Hitching my wagon to a star

I want to be Adam Roberts...or work at the Food Network. Is that too much to ask?!

(And I want to try out that chestnut, ricotta, and balsamic dish that David Mechlowicz, the "culinary purchasing manager", is preparing)

The One Where I Can't Think of a Clever Title for Children's Literature News

I've been home with a sick kid all day - this winter has been so brutal! - and I had all kinds of lovely intentions to put up several posts. Then I had to do some work because I had a deadline today. And then I started reading (and finished) Rumors, the sequel to The Luxe, by Anna Godbersen (*whispers aside* - it was deliciously wicked and indulgent, just as good as the first). Then I had to watch Hairspray with the coughing kid. Then I had to have lunch. Now it's 4:00 and I've posted nothing. Siiiiigh.

I have had the chance today to collect all kinds of information, though. First, Matt Holm, of the famed Babymouse series, has a fantastic blog post up about a French comics creator, Cyril Pedrosa, who is apparently declaring that there is no such thing as a graphic novel. Naturally, all of us librarians, know this is a ridiculous assertion. Matt does, too. Go check out his great response.

Apparently there's a new children's book coming out: My Beautiful Mommy by Dr. Michael Salzhauer. It's written by a Floridian plastic surgeon and it's a way to help explain to kids why mommy is getting plastic surgery. According to this article, the plastic surgeon (named Dr. Michael, of course) is portrayed as a superhero, making mommy "feel better" and be "beautiful." You know, it would be soooooo easy to rip this book apart. It's so tempting. But I'd like to play devil's advocate here and say that this could be a useful tool for parents. As a mother myself who has toyed with the idea of a tummy tuck, one of the biggest challenges in my mind has been how to explain to my daughter why I'm doing what I'm doing. Granted, I wouldn't buy this book to do it. But, still... Far be it from me to deny it to another parent who needs a little help. All those issues aside and on a more professional level, the cover illustrations look like classic amateur self-published quality (read: bad). I'm just sayin'.... (Thanks to Big A little a for the link)

And oh my god, I had no idea that Jim Dale, the narrator for the Harry Potter audiobooks, was the Dr. Terminus in Pete's Dragon!!! Did you?!?! Thanks to Sarah Miller for providing my shocker for the day: no, darling, you're not the last to know - I am!

I won't dedicate a whole post for it, but I finished reading the galley A La Carte by Tanita S. Davis; I received it in galley form at a Random House preview. If you'll remember from this post, I was very excited to see my love of food and children's/YA lit combined together. Unfortunately, there's bad news ahead: I didn't enjoy this book at all. Now, as a YA book, I suppose it was fine. It had all the requisite teen literature stuff: angst, romance, conflict, crushes, struggles with parents - you know the drill. But as food writing, it didn't work at all. When you read food writing, you need to be salivating. You need to have immediate desire for food because the writing has inspired it in you. You need to have all your senses engaged because the writing has brought it alive for you. A La Carte did not do any of that...at all...for me. But for teens that aren't budding foodies, then this book will suffice. I only fear that teens who are budding foodies will read this as an example of good food writing when they really need to be picking up Ruth Reichl.

Okay, one blog post down. Hopefully I can crank out one more - something food-related, of course, before the kid starts coughing again!

Why I love what I do

So I got off work a little early last Thursday so that I could go to the launch of TOON Books at Books of Wonder in Manhattan. And what a lovely party it was! Hors d'oeuvres, wine, books, fascinating people... Françoise Mouly, the editorial director of TOON Books, is every bit as elegant as you'd expect - I'm hoping she'll agree to trek out to Flushing to speak to all the children's librarians! - and I met several other interesting people who proved to be much better conversationalists than me! I know this will sound odd, but I'm completely relieved that I didn't have the opportunity to meet Art Spiegelman - as someone who turns into such a geek when meeting brilliant people, I have no doubt that I would have been incoherent at the crucial moment. Heck, I'm relieved that I kept it together while talking to Ms. Mouly!

The good news is that I saw colleagues there who didn't mind that I was all geeky: Betsy Bird and her husband (who actually knows a lot about children's literature!), Michelle of the CBC, and Colleen of Roaring Brook Press. Here's a photo, courtesy of Kyo Morishima, of all of us hobnobbing (I'm in the red):
I think this picture was taken toward the beginning because I remember it being considerably packed later on. More so than it already was in this picture.

Yep, my job doesn't suck. Thanks to TOON Books for the lovely shindig!

I don't always have time to...you know...cook

Sometimes it's all about having the free time...

And cava on the balcony...




















Ice cream and shortbread on a sunny day...




















And pizza delivered right to my door early on a spring evening...

Let's hear it for Epicurious! Woop! Woop!

So remember I bought pork shoulder from Flying Pigs Farms at Union Square a couple weeks ago? About a week ago, I used it for dinner - and, oh, what a dinner it was!

When I bought the pork shoulder, Flying Pigs Farms gave me a slip of paper with some pre-printed recipes but, when it came time to actually make something, I wasn't feeling either of the recipes. So I went to my trusty old friend, Epicurious. There were a couple options, but they all called for a bone-in shoulder, which I foolishly did not get because I can't seem to choose anything under pressure and the Flying Pigs Farms guy was standing there, waiting for my decision. Anyhoo, it was too late to do anything about the bone-in issue so I looked through the recipes as if I had a bone. So I landed on Michael Chiarello's recipe for Cocoa and Spice Slow-Roasted Pork with Onions. Mostly because I had made Chiarello's cocoa spice recipe before so I already had the ingredients and knew how simple it was. Here's how it went:


And 5 1/2 hours later, I had this...


It was super easy and nothing short of delectable. I halved the recipe since Michael's recipe is for 8 servings. And since it was just us, we still had twice as much as we needed. Don't worry about that, though - a piece of the pork with some of the onions, a little honey mustard, two pieces of bread and you have one of the best sandwiches ever. The onions were amazing - I've never cooked onions before to the level where they just turn into a sauce. They're sweet and rich and they melt on your tongue. I served the asparagus with just a tad bit of butter, salt, and pepper - you really don't need a rich side dish with this one. Steamed vegetables work just fine. Michael's recipe also calls for a Sangiovese but, unfortunately, I didn't plan that far ahead so I served it with a Rioja, which paired very well with the pork.

The recipe also called for a roasting pan with a rack but my Mario Batali Le Creuset knock-off worked just swell.

I made it for "just us", but next time my parents come for a cold-weather visit I'm definitely making this. What did I do while this was cooking? Blogged...emailed...watched "Dancing with the Stars"...read a book...drank wine. I mean, once I had the pork in the oven, all I had to do was steam asparagus! SO easy!

The sad news is that this will be the last slow-roasted pork of the season because there's not a snowball's chance in hell that I'll be able to have my oven on for 6 hours at a time now that the weather has reached over 50 degrees on a regular basis. My kitchen becomes a furnace in and of itself during the summer. Come next autumn and winter, though, this will my go-to recipe. Without the asparagus, of course.

A phoenix rising from the ashes

So here were the ashes last night:


This pathetic mess is the Cabbage Galette recipe from My French Kitchen by Joanne Harris and Fran Warde. Based on the photo in the book, I expected soft green cabbage and a golden crust. So I kept looking through the window of the oven, wondering what the hell was going on. Then I realized: CRAP! I forgot to add two eggs to the crust mixture!!!! No wonder I didn't have enough to cover the top of the galette! No wonder I wasn't getting a golden crust! But with only 10 minutes left on the timer, I decided to keep it in the oven. When time was up, I took it out and noticed the cabbage was still raw and crunchy. Wha...?!?! I checked the recipe... CRAP! I forgot to blanche the cabbage first! It was just SO BAD that I laughed and told the husband to just dump it. Wanna hear why this happened? Because I was actually home by myself when I was making it versus the usual mid-week madness of my kiddo's homework and a schedule to stick to. I actually had time. So I leisurely prepared it, drinking wine and singing along to music. I got lazy. I wasn't vigilant. And this is what happens. I always knew I worked better under pressure but I learned last night just how true that is.

And here's the phoenix:


Instead I made the dinner I originally had planned for this evening: Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Christmas Salad. It was the first time I had made it (also the first time I tried the Cabbage Galette), and I can't even express to you how simple it is, yet how rich it is in flavor. First you start off with the mozzarella di bufala, which is on the bottom, and you sprinkle salt, pepper, and freshly grated lemon zest on it (Layer 1). Then the recipe calls for clementine slices next, but I used peeled cara cara oranges (Layer 2). Then you dress some salad greens in lemon-oil dressing and wrap them in some speck (smoked proscuitto, Layer 3). Then the recipe calls for shaved Parmigiano Reggiano on top, but I used pecorino romano, which didn't work so well - use Parmigiano Reggiano like Jamie says (Layer 4). Last, finish with a sprinkling of aged balsamic vinegar (Layer 5). It was textured, rich, and simple. It tasted decadent but was still surprisingly light on its feet. And it paired splendidly with the Bridlewood Viognier I had already poured. The best part? It took me about 20 minutes to pull together after my cabbage galette debacle.

Bon appètit!

NYT Dining and the food crisis in America

So it’s beginning to feel like I'm beating a dead horse (isn’t that how the horrible saying goes?). However, the issue keeps coming up over and over again, signaling to me that the “food crisis” in our country is relevant and important.

First, check out Nicole’s response to my posts: this brings the contrast between cultures into sharp relief. I was actually surprised by how many of the food displays included soda: U.S., Egypt, Mexico, Italy, Germany, Poland. I was particularly struck by Mexico – so much beautiful produce on display…and soooo much soda. Alas.

The Dining section of the New York Times has an article this week, “Good News About Rising Food Prices,” which discusses how the cost of food in the U.S. (is it happening elsewhere too?) is skyrocketing as a result of the rising cost of fossil fuels and ethanol. It’s costing a whole lot more to transport our food from Mexico to New York, from Holland to Chicago. Is this a blessing in disguise? Given the rising costs, will people really forsake their sodas? Will people turn to local produce and local purveyors of meat and dairy? Naturally, the article mentions Alice Waters, who has reportedly been a vocal advocate of higher food prices. I see her point: with food being more expensive, people will need to make smarter, healthier choices. If food costs more, people might eat less of it. On the other hand, lots of people argue her opinion is elitist and/or classist. Rising food costs makes me a little glad, I admit it. But what about the lower-middle class? People who are “on the fringe”? I honestly don’t believe they’ll suddenly see the light and start eating local, organic fruits and vegetables. It’s not as simple as that, as anyone will argue, I’m sure. You don’t have a paradigm shift in a single month or a single quarter. Heck, when we’re talking about an entire revolution in the way we think and we eat, that can’t even happen over the course of a single year. Eating is too emotional, too personal, too culturally entrenched. So do I think rising food costs are the magical solution? Absolutely not. But they just might be the impetus and, for that, I’m excited to see where we’re heading.

If you’ve read The Omnivore’s Dilemma, you know how Michael Pollan feels about corn. And he converted me to his way of thinking as well. So I read the Boston Globe’s headline, “Food Prices Might Increase as Farmers Plant Less Corn”, with a bit of warmth in my heart. Yay, less environmental impact! Yay, less high fructose corn syrup! Because that’s the kind of gal I am: I react first, think later. Which gets me in trouble sometimes. It was later that I realized this wasn’t going to magically cause meat producers to allow the cows to roam free and eat the grass they’re designed to eat. Nope, ain’t happening. And then two-thirds of the way through the article, the bomb is dropped: soybean planting is up 18 percent. Which, again, if you’ve read Omnivore’s Dilemma, you know this is still perpetuating the unhealthy, environmentally unsound monoculture issue. Where in the world are we heading?

Okay, this is getting depressing. Less doom and gloom, I think:

Since we’re sort of on the topic of healthy, seasonal food, let me take this moment to share with you an article from the San Francisco Chronicle, “Asparagus Fans Support the Delta’s Stalk Market” by Melissa Swanson. As a California native who grew up in the Sacramento valley, I got all warm and fuzzy reading this. Not to mention that I also felt bitter living in NYC where root vegetables are still the stars on parade at Union Square.

Lastly, given the name of my blog, it’s appropriate that I link to the NYT Dining section’s article on California Pinot Noir. I applauded the article because he’s right: California Pinots are so hit-or-miss and tend to be too big and fruit-forward for my tastes. I much prefer the Oregon Pinot Noirs, particularly King Estate. Nevertheless, Asimov includes a list of wines so feel free to have your own taste test on a beautiful spring afternoon!

REVIEW: My Friend, the Starfinder

My Friend, the Starfinder
by George Ella Lyon
Illustrated by Stephen Gammell
Atheneum, 2008

Have you ever encountered one of those books that just transports you the moment you see the endpapers? Then as you turn each subsequent page, it just soars? Then you read a second and third time and you notice all kinds of things you didn’t see in previous readings? Well, that’s the sort of book My Friend, the Starfinder is.

Written by George Ella Lyon and illustrated by Stephen Gammell, this book is very special. You’ll remember Gammell’s work, of course, from his Caldecott Medal-winning book Song and Dance Man. I loved Song and Dance Man – still do, in fact – but I can’t help but feel that My Friend, the Starfinder just leaves it behind (I realize some may feel like I’m blaspheming here). The endpapers resemble those Hubble telescope pictures you see of the galaxy. The first title page reminds me of those great swirly, colorful cloud scenes from the beginning of the movie The Neverending Story. Then the next title page appears to be another starscape…until you notice in the corner there’s a cabin and trees. And – look! – there are hidden star shapes in the sky! There’s no end to the little treasures in the artwork.

Oh, yes! The story! It’s told from the perspective of a young girl, looking back on her childhood, and she tells the story of an old man she befriended (or perhaps he befriended her) who told fantastical stories about catching falling stars and following a rainbow to its end. Naturally, the girl herself becomes a storyteller, thus keeping the Starfinder’s memory alive. The text is gorgeously written. My favorite part: “He wore old soft clothes and sat in an old chair on an old green porch and told stories. The stranger they were the truer he looked and I believed every one.” Beautiful.

However, it’s the artwork that really elevates this book. It’s at once impressionistic and detailed, grounded yet ethereal. The interaction of the colors is sometimes playful, sometimes poignant. The illustrations seem to indicate that the old man is very poor, with torn clothes and patched-up pants, causing the story to be that much more affecting. But as a reader, you feel elevated into the sky while reading this, leaving those earthly worries behind.

One quibble I do have is that there are two scenes where we see the old man as a young boy, and the reader has a very clear, detailed view of his face as a boy. I find this odd since we never see his face as an old man, and there are other scenes of him as a boy where it seems his face is deliberately obscured. So I find that choice by Gammell confusing. I felt pulled out of the mystery and slightly more earthbound. I assure, however, that this is a minor quibble and probably a weird quirky issue of my own, anyway.

To finish the book, Lyon shares an author’s note about Glen Dean, the real-life “starfinder” that she knew as a little girl. Then there are those starry endpapers.

Overall, this is imaginative with multiple layers of emotion and a dash of magic and mystery. I highly recommend it.