A Garland of Garden Spells Needs a Winner

Thanks to our wonderful guest judge Jenna of Literature and a Lens for taking a look at all of the entries for this round of Cook the Books featuring Sarah Addison Allen’s novel “Garden Spells”.  She has reviewed them all and here’s her pronouncement:

“First off, I want to thank this round’s host Rachel of The Crispy Cook for having me as your guest judge for the Garden Spells entries. This really is an honor to get to be a part of such a fantastic club, especially for a book as entertaining as this one. I absolutely adore Sarah Addison Allen’s writing and love the emphasis she places on food. After reading all these wonderful entries, all I can really say is wow. The dedication and enthusiasm exhibited by each person really shows and made making my decision that much harder. Plus, reading about all these delicious dishes definitely stirred my appetite.

After multiple re-readings of each post and careful deliberation I finally chose a winner. Congratulations to Heather of Girlichef for creating a colorful Fruit and Grains Salad with Edible Flowers and Strawberry Vinaigrette. The pictures of this salad were lovely and really caught my eye first. I loved that the colors represented the novel by reflecting the cover of the book with all the reds, blues, and leafy greens. What kept my attention was the writing. I thought Heather did an excellent job replicating the magical and whimsical tone of Allen’s writing with her food descriptions. This was a solid entry all around and a great idea for a fun summer salad.

There are also two entries that I would like to spotlight with honorable mentions. The Lemon Verbena Crème Brûlée by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen looked quite scrumptious, and I loved her description of Garden Spells as “a fairy tale for foodies.” What an awesome and accurate statement. Also, I thought the Lemon Lavender Bread by Maria from A Platter of Figs was a great interpretation of one of Claire’s signature dishes. Her love and enthusiasm for the book (she’s read it six times!) really shows in the wonderful pictures of the moist bread.

Thanks again for allowing me to be part of Cook the Books, especially for a great story like Garden Spells. This is a great idea for a blog, and everyone shows such dedication and research in choosing the dishes each round.  I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with for the next book!”

Congratulations to Girlichef for her winning post and to Deb at Kahakai Kitchen and Maria of A Platter of Figs for honorable entries. I will now turn things over to Deb, who will be coordinating the next round when we read Molly Wizenberg’s “A Homemade Life”.

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen: A Cook the Books Roundup

Summer in the northern hemisphere is prime gardening season and it is also a great time to loll about with a novel in hand, so reading Sarah Addison Allen’s novel, Garden Spells, seemed to hit just the right chords with the participants in this round of Cook the Books. Most readers really got into using flowers and herbs in our cooking and using food ingredients to invoke certain reactions and I think we all had a lot of fun reading and cooking and writing this time around.

We have a couple of first time CTB entrants, and I would like to extend a hearty welcome to them. The more the merrier in these interpretations of our selected foodie book selections and so first off I will present our newbies to you all:

Elizabeth is the force behind The Law Student’s Cookbook, which chronicles her adventures in her California kitchen when she is not reading constitutional law textbooks.  She notes that the main character in our book, Claire, the caterer, made up a batch of cinnamon rolls in one chapter and Elizabeth knew that Claire probably would have thrown in some of her garden herbs for flavoring and magical attributes so she spiked her batch of cinnamon rolls with Lemon Verbena.

Also joining us for the first time at Cook the Books is Danielle, The Growing Foodie, who revels in her love for reading and cooking.   She made up a batch of Fresh Mint Ice Cream with Chocolate Rose Topping and served this sassy and romantic dessert to her favorite Boston bachelor.

Another welcome is extended to Maria from A Platter of Figs, who made a delicious looking Lemon Lavender Bread. Maria loved learning about the alchemy of food and herbs in this novel and sought to brighten up the clarifying effects of the lavender with the lemon in this moist and fragrant tea bread.

We can all thank Heather the Girlichef for the nudge to pick this great novel for our June/July CTB selection.  (Thanks Heather!)  For her re-reading of Garden Spells, Heather was inspired to make a technicolor Fruit and Grains Salad with Edible Flowers and Strawberry Vinaigrette. You can also check out an earlier post Heather wrote about this book and cooking with marigolds. Spectacular!

A Voluptuous Veal Piccata was on Arlene’s dinner table over at the Food of Love.  Arlene notes that capers have long been noted for their aphrodisiac powers and so she liberally added them to her dish. A tasty and sexy looking offering indeed. I think Claire would approve.

English transplant Foodycat showed off a lovely photo of her own backyard apple tree in her blog post -unlike the tree in our featured novel, it does not fling apples or show people ominous events in their lives- and used her own rosebush petals to crystallise and garnish her Rosewater and Lime Pannacotta.

Rose geraniums are in the garden and on the menu at Texas-based Eliot’s Eats, in the form of Rose Geranium Sugar Cookies.  Eliot was inspired by a passage in Garden Spells about Claire’s magical Rose Geranium Wine, which has mystical powers of remembrance for those who imbibe.

Can’tbelieveweate’s weblog was captivated by the idea of using ingredients to achieve an emotional result and was transported into her own garden to use mint flowers for the first time in her “delightfully bright” Zucchini Carpaccio. Pass the fork!

At The Crispy Cook, I was taken with the character of Evanelle, Claire’s cousin who has the gift of providing people with strange little gifts which they will find the need for after a short time. I also learned that Bachelor Buttons, which are gorgeous little cobalt blue flowers, are edible, so I used them to garnish a simple summer salad of garden lettuce, radishes and raw asparagus.

There are more edible flowers in the post and recipe from Simona of Briciole, who used chive blossoms and sprigs of flowering lemon thyme in a rye bread recipe that was a great success.

Of my two fellow Cook the Books founders and co-hosts, Deb, of Kahakai Kitchen, enjoyed her rereading of this book and used some of the herbs she grows in her Honolulu garden to make a fragrant and luscious sounding Lemon Verbena Creme Brulee.  Just be careful when caramelizing the tops of your desserts if you use a kitchen torch, as Deb knowingly advises!

While on holiday, the other CTB cofounder and cohost, Johanna of the Athens, Greece-based blog Food Junkie, Not Junk Food, enjoyed our featured book and found it captivating.  She was inspired to make an old favorite with a new twist, Spaghetti and Meatballs with a splash of cumin, oregano and cinnamon. Sounds like a great variation!

Our final submission is from Honey from Rock, Claudia’s Hawaiian blog. She enjoyed “this little gem of a novel” and was pleasantly surprised to learn that chive blossoms are edible. She used the white flowers of her own garden-grown garlic chives and some dill to garnish a cold Russian/Estonian style borscht. Look at those gorgeous colors!

And now our guest judge, Jenna, of Literature and a Lens, is going to review these posts to pick a winner that strikes her fancy, so stay tuned to see who wins the fabulous Cook the Books Winner badge for her blog.  Thanks again to Heather, the Girlichef for recommending this great read and to Sarah Addison Allen for writing it!

Would you Like to Fall under a Garden Spell With Us?

It is time for a new book selection for our foodie book club and as the host for this round of Cook the Books, I have picked Sarah Addison Allen’s debut novel “Garden Spells” for our June/July reading. Ms. Allen has gone on to write a number of other bestselling novels, including “The Peach Keeper”, “The Sugar Queen” and “the Girl Who Chased the Moon”.  You can find out more about these books and investigate some recipes from main character Claire’s personal cookbook on Allen’s website.

On the recommendation of Cook the Books regular (and two time CTB winner) Heather, the Girlichef, I picked up a copy of this enchanting novel and found the combination of eccentric characters, garden and cooking themes, and a compelling story line to be irresistible. I wanted to reread the book soon and try my own hand at some of the wonderful dishes Claire the caterer whips up out of her kitchen and garden.  I also thought this book would give us a chance to investigate North Carolina style cuisine and let us fall to the siren song of summery, garden-fresh ingredients and inspire us to create magic in the kitchen.

Ms. Allen is unable to serve as our guest judge, but I am pleased to announce that Jenna of the blog Literature and a Lens will be judging our posts and picking a winner to receive the coveted Cook the Books Winner’s badge for their blog.  You can readJenna’s perceptive review of “Garden Spells” on her blog and see some of her other recommended reading.

The deadline for submitting a post for the Cook the Books roundup is Monday, July 25, 2011, midnight Eastern Standard Time. Please leave a comment below to let me know that your post is up or send me an email at: oldsaratogabooks [at] gmail dot [com]. Remember, anyone can join in our roundup of posts. All you need to do is buy or borrow a copy of this book and then blog up your thoughts about it and a dish inspired by your reading to share with us.