Summer is quickly moving to fall in the Northern Hemisphere, which means it is time to launch a new edition of the culinary/literary event Novel Food, the 40th to be precise. Novel Food is a voyage of literary discovery and a party featuring literary-inspired dishes contributed by event's participants. This is the 13th anniversary edition: this is a hard year for the world and for California right now it is even more so. Still, I think it is important to focus on the small joys of daily life and certainly reading and cooking have been a comfort to me in the... Continue reading

farm fresh and fabulous (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Our current Cook the Books Club selection is Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown1, a novel that follows the stories of two women, Alice and Eleanor (Nellie). In 2018, Alice and her husband, Nate, move from Manhattan to a house in a town outside New York sold because the previous owner had died. In the basement, Alice finds a cookbook and a box of old magazines. Her neighbor, Sally, tells her a bit about Eleanor, who lived in the house from the mid-1950's until her death, and gives Alice... Continue reading

a bowl of great flavors (napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO) Our Cook the Books Club selection this time brings us to China (Cina) with the novel Kitchen Chinese by Ann Mah1, which follows the adventures of the two Lee sisters in Beijing (Pechino). Born and raised in New Jersey, the sisters follow different careers: Claire becomes a lawyer and moves to the Chinese capital to work for a prestigious firm, while Isabelle works as a fact-checker at a magazine in New York and wants to be a writer. Isabelle loses her job in a bad way and her boyfriend ends... Continue reading

You certainly don't need me to add to the myriad stories about the pandemic we are experiencing, so while I acknowledge it and its consequences on all aspects of our life, here I would like to create a small corner of relief from the intense pressure. While different for each of us in content, such pressure is a reality for all of us. One element that has helped me cope with the situation has been the continuing ability to shop at our farmers' markets, to support our farmers and to bring to my kitchen season's produce. The other has been access... Continue reading

summer on the plate (napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO) The Twenty-Seventh Letter of the Alphabet by Kim Adrian1 is the most engrossing memoir I have ever read and one I heartily recommend. The writing is delicate and evocative. The author tells her difficult, often deeply painful, story through vignettes organized in glossary format. The vignettes work like pieces of a puzzle: as the book proceeds, the reader reconstructs the lives of the main characters—the author, her parents and her sister. Adrian's husband and children also play an important role, one of hope, as we see that she has been able... Continue reading

simple ingredients rolled into energy bites (bar board and coaster by BHV Woodworks, napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO) After reading Laurie King's Garment of Shadows, 12th of the Mary Russell novels, I decided to read the first: The Beekper's Apprentice, originally published in 1994. A 20th anniversary edition was issued in 2014 with a new introduction by the author and that is the volume I read. The novel is narrated in first person by Mary Russell a young woman who meets semi-retired Sherlock Holmes while roaming the English countryside—in Sussex, where he is living with Mrs. Hudson—and becomes his investigative... Continue reading

Spring is steadily moving towards summer in the Northern Hemisphere, which means it is time to launch a new edition of the culinary/literary event Novel Food, the 39th to be precise. Novel Food is a voyage of literary discovery and a delightful party featuring literary-inspired dishes contributed by event's participants. I hope you will join. I am looking forward to learning about a published literary work (a novel, novella, short story, memoir, bio, poem, etc.) that provided you with culinary inspiration. Here are the simple rules for participating in Novel Food: Prepare a dish of your choosing that has a connection... Continue reading