Inspiration for the Bookish Foodie: A Literary Tea Party

The tea party scene in Alice in Wonderland is one of the most inspiring literary descriptions of a food-related habit. The cuppa shared around the table is part of a cultural taste habit which where aromatic infusions are a pretext for conversations and sharing. 

The literary world has plenty of episodes where the food is elegantly inserted into the stories, more or less delivered with a recipe at the end. Actually, in my experience, this 'habit' of sharing recipes in a literary work is rather a very new occurrence, due probably to the highest interest that food is getting nowadays, representative for a part of the world where elaborated food doesn't represent a luxury any more.

A Literary Tea Party by Alison Walsh is a delight for both of the reader and the foodie. Picking up inspiration from classical literary works as diverse as Romeo and Juliet, White Fang, or the Wizard of Oz, it set up the table for a lengthy discussion about life, works, words and, obviously, taste buds. You can easily organise your themed tea party ideas regardless of the topic of your book club, just to follow the literary inspiration in the picture. There are many recipes to talk about and taste too, many introduced by cute - not too highly elaborated and edited - pictures, but for my hungry eyes, the following caught my eyes: the apple tart inspired by King Arthur's story, the cyclone cookies from the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, or the Lover's Tea that Romeo&Juliet inspired. The recipes are easy to replicate, with smart directions, doable by beginner and middle-level baker/cook too.

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review 

Foodie book review: The Bloody Mary, by Brian Bartels

I still remember my first Bloody Mary. I wasn't impressed as this is my usual attitude when it comes to anything that has vodka as a main ingredient, but I was relatively intrigued by the combination. Maybe at the time I was working with too many people coping with various alcohol additictions, and vodka was always on the table and combined with everything - especially wine and beer - and therefore, anyone pouring it to tomato sauce was immediately labeled.

The Bloody Mary by Brian Bartels makes justice to this drink, especially among skeptical snobbish people like me. Based on the author's direct experience as bartender, whose first cocktail he learned to prepare was the Mary, the book offers an extensive biography of the drink, starting with its controversial history and a long list of recipes and ingredients that can be matched. 'Cocktail fashions come and go, but the nourishing charm of a Bloody Mary endures' and the presence of this drink in the respectable menus of famous restaurants and bars from all over the world proves this. As a cocktail that 'commands patience', it offers a very large spectrum of combination for the ingredients. The basic remains always: tomato juice, vodka, spices and seasonings. The adds are: Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, black pepper, celery, salt and...everything else you think it could match. One of my favorite recipes is called umami mary and has miso instead of Worcestershire and using shiitake infused vodka. 

Besides the beautiful and mouth watering pictures, the book is written in a personal and joyous style which keeps you curious and entertained for just another unique recipe or some stories shared from the exclusive world of bartenders.

A good reading recommendation for any foodie, even though you were, as I was, skeptical and unfriendly to the idea of the Bloody Mary. After all, smart people keep always changing. 

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Foodie Book Review: Hundred Foot Journey

With a new baby in town, reading and writing went were slowly lately. The cooking was not that brilliant either, without too many new recipes tested. But the couple of seconds of frustrations are soon replaced by some new occasions to happily enjoy the wonders - and challenges too - of motherhood.

However, I was able to finish a book that was already turned into a movie: The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais. 

I cannot say what exactly I was expecting from your book but for sure I was looking for some good writing. Which the book actually has (I read the book in a German translation), especially when it comes to sociological and historical parts - the journalistic profile of Morais may play a role in this. However, this is not a typical foodie book: you will not have recipes or extensive descriptions of meals. Instead, the main topic of the book is the career of Hassan Haji, as a famed Parisian chef starting with his upbringing in Mumbay. It enters the insular - and sometimes racist world -of the French cuisine as well as the complicated and not always fair Michelin star system. Expect a lot of details - and some inspiration - about the business of restaurants in France and abroad.

There are also some unforgettable foodie stories, as when it comes to recognizing the ingredients of a dish after tasting it, or vivid descriptions of French markets.

Overall, the book is more about successful imigrant stories than about food and its mysteries. The art of making a good food in France served as the main ingredient of success. Food can help this too and the positive message of the book is encouraging.

Strongly recommended as a good weekend or holiday read. Can't wait to watch the movie too!

Foodie Book Review: Christine France Cooking Hints and Tips

As someone who worked hard to learn properly how to cook, I highly appreciate the value of books who are teaching you not only how to properly mix the ingredients, but also how to organize your kitchen and your working space in general. This book by Christine France brought rapidly light into long years of darkness when it comes to coping with the usual kitchen challenges. 

The information is very well organized and suits someone without too much time, but a lot of curiosities about the hints and tips of cooking. It goes from the very simple time and space management details, till guidance about how you should design your kitchen as to have enough movement space and enjoy your cooking experience not only through tasting. It also outlines the ways in which one can chose the perfect electronic items helping to avoid energy consumption, and good cleaning tips. Last but not least, there are also interesting ideas for table settings and as we have at least once the week the Shabbes table there is never enough inspiration for surprising your guests.

At the beginning - it sounds like long time ago, but it is not that far away in time to be honest - I struggled with the mixture of different smells in the fridge. If I knew that a simple plastic coverage can avoid this, I would have avoid a lot of unpleasant minutes spent with the door of the fridge open - yes, I know it is wasting energy too...- trying to figure out the best solution. Another idea is to always have half apple in the kitchen and change it every week. 

Another practical tip is to clean copper with lemon juice or with a pasta made out of vinegar and flour.  

Once I attended a cooking class and some of the participants were using their own special knives carefully looked after. Such a high attention is due to the fact that the good ones are usually very expensive and hard to find. Thus, be careful not to use them for cutting paper or plastic - there is not only an idea children have, believe me. If you don't have a wooden support to keep them, you can protect the knife blade with a cork. For sharpening, a piece of ceramics can be helpful for keeping the blade at proper standards. 

The conservation of some fresh herbs might be problematic, especially in warmer climate. Dry them in the oven or the microwave and you can have them for long. Also, from the kosher point of view, this is a very good idea. My dear garlic can be kept for a longer time fresh if it's hidden in the dark and out of sources of heat. Fruits like lemons or oranges can be kept fresh for a longer time if covered in several layers of paper and in a dry place. 

Many utensils used in the kitchen can have various chemical interactions with the food, especially those made of metal. Thus, if you want to have a good and chemicals free purée, you better use wooden utensils - as I am doing as well. 

The book can be read easily and is strongly recommended to both beginner and advancer cooker. 

Book review: The Sharper the Knife, the Less you Cry

I must recognize that Kathleen Flinn's (first) book: The Sharper the Knife, the Less you Cry took me a long time to finish. It might be considered both as an advantage and disadvantage of the book. I started to read it in March, probably, and ended up a couple of hours ago. Why this big gap, somehow unusual for someone like me easily reading a good book a day, if the time allows me?

Nothing to complain against the book: it is well written, with many interesting recipes (even though I would not be able to prepare more than 75% of them) and a lot of insights about the famous Cordon Bleu cooking school. Le Cordon Bleu, made up of chefs with similar CVs: early age trainings in small or big restaurants, followed by intensive work at Michelin restaurants, eventually ending up in teaching school because of burn-out, was created in the 19th century in...of course, Paris. It started as a cooking magazine started by Marthe Distel offering free cooking classes for subscribers. Nowadays, even though the magazine is no more since the 1960s, it has a wide network of around 27 schools in 15 countries. 

To be honest, I completely dislike the military-style of that famous and expensive school. As a chef by choice, I decided that I should discover how to cook - and this book showed me how far far away from the objective of being a decent chef - completely by pleasure. I don't want to be lectured, penalized and criticized - officially, as at home I am coping almost daily with various inappropriate observations in this respect - and even humiliated for my lack of achievement. Again, I do it completely for fun and if I would have to pay a lot of money for a fantastic cooking class where I am regularly ridiculed I would react in a very unpleasant way. Cooking is an art and not everyone has the qualities of a chef-from-birth, but I prefer to be treated respectfully and taught with love and attention. The logical conclusion is that in any case I will not want to be part of such a top notch project, preferring rather small cooking class of specific meals. Kathleen Flinn is more disciplined in this respect: "Cooking is a physical job; it requires strength, endurance, and the ability to do what you're told without complaint, even if you disagree". Not my piece of cake. 

I must confess though that I need to learn more about cutting the veggies correctly and being more dedicated in terms of following the directions of the recipes: "To be good food soldiers in the kitchen, we must be trained to follow orders, to produce consistent results. That's why we are drilled to cut our vegetables with the same military precision, to hit the same basic notes of flavor". As for me, I am rather the kind of person that strongly belief that 'sometimes, life doesn't follow the recipe, either'. Everyone with its own cooking style, isn't it?

The big advantage of the book that helped me not to feel guilty for keeping it half-read for month was the good writing style: honest, simple even when it has to do with complicated recipes, somehow impossible to translate from French. 

Beyond the stylistic challenges and considerations, I also appreciated as well the optimism that it is never late to start cooking. Especially this Julia Child's quote made me feel better about my previous failures: 'I didn't start cooking until I was 32. Until then, I just ate'. (It is also available for me, except the part with eating, as until 32 at least, I was not eating too much either). What awaits me and the late cooker in general, is a long journey of discovering which knife is the best, how to cut the meat and to have good sources at the meat market, or how to prepare the almost perfect pastry. 

The similar career patterns of the chefs is mirrored by the similar careers of the attendees: most of them, including Kathleen Flinn herself, left or are looking for a subterfuge of their corporate life and follow an old dream. The book is also an exploration of the local expat life, of coping with the difficulties of my beloved French language, as well as of life and love. As I am heading soon to Paris, I also found some interesting good travel tips and ideas to visit specific markets and corners. 

If you were looking for the inspiration for your next career steps this summer, you should read this book and carefully take notes of the recipes generously included at the end of each chapter.