Cooking With Ideas

Murder Uncorked

I am pretty sure I have read another mystery by Michelle Scott, and possibly even reviewed it here, but I am too lazy to try to figure that out. I came across the book with the same title as this entry in a Good Will Store, and bought it for 99 cents. It is vaguely possible I overpaid, in the sense that lately I have been acquiring a lot of books form various places for free, but still. It was a quick read, a fun read, and filled with food (and wine). I am not sure, but this one might be the first in the series, a series entitled Wine Lover's Mysteries, and featuring a character named Nicki Sands, once an actress who had starred (though her own reflection on that experience paint her as a pretty bad actress) in a detective television show as Detective Martini. 

The book is set in Napa Valley, at a fairly high end vineyard, with all sorts of suitably soap opera like characters qwith twisted familial relationships. My one real issue with the book is the tone with which the gay characters are described; it feels a bit like "I have to include them but they put me [or at least the narrator] off." They are somewhere between caricatured and treated like they are nasty just because they are gay. And then, there are a few other quibbles -- once in a while a trace of didacticism reaches out from the page; one only needs to define brix once for this reader, at least. But the author does so several times. And, as usual, the somewhat heavy handed romantic end of the plot does grate a tad.

Did I say I enjoyed the book? It may not sound like it, but I did. It was light and airy -- somewhere between a souffle and a balloon. And, it took away some of the realities of life's problems and made them seem less important. After all, no one has been murdered that I know . . . (and this despite the violence of Chicago streets).

Ok, not my best effort as a review. Have fun if you read this. Yes, there are recipes included. And click here for additional reviews with some in depth reflection on the book (or the series) collected by the author. 

White Truffles in Winter

Great title, eh? I have had the novel, a gift from the blog inspiration, for a long time and have finally read it. It took me quite some time to read, which is part of how I know it was a really good novel. The author? N.M. Kelby. The title? Yes -- it is White Truffles in Winter. 

In many ways, many ways, this book is about food. The central character is Escoffier. And alongside him are his wife of many years, and then his flirtation (or more) Sarah Bernhardt, and a look alike servant many years later. The tale tells of recipes -- and whether or how one might create them to honor others. How does one, truly, honot love across decades or more? Can one make a dish that says that, or is that somehow trivializing things? And, all this, circuling around the cretaor of many dishes, named for or about many famous people. There are tidbots of history, of fortunes made and lost, of eggs and geese, and menus. (Many menus.) And, it is about love -- reflecting on it across a life time, as Escoffier writes his memoir. 

The wife, a poet, is named Delphine Daffis. No, I had never heard of her before. Somehow the food artist outlived (at least for me) the word artist. Though, the ovelist who write White Truffles in Winter seems, quietly, to argue they belong together. And, when one googles Delphine, only Auguste Escoffier comes up. Alas. 

The novel inspires adjectives -- one review said opulent, another languid. I do not have the words, but reading the book, slowly, was the right thing to do. It was, like many dishes, not to be rushed in the reading, as many are not to be rushed in the cooking. The characteris fade in and out of view. The tastes are brought forward and drift backward. It is a novel that is worth lingering over, like a long and wonderful meal. 

The book is reflective in some ways, and journeys across time and place with a combination of nostalgia and regret and thoughtfulness that one wishes to have about one's own life. (Until, that is, one crashes up against the many ways the memoirist deceives himself and others. Kelby is wonderful in her sleights of hand.)

I recommend this book highly. Have you read it? Let us know. 

For other discussions of this dandy novel, click here. Or here (for the Christian Science Monitor view) And, for a different view, try here, where you can discover more about Escoffier. 

Fonduing Fathers -- Julie Hyzy Does it Again

Ok, I am not entirely sure what I mean by the title of this entry, though I do know that a) Fonduing Fathers is the title of Hyzy's new entry (yep, used same word twice in one sentence) in her series of mysteries featuring a White House chef named Olivia Paras. And, I know a second thing. This one builds on the prior book in the series insofar as the chef has a strng relationship with the president's son. I have to admit, while fondue briefly comes into the plot, I am not entirely sure why this is the book's title, and this despite the anxious-father-wants-son-to-be-interested-in-something-other-than-cooking aspect of the plot. (And that adjectival hyphenation may be the longest this blog every sees). 

Let's see. Good aspects of this particular mystery: the need to have romantic tension does not unduly drive the plot. Also, the plot is not one of those where you feel like asking how these amateurs stumble upon so much crime in one locale. (Though the setting being DC and the White House provides some cover on this issue, unlike, say, Jessica Fletcher and Cabot Cove; if you have that small a population, how can you have so much murder?) Also, I do think Hyzy does a reasonable job of showing the relationship between our formidable chef and the son of the president; in fact, the son seems quite like a little kid as I imaginen him in such a world. What else? [SPOILER ALERT -- which, by the way, is one of the phrases some have wanted to toss from the language in 2013] I liked the way the book provides back story for the main character by investigating issues regardign her father's death, his dishonourable discharge from the military, and his burial in Arlington Cemetery. Of course, it was a tad obvious from this combination of things that he was somehow under cover at the time of his death, but the details were interesting to see develop across the span of the book. 

There are a few (??!?!?!) moments that stretch credibility -- though what is the point of mysteries other than allowing us to suspend our disbelief? I admit, though, I am not convinced [GIGANTIC SPOILER ALERT] that [OK TRYING TO CONTROL MYSELF SO WILL BE VAGUE] that Olivia will be able to keep the promise she makes toward the end of the book. Really?

Ok, nitpicking. I truly enjoyed this as always with Hyzy's books. One thing I did like is that there is a lot of development of Olivia's relationships with some of her professional peers -- making obvious that one need not like everyone in order to work well with them, on the one hand, and in a truly "we are in a novel way" ensuring that the truly irritating do not rise to the top. And, I think there is a tiny little endge here of politics (hence this is also characterized as sublimation nation) insofar as the bad guys are pretty darn bad. 

This is her sixth of this series. I wonder where she will go next? Will Olivia get married? (Hmmm.) Will she go on a cruise? Will she make fois gras? 

Top Historical Posts ((In Bibliochef's View) from Cooking with Ideas or Gratitude in a New Year

So, 2013. Here's what it says on this blog's "overview" the day I started writing this entry: 

110299    Lifetime Pageviews

45.52      Pageviews/Day

737         Total Posts

576         Total Comments

Wow. 737 posts. And, I do not think of myself as a writer. Amazing. And, thanks to all of you readers for dropping by --and, I hope, reading. I am grateful for the comments -- I can still remember the very first one -- and how astonished I was then (and am now) that anyone reads this. Some of the comments are odd, some are fun, and some remind me of friends. So: thanks. 

Looking back, here are a few of those many posts  from my own past as bibliochef, with a few 2013 reflections. It is odd looking back -- remembering (or not). 

The first entry ever, dated May 2006, deserves to be cited, right? Here it is, entitled Detecting Gourmandizing. It is brief, does not say much, but does point to the ways Cooking with Ideas focuses on connecting food-related murder mysteries to the rest of the food theme. While in this case I returned to something I had read prior to starting the blog, in many cases I "met" authors due to the blog. THANKS to all of you -- authors, beloved person who sent me loads of such mysteries, and , , , , 

A second historical note that I want to reflect on is the template I used at the start when I reviewed restaurants. The restaurant reviews all started much much more organized than they seem more recently -- with a focus on ambience, on wine/cocktails/dink menus, on all sorts of matters. Perhaps most unusually, and not ordinarily provided by me, were (and are) the bathroom reviews. (Admittedly, limited to the women's rooms). The anonymous bathroom reviewer was and is the main inspiration for this blog -- and for much of what else I do. I am not sure about giving up that template -- I got less "professional" as I got more experience (and perhaps busier). Hmmm. Should I go back? Here are several reviews with the template: one, two, three.( The first is to a stand by in Geneva, NY. The second is defunct. And, the the third is to an early one on Chicago!)  See what you think. 

A third topic: the entry on single subject books is one that I still think about. In fact, I have been reading single subject books in other areas beyond those covered in this blog.  I know, I know, no book is truly about a single subject. Not really. And yet, the ways such books allow entry into multiplicity is why I like them. A book about curry. A book about salt. A book about . . . . fish. A book about. . . . Each was a way into a world -- or multiple worlds. And, as usual, the curry book, the one that started me out: the anaonymous bathroom reviewer in her guise as wonderful gift giver. Thanks again. And, of course, I did a review of such books more than once. Try here too. 

Fourth: category titles. I like the ones I use on this blog. I do not use all of them all the time, and think I better get back to things like sublimation nation and queerying and related matters. But, I just wanted to say -- I liked the category names. 

Fifth:  cookbooks. I started out on cookbooks in some ways in college. I wrote out recipes in a skecthbook. I look at that occasionallly now and wonder why I ate some of those things. (It was the 1970s.) I was learning. I have a more recent version of a similar thing; in fact, I have several -- one written into a Levenger notebook -- which includes pictures of some memorable meals -- and one that I typed out for the ananoymous restuaurant reviewer due to some changes this year. But cookbooks -- I only think of those as cookbooks in a kind of whifty way. What I really mean by this label are those that people buy -- not even on line resources that I use like epicurious. And, I have "met" loads through this site. Partly this is because of the previously cited gift giver, who has supported and encouraged this love. Partly, though, there is a circle caused by teh blog; people send me cookbooks. I am especially indebted to Andrews McMeel, a publisher that sends me cookbooks -- often absolutely beautiful ones. This has taught me several things -- not least that there is no reason to feel guilty about reading cookbooks without cooking from them. 

Sixth: and most importantly: the hidden blogger. She has been mentioned above in her guises as inspiration, anaonymous bathroom reviewer and gift giver. Thanks is all I can say.  

Do you have a favorite post from Cooking With Ideas? Or are you a fan of the novel ones? Let us all know!

 

2013: A List

One of my goals for the future is self care. And, this blog began as that -- having something fun and enjoying it. I am grateful to my partner who suggested it and helped make it real, and for the world that made it fun. I have been distracted form it for some time, and among other things, not cooking as much. But, as we move into a new year, which I hope will be filled with good and compassion and hope, here are a few words:

1. Today, I made things with what was in the fridge. I remembered that I like to chop, I like to make treats for others, and I enjoy invention sometimes. The latter is kind of new to realize as I think of myself as kind of rule bound, but hey -- today, I took three mushrooms out of the fridge, removed their stems, chopped the stems with some carrots, and dry roasted (in a pan) the mushrooms, added the sauteed thises and thats and called them stuffed mushrooms. 

2. Did you know that when you "dry" roast mushrooms in a covered sautee pan, especially when they are whole and have a hole in the middle, the holes fill up with a lovely, tasty, mushroomy juice? I did not. Now I do. 

3. Today I drank eggnog. I drank it in my coffee, I drank it alone, I drank it from a coffee mug and (ok, I admit it, just this once) from the carton. (I admit it this once, not I have never done this before.)

4. I made some feta cheese dip; or that was what it was supposed to be. It involved (surprise) feta, lemon and lemon zest, and olive oil. The feta was cold. I was impatient. While microwaving feta makes for an amazing warm sludgy mess that smears well, it is not the best way to make dip. Lessons learned. 

5. I love left over guacamole with extra lime juice.

6. I may have more egg nog. None of it has had rum in it. Nor nutmeg. 

7. Today I threw a bone for a dog who eats an entirely raw diet. Hmmm. 

8. In the absence of a cleaned stove, I laid some asparagus in that same sautee pan and kind of steamed it. Tasted dandy with loads of salt on it. 

9. I can attest that some recipes are better not messed with. Years ago, I/we discovered a great recipe for dates. You remove the pit. You add a sliver/chunk of parmesan, a bt of parsley and some olive oil. Yum. Does NOT work with cheddar cheese, even if it is nice cheddar. Just no zip to its doodah. 

10. Deviled eggs, sometimes called on this blog be-deviled eggs (after Laura Childs' book)  -- do not always have to be hot (by which I mean spicey) to be good. Today's were plain -- and the other variant involved a seedy mustardy bit. Both were good. Neither involved hot anything. 

11. The reason for the absence of heat in number 10 above is some indian food I made recently -- or at least some curries -- which turned out somewhat too hot for . . .  well, for at least one of the diners. I mde a version of carrot curry (not so good weithout the cocnut milk) and a version of mushroom curry (which in this case included chickpeas as well). I loved the mushroom curry, but went a tad over board with the heat. I have been sneaking around eating it in the middle of the night. Not bad cold. 

12. I had purchased sage ages ago to make potato chips -- but then did not. So, I did make and eat crispy sage leaves. I like them. Though they are better with only butter not butter and olive oil. 

13 It is almost a new year. I did not meet my 2012 desire to make more moles, unless making one is better than none, which is, I guess, true. But: I am a lucky person, and it is almost 2013. 

13 -- a lucky number? A year of patience, compassion, silliness, and? 

May 2013 be a good one for us all. 

 

Blog Watch?

Well, as the year winds down (pun intended, and thanks to this site for the picture of the vintage wind up fob watch) I have been neglecting this blog -- so I wanted to stop by with an early resolution: to blog more at this site. This is short hand for taking more time for me, away from work, and just pursuing fun. 

For a few bloggish entertaining food related sites see: 

1. Saveur magazine's best food blog awards for 2012 -- find the list here 

2. A list of winners for blog awards globally -- find the list here  (and yes, food is a topic for one of hte awards) 

3. Time magazine's list of the best blogs for 2012 -- yes, this is all about clicking, in this case, here. And yes, once again, there are examples which focus on food; but, there are even more wonderful ones that do not. Hmmm. 

4. In case you want to focus on the phrase "above the 49th" and know what it means, check out this site

5. And becuse, it is what I used to call Christmas Eve Eve when I was a kid, here is a set of Christmas cozies we all ought to have read 

Red Plus Blue Makes an Election Year?

Of cours,e on a color wheel, red plus blue makes purple. And when diluted that makes lavendar. And . . . but it is a presidential election year in the U.S. and so red plus blue makes -- just that, an election year. ANd, I do know that red means different things in different cultures, and ditto for blue. I have even read some related anthropological work years ago. But, that was then and this is now, and this is. . . . Cooking with Ideas. So, red plus blue . . . and food? Yes. 

In my ongoing sharing of food-related tidbits found elsewhere, I have found a delightful tale of how we should really know that the presidential election is going -- or will go -- and here it is. From Allison Aubrey on NPR's food blog, the piece is a wonderful discussion of various businesses (etc.) using color coded food to see which way voters might be leaning. (Of course, each is a ploy to sell more, probably, but still. And, as she notes, in some cases, the choice may indicate more about taste preferences than political leanings. This is particularly the case when it comes to the red cheese, blue cheese test she discusses. I'd be torn myself. In fact, I would want both sorts. All sorts. And, by the way, she starts her story indicating that cheese does not have a long history of political symbolism. Maybe not the case, right?  Between government distributed cheese (and its links to poverty) and Thomas Jefferson's cheese, she may be wrong. Cheese matters. 

As for the history of color's relation to here is the tale, as told by wikipedia. Here is another version, perhaps with more accuracy, who knows. And, in case you are a guy who wears ties, here's a fun piece on why your tie's color matters. Every day politics? The psychology of color? Food? Hmmm. 

Japanese Farm Food

This is a topic I know less than nothing about: Japanese Farm Food. So, why am I writing about it? Well, Andrews McMeel sends me cookbooks (not a surprise to regular readers). Sometimes they are smallish, targeted ones. And sometimes they are wonderfully lush books. This is one of the latter. So: I have read lots of it. And, I initially thought I would pass it along to someone who knows -- and likely cares -- more about Japanese food. But now I am not sure.

But I can say this: from the cover -- with a beautifully spare bittersweet picture to the foreword by Patricia Wells to the author's commitment (Nancy Singleton Hachisu), this is a wonderful book. The photographs, as is often though not always  the case with Andrews McMeel books, are especially worth exclaiming over in this case. (They were taken by Kenji Miura.) And the web presence is dandy: here is the related site called Japanese Farm Food. Nancy Singleton Hachisu is also connected, as the foreword by Wells hints, to the food movement internationally. She is a force in Japan's Slow Food Convivium (in this regard, see this piece) , but also as a person with significant links in San Francisco is linked to Alice Waters, has been off to Italy where the Slow Food movement has its "origin" and. . . . reflects in wonderful ways on being a westerner who lives and loves and has children and farms and cooks and . . . . in Japan, and in rural Japan at that. 

Perhaps it is the rural focus that makes me think I might keep this book. I initially brought stereotypes to the table (as it were!) and assumed this would be way over my head. But, in some ways, it is just about vegetables and fish, cooked in a range of ways, with a range of particular seasonings that mean Japan (and/or Japanese rural food). I can do that, I said to myself, while reading -- if I can do X I can do Y. Who knew? 

And, the delightful pictures teach you a bit about farming in Japan -- including not only rice farming but other aspects as well. 

Among the things hidden in this book are fish patties, beef and onions with ginger, and a full page of explanation of artisanal charcoal. There are discussions of fish mongers and recipes for curry rice or fried rice of various sorts. It is do-able even if I never truly get what the various ingredients are in terms of seasoning. (For example, tehre is a brown sugar, and the directions say quite distinctly: DO NOT SUBSTITUTE AMERICAN BROWN SUGAR, it is not the same thing. Thank goodness, because of course I would have substituted.) 

So: if you want a more informed take on this book, click here (where a recipe I am tempted by is reproduced) or here. 

 

 

The Politics of Cookbooks?

Some time ago, I read a book entitled Pink Ribbon, Inc. authored by Samantha King. Here's the site form teh publisher of the book. It was a very good book, pointing out the many ways that the breast cancer industry is embedded in a political neo-liberal world. Why else would mammogram machines lead to long walks that raise money for detection (and thus for mammogram machines) and not for . . . . prevention? And, the pervasiveness of pink products, revealed in the book to very little money actually going to breast cancer research at all but gaining the purveyors of the products much good will, well, gets on my nerves sometimes. And, yet, I feel a twinge and buy things. And yet, I walked -- raising money because of people I love. Critical reflection is important, even in the face of this epidemic (or these epidemics). And it needs to be directed at all those rubber bracelets and additional walks, and all those things. 

Having said that, this is not a review fo that book (which students found a bit difficult, as they kept having to be reminded that King is NOT saying that we ought not address the problem of breast cancer. Of course that is not her point. Her point is that we may feel like we are addressing it when we are not. And there may be a reason -- or set of reasons -- for that!) 

Anyway, this cookbook review is about a book entitled The Back in the Swing Cookbook, subtitled Recipes for Eating and Living Well Every Day After Breast Cancer. Authored by Barbara C. Unell and Judith Fertig (yes, you have seen the latter's name here on Cooking with Ideas recently as she has authored other cookbooks), this book comes form an organization called Back in the Swing USA. Its target audience is those who are survivors (and those who want to buy presents for survivors). And, thank goodness, it is not PINK. The cover shows blueberries, and is reassuringly cookbook looking. The recipes range from a sweet couscous involving dark chocolate and dried fruit to a pomegranate sparkler to oaxacan chicken in mole. Everything sounds delicious and though I am not a breast cancer survivor, unless I succumb to the temptation to pass it on to someone who is, I shall make some of these recipes. 

Sprinkled throughout are some reflections -- just on the cusp of mushy, but also not over the top -- which are likely of use to us all -- about grace and gratefulness, for example. Again, thank goodness, nowhere does there verge on the implication that one should be grateful for disease (os dis-ease). 

I found this book to be one of the good efforts -- to respond to pain, but move beyond it. And not, at least to my mind, to exploit it. 

So, move past those pink bits of candy or pink plastic bracelets, and make some bodacious broccoli salad or island fish tacos -- or that couscous with dark chocolate, which still puzzles me. Read the quotes, think about gingersnap crusted pumpkin pie. And survive -- whatever are your challenges -- with glee. 

Virtual Cooking II

Yep, I am still not cooking much, and thus spending undue quantities of time on line when I am not working or. . . . And, so I am sharing some of my perusals through this web site. I like it when food meets other things -- as, for example, a main theme of this site -- the meeting of food and murder mysteries. This time, though, it is literature meeting food in another way. In this case, the issue is photographs of food which are made as a result of -- or linked to -- literary examples. NPR has a piece, by Laura Krantz, entitled "Photographing Literature's Famous Food Scenes." And here it is. Krantz is actually reporting on the work of Dinah Fried who is actually doing the photographing and thus making Krantz (and me) happy. 

Among the texts she works with are Catcher in the Rye and Alice in Wonderland, The Bell Jar and, of course, Proust -- as well as much more recent texts. Of course, this discovery led me to google away on a sunny day (which I must stop), finding, for example, this site which lists lots of fun food scenes in literature -- and asks for more in the comment section -- how about your ideas -- here, or there?