Review of Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley

October 28, 2015 by 7 Comments

A while ago, I was finally able to pick up the book Relish: My Life in the Kitchen: Lucy Knisley from the Multnomah County Library, as suggested by my book club with a focus on food, The Kitchen Reader. This book is more unique of the food memoirs we have read because it is a graphic novel. Yes, that means every page was picture cartoons just like a super thick comic book!
Cover of Lucy Knisley's Relish: My Life In The Kitchen

Published in April 2013, this book is about 12 chapters detailing various memories in author Lucy’s life so far and always alongside her vivid food memories. Each chapter also includes a recipe which is illustrated in showing the ingredients and steps. Each chapter is only  a handful of pages although each page is often chock full of drawn details in a panel here or there.

  1. The Kid In the Kitchen – how Lucy’s childhood from birth has been surrounded by food thanks to her foodie family. Recipe: The Dent Family Patented Marinated Lamb (from her maternal grandfather).
  2. Country House City Mouse – her transition as a seven year old to living in the country from Manhattan to upstate New York when her mother divorced Recipe: Mom’s Pesto
  3. Tough Cookie – how cookies were the first thing she made and are a comfort Recipe: The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
    Cookie Recipe illustration from Lucy Knisley's Relish My Life In the Kitchen
  4. Junk – how despite her parents gourmet view, she loves and supports indulging in junk food Recipe: Carbonara
  5. Getting Ours – A vacation to Mexico with her mom, mom’s best friend, and childhood friend Drew and how they both grew up in different ways during that trip and also discovered so much local food Recipe: Huevos Rancheros
    Huevos Ranchos exploded view by Lucy Knisley in Relish: My Life In The Kitchen
  6. The Craver – how Lucy and her mother both have cravings Recipe: The Way Mom Makes Mushrooms (sauteed!)
  7. On Foreign Soy- how traveling to Japan with her mother opened her eyes through food Recipe: How To Make Sushi Rolls
    A step from how to make sushi rolls from Relish, by Lucy Knisley
  8. The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Cheese – How her mother worked with cheese and other food jobs and how it influenced Lucy Recipe: Cheese Cheat Sheet
  9. Recapturing Croissants – Lucy’s college summer trip and how a croissant in Venice made a strong memory Recipe: Sangria (because making croissants is too much work – and she admits she gets them premade from the can!)
    Relish, by Lucy Knisley
  10. Dining with Zeus and Demeter – the difference between her relationship with her father and food and her mother and food Recipe: Summer Pickle Recipe
  11. When Bad Food Happens to Good People – retelling of the worst thing she ever ate but how the food itself is only part of the experience Recipe: Shepard (Fairey) Pie, a vegetarian shepherds’ pie
  12. Molecular Goodbye – Lucy says goodbye to Chicago where she went to school and stayed and returns home to New York, but not before observing the kitchens of Alinea Recipe: ok, none here but in the afterward she includes photos of her family from her research, and in the forward she has a illustrated recipe for Spice Tea

My general review of Relish: My Life in the Kitchen is that I enjoyed the graphic novel. Similar to me, Lucy has a great love of food but in a casual, cheerful way that appreciates great food while also being very open and humorous in sharing details of her memories and being able to see the perspective of others in her story.  Lucy, and the people she includes in her stories, all seem charming and she clearly has great affection for not only food, but everyone who has helped contribute to all her life experiences.

Each chapter is short, like a story being told at a table during a shared meal, so you can digest a couple in a sitting making this a great choice to read while commuting. Though it might make you crave certain foods with her vivid descriptions and enthusiasm in her book.
Lucy Knisley illustration of a croissant from Relish: My Life In The Kitchen

Lucy has several other graphic novels available:

  • French Milk focuses on a trip in her early 20s with her mother to France published October 2008
  • An Age of License, a travelogue of eating and cats as Lucy travels was published Sept 2014
  • Displacement is her most recent book from Feb 2015 and covers traveling with her grandmother on a cruise
  • An upcoming book to be published early 2016 is Something New bringing together her fun and charming perspective, love of food, and wedding planning.

If you are interested in the online book club the Kitchen Reader, the gist of our casual club is there is a new book selected for every month, each book is related to food, and members write a review on their blog during the last week of that month. The November book is the classic The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters.

Would you read a foodie graphic novel memoir? What is one of your strongest food memories?

Signature

Filed Under: Book Review, Food and Drink Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

My Review of Lunch At The Shop

September 30, 2015 by 10 Comments

I’ve been taking a little break from my online, food-related book club since this year I’ve joined two other book groups (I also read from Blogging for Books, and a women’s book club at work). But I’m back to the Kitchen Reader club this month with my book club review of Lunch at the Shop: The Art and Practice of the Midday Meal by Peter Miller (chosen by Emily of Highly Social Media).
Lunch at the Shop: The Art and Practice of the Midday Meal by Peter Miller

My high level review of Lunch At the Shop is that it really promotes an intentional lunch. Peter’s definition of this means

  • Communal lunch with others (in this case with the employees of the bookshop he owns) where everyone shares stories
  • Lunch is fresh which means preparing all or part of it at your workplace. Part of the reason for this is also to shift from your normal work tasks to a craft operation and shift into a different mindframe from your normal workday actions and decisions.

The purpose of this is to take back part of your workday to make it personal and a pleasure. He promises it will make the food better, your relationships better, and it does make a difference in improving your day by reviving you at the mid day point.

One of the fun things about reading this book for me is that I’ve been to Seattle several times, and particularly some of the shops that Peter mentions so it was very easy to picture exactly the ingredients he mentions. His location near Pike Place Market is probably too good to be true for most people, and it will likely take slightly more work to gather some of the items purchased from stores since it will entail visiting specialty stores which are more spread out for a normal person rather than within a few blocks from work or from various employee’s home or commute.

There are plenty among his more than 50 recipes that are simple, yet offer wonderful taste in the combination.

Recipe for Lentils folded into basil, spinach, and basil from Lunch at the Shop, by Peter Miller Photo by Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton
Recipe for Lentils folded into basil, spinach, and basil from Lunch at the Shop, by Peter Miller Photo by Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton

Part of this I think is because of his crucial notion of layering. He defines this as

It is a touch, a finish, and it makes all the difference in the world in any cooking. For the purpose of lunch, it is quite specific: a second or third touch to what you are presenting, the signal that someone, moments before, chose and arranged and set the plate. It is personal and specific… The layering may be no more than a handful of parsley or chives, a grind of black pepper, a little Parmesan – all quite simply a sign of life.

He explains that layering means a Horizontal Touch to add details next to what you are serving, or a Vertical Touch to build upon the structure of the dish with elements. Examples he uses are just adding a slice of orange and a little goat cheese on the side of lentil soup, or fresh Parmesan, parsley, and cracked pepper on a reheated pasta.

It was beautiful and dreamy to me as he described Parmesan falling like snow on soup or bread (or a dusting of Parmesan out to an edge of a salad… he clearly really loves Parmesan), or a spoonful of beans alongside a sandwich that you then wipe the oil left behind with the last bite of bread, or how “chives love the slow-talking goat cheese or the white face of a potato”.

Phases like those pepper throughout the book, as well as call out boxes where he just tells a personal story about an ingredient. This made the book very likeable reading for me. It really was clear how much he loves food and ingredients, and how a communal lunch, even in talking about what’s in the lunch, can invoke tales that bring people together.

Some of the recipes can totally be assembled at your work desk, while others are started at home and then a few select items are finished at the office. He often uses bread, beans, lentils, or pasta as a solid base. It was particularly the use of lentils that I earmarked several recipes. I love lentils but as he notes, it is not often remembered to be used even though is is, as he calls them, ” a noble assistant to many foods and a trusty backpack to many vegetables.” Fortunately, he eats them at least once a week so had several suggestions of lentil combinations.

Lil' Wares Poware Bowl with lentils, cilantro mint cashew sauce, black tea peach chutney, beets and paneer Heathman Small Hot Plate of Carlton Farms Pork Cheek with squash puree and chive beluga lentils
When was the last time you had lentils? Some memorable lentil dishes of my past include this Bowl with lentils, cilantro mint cashew sauce, black tea peach chutney, beets and paneer and also this dish of Pork Cheek with squash puree and chive beluga lentils

Other great tips I got included

  • taking leftover pasta from dinner to work the next day and folding in a creamy soup or cup of hot chili with a little cheese, parsley, and lemon to rejuvenate it
  • adding leftover rice into soup or salad
  • the idea of instead of making sandwiches with sliced breads from a buffet of meats, using smaller rolls so you can make each one different – one with chutney, one with mustard and ketchup, one with horseradish and mayo so you can experiment
  • he even has a way to really upgrade sushi in those containers with plastic grass with some lettuce and easy homemade dressing

I really enjoyed the book. Like most books I read for Kitchen Reader, I borrowed it from the library to read it and started taking photos of certain recipes I liked. Then I gave up and realized I was taking too many photos and should just buy the book! I found the book very inspirational to move away from restaurant leftovers or cafeteria food. I look forward to trying to make my lunch at work – though I’m not sure I will go all the way towards communal lunches yet.

If you are interested in the online book club the Kitchen Reader, the gist of our casual club is there is a new book selected for every month, each book is related to food, and members write a review on their blog during the last week of that month. For me, it is always interesting to read the round-up of reviews at the beginning of the month and see what other members have thought, and even when I haven’t made the round-up, it adds more food books to my list to read.

I did read the previous two books from the previous two months – Delicious by Ruth Reichl and Relish by Lucy Knisley but haven’t had time to create posts on those yet. I enjoyed both those books in a mixed way, so hope to get into details of that in the future.

For October the book club selected reading is Yes, Chef: A Memoir by Marcus Samuelsson and Veronica Chambers (chosen by Amanda of Omar Niode Foundation).

What do you think about the premise of the book about more intentional lunch, and do you think you could practice it?

Signature

Filed Under: Book Review, Food and Drink, Sponsored Post Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

The Little Paris Bookshop Review

September 2, 2015 by 11 Comments

My The Little Paris Bookshop review can be summed up with the following 5 points.

  1. This book will make you fall in love with prose again. There are many books that tell a story and it is the characters and the events that are the main attraction. The words on the page or screen are there to help communicate and serve those attractions. The author of the Little Paris bookshop, Nina George, has a way of putting together phrases and sentences that you will enjoy reading a second or third or fourth time, even though you already have the message, because of how poetically it is stated.
    The Little Paris Bookshop, by Nina George
  2. Nina is adept at discerning the great range of complex emotions we live through. I love that she distinguishes and names these throughout the book via the main character Perdu. Like her protagonist, it seems Nina also wants to treat them. Perdu mentions a few of them early on –

    “The feeling that washes over you when another summer nears its end. Or when you recognize that you haven’t got your whole life left to find out where you belong.”

    Through various characters in the book, you will explore and feel various levels of peace, sadness, yearning, being disturbed, companionship and more with her keen observations. Even though you may not be in the exact same situation as those characters, the way she writes about them resonates within that makes you remember and contemplate yourself.

  3. The character and idea of this type of bookshop will make you want to visit small bookshops and wish you could find this type of bookseller who has such breadth and depth of knowledge of books that they can help you find the book for your needs. A thread that runs throughout is that books that can not only transport away from your life for a little while, but can also fill in holes in your life that are empty, even if you don’t know it, and can make you a better person. You may start questioning the types of books you normally have been choosing and now have the yearning to find these other types of books that are soul enrichment, not just entertainment or self-help/skill teaching. Now where can I find a book doctor like Perdu?

    “A book is both medic and medicine at once. It makes a diagnosis as well as offering therapy.”

    “He calls books freedoms. And homes too. they preserve all the good words we so seldom use.”

  4. Don’t be surprised if after reading this book you feel like taking a vacation to France, or at least spend some time in a small town by a river. Although the book title names Paris, at one point in the book you begin a journey through the south of France. Since I was not familiar with many of the places named, I did a Google Image search out of curiosity as I was reading. You will not be sorry if you follow my lead and I highly recommend doing this as you read. She really picked some incredibly breathtaking places, and seeing the photos helps you appreciate the journey and how the environment contributed as an important character itself to the story.
  5. You will want to eat some French food. First of all, they mention warm buttery croissants and fresh baguettes a lot. There are other important meals as well, varying from poaching fish in a pan while talking with a loved one and just eating it from the pan with wine, risotto with red wine on a boat (or somehow al fresco) under the stars, bohémienne de legumes and lamb cutlets with garlic flan or lavender ice cream (thankfully these are included as recipes at the back of the book), scrambled eggs with truffles, mussels in a herb and cream sauce with a view of the ocean. This isn’t a book about food. But, as seems truthful and honest, when you are traveling there will be some strong memories of moments that do involve food – and that happens in the book.
    Sesame Thyme Croissant, one of the many many delicious baked good pastries at Nuvrei Patisserie and Cafe Wildwood (now closed) dish of brick oven roasted mussels with bacon, leeks, cider,‎ fried sage, crème fraîche, toasted baguette. I was not ashamed to use a spoon once I had freed the mussels from their shells to eat this like a soup, including using the toasted baguette to sop up sauce. The bowl was completely empty and dry when I returned it

There are a couple small things that bother me about the book. For instance, how the various characters logistically afforded the lives that they lead in the book. I found the Manon Travel Diary sections sometimes too overwrought, which as a personal diary I can forgive a little but the entries ran long. It also made it harder for me to understand why Manon is held on such a high pedestal – it was one of those typical people describing a character as incredible but now showing how she deserved the praise. But, I forgave these flaws because the positives that I mentioned in my 5 points made this book more than worth the read.

If you haven’t read it yet, don’t forget to have a good croissant source in mind – I tell you, you will be craving some with coffee as you are reading passages, and this craving will repeat more than a couple times.

Have you read The Little Paris Bookshop, and if so what did you think? If you haven’t, does it sound like something you would put on your book list as a to read, why or why not? And where do you get your favorite croissant (my current faves are Gabriel’s Bakery’s cheese croissants found at the Farmer’s Market, and Nuvrei Bakery which is what is pictured above)?

Disclosure: This book was provided to me as part of the Blogging for Books program, but I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences I may be given. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own.

Signature

Filed Under: Book Review, Sponsored Post Tagged With: , , , , ,

Book Review of The Fold by Peter Clines

July 26, 2015 by Leave a Comment

The Fold, by Peter Clines, does a good job immediately from the first chapter of plunking you immediately into the feeling of something is off and not right. The story admirably carries that unexplained feeling through 2/3 of the book (about 200 pages) as you try to understand what is going on and endeavor to find the explanation of why something is not right along with the protagonist.

This is likely what will keep you turning the pages and make it hard to put this book down- you will get caught up wanting to know the answer as well. The clues are sprinkled in ways that you will likely put it together around the same time he does, and thankfully does not wait until the end with some twist ending.

Instead, the surprise for me is that the last 1/3 of the book turns into more of an action thriller. This part I had a harder time following as I read then the first 2/3 as it relies on translating the words into action scenes in your head, so I probably missed some details and can only hope someone DOES turn this into a movie.

Though there is a little science involved, it is explained in a way that an everyday person can understand. Thankfully the main character, although stretching a bit with his eidetic memory that automatically gives him a mini super power, is also very relatable in that he is an English high school teacher. You can follow his viewpoint and his understanding of the science well since they use comparisons to more common real world things.

In many ways it reminds me of Jurassic Park in setting up a fascinating science premise but focused less on the science that the JP books, though science is a foundation. The trade of the science speak in the book is to focus more on setting up intelligent, quirky, but believable people and the way they act towards each other where the science does not overshadow people (which in that way, reminded me of Interstellar). The main character also is a bit reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes but without the awkward social skills – and this is intentional.

Sprinkles of humor from current culture like Star Trek, Game of Thrones, mentions of Simpsons, Looney Toons, etc. make the characters seem real, and each one comes across as very intelligent, yet individual with their specific quirks. And the premise is fantastic – the wonder of a possibly life altering scientific breakthrough, being dropped into a new situation with a team where you are trying to figure out what the heck is going on and you are the odd man out… All of that engages you right along into the story. I don’t want to give away too much as the journey is the fun of the book.

A really fun rainy day read, I would recommend it for high school and up (there is a little bit of foul language).

Disclosure: This book was provided to me as part of the Blogging for Books program, but I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences I may be given. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own.

Signature

Filed Under: Book Review, Sponsored Post Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Seven Spoons Review

June 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment

As I would expect from a book that is written by a food blogger (the food blog Seven Spoons, written by Tara O’Brady), there are lots of gorgeous photos in the newly released cookbook of the same name, Seven Spoons. I mean, just look at the book cover.
Seven Spoons cookbook for Tara O'Brady
So gorgeous that even though I may not have thought much of a recipe title (such as Savory Steel-Cut Oats with Cheese and Spinach), the recipe was immediately bookmarked when I saw the picture. I mean, Oats… normally I would have paged by as I skimmed through the book the first time, were it not for this drool-worthy photo that suddenly changed my perspective on oats.
Savory Steel-Cut Oats with Cheese and Spinach recipe from the book Seven Spoons by Tara O'Brady

Yes, many photos alone made me want to make the recipes included in this book. I wish there could have been photographs included with all the recipes. The way she writes the recipes is very conversational and chatty as if you are friends with her and cooking together in the kitchen. This is wonderful in how personal each recipe is. But it does also mean a lot of reading of the intro sometimes to get to the heart of why she loves this recipe or why you should make it – something each of her photos just cuts to the chase to in it’s stunning beauty.

The recipes Tara lists are diverse and take cues from lots of different cuisines – Roasted Carrots with Harissa Aïoli and Dukkah, Indian with Chaat Tostadas, Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream, Bee-Stung Fried Chicken, Huevos a la Plaza de Mercado and more which I really appreciate.

There is a whole section at the beginning just on bread! I would have never considered making my own bread that doesn’t involve my breadmaker, but the photo was really trying to convince me otherwise.
Seeded Boule recipe from the book Seven Spoons by Tara O'Brady

The variety in Seven Spoons means the recipes are both new takes on the familiar, but also offer things completely foreign to explore (such as below Coconut Kheer with Bronzed Pineapple and Halloumi in Chermoula (a Greek cheese enjoyed fried golden with Northern African dressing).
Coconut Kheer with Bronzed Pineapple recipe from the book Seven Spoons by Tara O'Brady Halloumi in Chermoula recipe from the book Seven Spoons by Tara O'Brady

However, then some of the recipes call for specialty ingredients that I’m not sure I would use very often, and there are some recipes that sound amazing but then have a recipe list of 30 some items (such as Vietnamese-Inspired Sausage Rolls) and several pages worth of steps. Other recipes are only a page and a handful of ingredients – so it is a mix of levels. You have to really read each recipe through, and with no numbered steps you have to mentally break it up yourself.

Something like her recipe Mushrooms and Greens with Toast she explains that the measurements don’t have to be exact and can use a variety of possible vegetables from greens to squash, and can be any cheese. In homey fashion, she even advocates tearing the mushrooms by hand rather than slicing it. Very easy.
Mushrooms and Greens with Toast recipe from the book Seven Spoons by Tara O'Brady

Others, like her Burger Treated Like A Steak she goes into the detail of the percent fat of the beef and thickness and width of the patty down to a divot in the center to compensate for swelling as the burger cooks and temperature before resting.
A Burger Treated Like a Steak recipe from the book Seven Spoons by Tara O'Brady

Then there is a recipe like Chia Pudding with Fruit and Golden Honey Elixir seems simple, but involves making Golden Honey Elixir (a recipe on another page) and after mixing the Chia Pudding letting it chill overnight.
Chia Pudding with Fruit and Golden Honey Elixer recipe from the book Seven Spoons by Tara O'Brady

Still, I think this is a great book to have in the kitchen to get a bit more variety of food to create in the kitchen, and there are several that I think will become staples for me thanks to her great taste of adding a bit more flavors or textures to make an otherwise normal dish extraordinary (such as the tip about using mayo for Cheese-Fried Toast Soldiers, and variations of peanut butter like Vanilla Espresso Walnut Butter). It seems that all of these recipes have been tested to be truly tasty, and so it’s up to you as the cook to decide what you want to invest in.

Disclosure: This book was provided to me as part of the Blogging for Books program, but I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences I may be given. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own.

 

Signature

Filed Under: Book Review, Sponsored Post Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »