for her book to reach her even though she ordered it in January. She plans on reading it just as soon as it arrives but to get herself in the mood, she made a Middle Eastern inspired appetizer Medjool Dates Stuffed With Goat's Cheese and Pinenuts. Simple to prepare and an introduction to some exotic, sweet and floral flavors, Suzie looks forward to exploring more food from the book when it finally reaches her!
dates
Johanna from Food Junkie Not Junk Food, liked the "realness" of the book, the fact that it wasn't overly sentimental and that she could find points of reference to her own Greek culture. She decided to make Diana's version of Poetic Baklava and test it out on "the strictest of judges", her parents, since it is a favorite dish for her family and in Greece. Everyone LOVED it and had seconds and thirds--a true measure of success!
baklava-004web
Reading the book while sitting by the bedside of her ill father, gave Diana's story a particular poignancy for Laurie from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska. Going home tired and drained, she cooked the Jordanian Kofta and Yogurt Sauce, and as she and her husband shared the delicious meal, it reminded her again of the close relationship between food and love.
e-jordanian-kebab1
Whoops! A last minute entry from Mango Missives. Almost missed it, my ESP skills are a bit rusty! We wouldn't want to miss the wonderful "Feast of Love" she created for her sweetie for Valentine's Day. Hummus, tabbouleh, garlic & lemon marinated olives, chopped salad, mjeddrah/muccedere (rice), spice rubbed lamb rack and mango almond baklava. It all looks delicious!
lambrack2
What a wonderful and varied group of recipes! Author, Diana Abu-Jaber will be stopping by to see what delicious dishes everyone made and she will be helping us chose a winner for this round, who we will announce shortly. That lucky and talented person will get a winner's badge for their blog and we will add them to the Cook the Books blogroll. Rachel will also be sending the winner a cookbook hand-picked from her used and rare bookstore as a little extra bonus.

Thank you to all our Cook the Books readers and cooks for joining us. We will be announcing our next selection, hosted by Johanna at Food Junkie Not Junk Food, soon!