The success of Smitten Kitchen should be a surprise to no one. Since 2006, when Deb Perelman started her blog, her inviting tone and delicious recipes have engendered confidence and trust in her readers. From the beginning, Perelman began writing about her experiences as a home cook and, it’s from this place that she connects with people. She understands her audience – people who are Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Smitten Kitchen Keepers”
Tag: vegetarian
Joy and Cooking: The Cookbooks of 2022
There’s something undeniably attention-grabbing about a “Best of” list. 2022 is ending and, people want to know about the noteworthy cookbooks. This year I’m going to try something a little different – not quite a gift guide, yet not a “Best of” list either. Where I want to go with this post is simple – help home cooks find a little joy in their kitchens. Joy is what moves me forward and, it’s never steered me wrong when I’m talking about cookbooks (it was one of the favourite parts of my conversation I had with Lindsay Cameron Wilson on her The Food Podcast this year (link here). However, my joy may not necessarily be someone else’s joy because we all have our own personal set of criteria concerning joyful kitchen experiences. So, through the next 8 sections, I’ll briefly discuss some of the books that stood out to me this year. For any books that I’ve already reviewed, I’ll add a link so that you can visit that review for more information. There will be books I haven’t reviewed yet but still deserve a mention. Continue reading “Joy and Cooking: The Cookbooks of 2022”
Book Club Tuesday: Green Kitchen – Quick + Slow
If David Frenkiel and Luise Vindahl at Green Kitchen Stories have a cookbook coming out, then I’m always here for it! From the beginning of my site, I started sharing my experiences with cooking and feeding my family because, there are no better conversations than the ones about cookbooks. Cookbooks feed us, sure, but they also tell stories and connect us to Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Green Kitchen – Quick + Slow”
Book Club Tuesday: Snacks for Dinner
Inspiration often presents itself in the unlikeliest of places, and for Lukas Volger, the inspiration for his latest cookbook, Snacks for Dinner, happened while on vacation in California. He and his husband, Vincent, went for lunch at a friend’s home and what started with an assemblage of things — cheese, cut vegetables, dips, salads — ended up being a Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Snacks for Dinner”
Book Club Tuesday: The Two Spoons Cookbook
It’s been said, many times before, food brings us together, and there is nothing better than being able to share a good meal or a tasty dish with our loved ones. Hannah Sunderani knows this ethos well and, when coming up with a name for her blog, she wanted people Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: The Two Spoons Cookbook”
Book Club Tuesday: Your Daily Veg
I am part of a vegetarian family: my husband has been a vegetarian for over twenty years, I joined along almost 12 years ago, and my daughter was born into it 8 years since. When my daughter was born, I wondered what vegetarianism would look like for her? When I became a vegetarian, the cookbooks at the time were very faddy and, what I really longed for was good food: plain and simple. Sometimes I feel that calling food “vegetarian” is like adding a Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Your Daily Veg”
Book Club Tuesday: Grist
Grist by Abra Berens is a welcome addition to my kitchen cookbook shelf because it is such a useful guide to cooking with legumes, seeds, grains, and beans. I think Grist can be considered a companion to her earlier book Ruffage (published in 2019; review here), and just as Ruffage is part memoir, part cookbook, so is Grist. Here the home cook is invited to follow along with Berens as she demonstrates, through her recipes, how crucial Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Grist”
Book Club Tuesday: Ottolenghi Test Kitchen — Shelf Love
What does it take to get people home cooking again? Well, if we look at 2020, it was the situation that brought people back into their kitchens to bake and make, fostering their starters along the way. For some of us home cooking is Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Ottolenghi Test Kitchen — Shelf Love”
Book Club Tuesday: Mumbai Modern
As we ate this meal together, I was reminded of why we were really gathered here. The food, the laughter, and the tears were for my mother. She had just passed away. And this meal tasted as if my mum had made it. Tears flooded my eyes as a lifetime of memories, triggered by this food, rushed to my head and heart. Fourteen years ago, I had no way of knowing this was just the start of my food journey. (11)
Reading these words from the introduction to Amisha Dodhia Gurbani‘s Mumbai Modern: Vegetarian Recipes Inspired by Indian Roots and California Cuisine, it shows how deep the connection to food can be. It brings us together to nourish us and, food ties us to so many things — the crucial one being our memories. Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Mumbai Modern”
Book Club Tuesday: Well Seasoned
Much of what cooking means to me has to do with joy — with the food, recipes, the process, and the final reveal as you plate the food and set it on the table for people to enjoy. Part of the delight is feeling grateful for the fact I can cook and have ingredients to do so. I think this is one of the reasons why I am drawn to Mary Berg and her cookbooks. And it’s not just me either — my daughter adores Mary Berg. For Katie, it began with Mary’s first television show Mary’s Kitchen Crush and then that love Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Well Seasoned”