Gastrosexual: It was only a matter of time

Gastrosexual.

Yep, it's real. Look it up.

On one hand, I'm derisively snorting. On the other...well...I kind of wish my husband was one.

Thanks to Ruhlman for the link.

Food for thought

New York Times Magazine published an article by Michael Pollan, "Farmer in Chief" a couple weeks ago, written as a letter to the incoming U.S. president.

Michael Ruhlman does an excellent job of distilling the article down so that we have real ideas about how we the public can promote change (revolution, by my way of thinking). I also highly recommend that you read the comments - many of them are informed and interesting.

I have enormous food for thought here. For instance, Ruhlman lists teaching our children to cook as something we can do. I teach my daughter to cook. So much so that, with an enormous amount of trepidation, I'm teaching her (slowly, carefully, patiently...for a change) to use my niiiice knives. She knows her herbs, names of all my cooking tools, etc. etc. etc. Additionally, we have taught her to eat respectfully, for the most part - she eats a snack sitting at the table (not standing in the kitchen) and we always eat dinner at the table with the TV off (with the exception of our TV Dinner Fridays, where we lay a blanket on the floor, eat picnic food, and watch a movie).

However, I can't help but feel that there's so much middle-class privilege that goes along with all this. Why am I not teaching latch-key children who are making their own dinners without any adult supervision whatsoever? I could work with Kiddo's school (and the multitude of other schools in my neighborhood) to get gardens planted (oh, but who has the time?) My point being that I'm doing the bare minimum, if that. And that is not how revolutions happen.

Eat, drink, and consider how else I can contribute...

Spring 2009 Publisher's Preview: Random House

I went to the Spring 2009 preview at Random House yesterday, and this is what you need to know about that:

Kathy Kras. (librarian extraordinaire) told a story about passing Ina Garten in the halls of Random House. In my excitement, I forgot to ask Kathy when this event took place. Nevertheless, Kathy apparently started carrying on…in the presence of Ina…and, according to Kathy, embarrassed the hell out of the Random House folks. It couldn’t have been that bad, though, seeing as the Random House people still invited Kathy back for yesterday’s shindig. It would be a dreeeeeeam to meet Ina in the halls of RH, though I’m utterly convinced that I’d make a complete arse of myself. Thank goodness it was Kathy meeting her and not me!

Oh, and there were books there, of course. Here are the ones I took special note of:

- What a Good Big Brother! by Diane Wright Landolf, illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher. A new sibling book where the oldest child doesn’t despise the new baby? Refreshing. (1.09)

- A Very Curious Bear by Tony Mitton, illustrated by Paul Howard. My first impression is that the text might be too sentimental for my tastes…but the illustrations we saw were really beautiful. (4.09)

- Babymouse: The Musical by Matt & Jennifer Holm. Well, dur. Who isn’t looking forward to this one? (1.09)

- Stone Rabbit series: BC Mambo and Pirate Palooza by Erik Craddock. The editor called this the answer for a boys’ version of Babymouse. Looks promising. (1.09)
- Dandelion Fire by N.D. Wilson. The sequel to 100 Cupboards. The editor said that some of the criticism about 100 Cupboards was that it was weird and strange (I concur) so this one is more “solid fantasy.” For all your weightlifting kids: this has 480 pages. (2.09)

- Duck & Goose: How Are You Feeling? by Tad Hills. Oh god, sooooo precious. The whole room swooned. (1.09)

- This Little Bunny Can Bake by Janet Stein. Stein, a debut author, studied with a world-renowned pastry chef in Barcelona; she’s the real deal. Yay! Foodie books for kids!

- You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?! by Jonah Winter, illustrated by André Carrilho. This is from the spunky gals at Schwartz & Wade, and they passed the book around. I didn’t get to read the text much, but the illustrations are phenomenal. They manage to be very modern and stylized with a limited palette…but also very retro. The cover is a really cool holograph. Trivia: the artist apparently had never seen a baseball game when he was signed on to this project. Schwartz and Wade sent him Ken Burns’ Baseball as a primer. (3.09)

- The Enemy: a Book About Peace by Davide Cali and Sere Bloch. “Anti-war book for children.” Kid appeal aside, I was moved by the few pages we saw here. An important message, for sure. (4.09)

- The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. The editors compared this to A Handmaids Tale…to me, the description seemed to have tones of The Giver as well. I’m having dinner with Ms. Ryan next Monday so I’ll be reading this over the weekend. It certainly helps that Sarah Miller gave the book good praise! (3.09)

- The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau by Dan Yaccarino. I luuuurve Dan Yaccarino’s artwork…but don’t ask me to explain why. It just seems so…joyful. (3.09)

- Alligator Bayou by Donna Jo Napoli. Because I’ll read any word she puts on paper. (3.09)

The special guest (Random House always has one) was Graham Salisbury, promoting his upcoming book Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet (3.09). Like all of Random House’s guests to date, Graham Salisbury was engaging and funny – the room seemed delighted with every story he told.

In conclusion, can you believe Kathy saw Ina Garten just walking around Random House????


Note: Tracy Bloom Lerner, the Library Marketing Manager at RH, asked the room at one point to show hands if we’d be interested in seeing pages from books electronically. Needless to say, the show of hands was overwhelming. In front of me, Kate McClelland raised two hands. I raised both mine and clapped. To be able to see content online and, hopefully, cut down on the number of ARCs and review copies would be stupendous. It would save trees…and save space in my work area. Amen. (And thanks to HarperCollins and Candlewick, among others, who already have this kind of content available!)

One more thing: Random House did a really fun Hawaiian theme, in honor of Graham Salisbury. Lots of leis and inflatable palm trees. Super fun, given the autumnal weather seeping in!

Lucy Knisley event

Earlier this year, I reviewed French Milk by Lucy Knisley (in summation, I really liked it). It was originally published by Epigraph in 2000, but Simon and Schuster has now reissued it...though I'm unaware of how many changes, if any, there are to the original publication.

The good news is that Lucy Knisley will be at 192 Books on Tuesday, Oct. 21st at 7:00 p.m. to discuss her work, do a Q&A, and sign books. 192 Books is here in NYC at 10th Ave. and 21st St.

The bad news is that I don't think I'm going to make it to the event. Boo. I'm already signed up for a dinner with Carrie Ryan on Monday night and, in the name of simplifying my life, I just don't think it's a good idea to do two events in a row during the week. Oh, to be 20-something and obligation-free again! But who knows...I'm still deciding how badly I want to do both...

Eat, drink, go to the event, then tell me all about it so that I can live vicariously through all you people.

P.S. Just in case you need extra incentive, Lucy has said that there will be "French food and drink" at the event. So, indeed, you can "eat, drink, and..."

Heading to the Middle

Eek!  So I'm behind in my blogging...

It's not about to improve, however - I'm off for a long weekend to Missouri for the wedding of friends.  I've never been to the Middle of America before and, frankly, never thought I would.  Nevertheless, here I go!

Eat, drink, and travel...even to Middle America.

My First Attempt at a Souffle

I've never made a souffle before.  So I attempted one today, specifically Ina Garten's Blue Cheese Souffle recipe from Barefoot in Paris.  Here is what happened:

Hm.

To quote Adam: "These are the best scrambled eggs EVER."

So I have to keep working on it, I guess.  My suspicion is that I didn't beat the egg whites long enough?  And on the upside, the chenin blanc I chose paired really well with it...as did the Dogfish Head Red & White that Adam drank with it.

Eat, drink, and be thankful that scrambled eggs with Roquefort are awesome

REVIEW: Dear Julia by Amy Bronwen Zemser

Finally!  I found my YA foodie book!  After reading A La Carte (meh) and High Dive (disqualified because it wasn’t really a foodie book), I have come to rest at Dear Julia by Amy Bronwen-Zemser.  And thank goodness!

As you’ve probably already guessed, I really enjoyed this book.  It wasn’t without its faults, of course, but I was able to overlook it and just enjoy.  Sixteen-year-old Elaine Hamilton is shy, reserved, and nearly invisible…and she is a cooking prodigy, thanks to her hero Julia Child.  Elaine has memorized every recipe of Julia’s and serves them up nightly to her busy mother, her stay-at-home dad, and her four younger brothers.  In the same town, Lucida Sans (yes, she changed her name to the font) is famous for trying to be famous…except that she doesn’t seem to excel at anything.  Throw in a handsome-but-jerky nemesis, a cross-dressing brother, and Julia Child herself….and the proverbial hilarity ensues.

I do want to say, for the record, that I loathe annotations.  That description above totally sucks.  I’m just sayin’…

Zemser really caught the essence of what it’s like to love cooking – her descriptions of Elaine’s single-mindedness and focus while creating a recipe are realistic, and I appreciated the approach that, while Elaine is passionate about food, there is also a calculated and practical nature about it.  Lastly, the dynamic of Elaine’s family is interesting and illustrates the point that meals are not created in a vacuum and pulling it all together is truly a family affair (or it should be anyway).

The descriptions of food are interesting; rather than going for fancy prose about the smells, textures, and sights, Zemser opted instead to let the dishes speak for themselves.  Because there is a focus on Julia Child’s recipes, there are lots of French names which, we all know, always makes a dish sound more delicious and fancy; you may not know exactly what Elaine is fixing but doesn’t Coquilles St. Jacques a la Parisienne in Scallop Shells sound wonderful?  There is a focus on the technique: while they are making the aforementioned dish, Elaine explains to her brothers “you want to be careful with those scallops, Chris[…]Simmering them for more than five minutes will result in a rubbery texture.”  Likewise, throughout the book, there are lots of descriptions about vegetables being julienned, duck stock being made into a reduction sauce, and desserts being flambéed.  Effectively, Zemser lets the technique become the drama, rather than flowery language.

The book isn’t perfect, of course.  The unrealistic happy ending is completely saccharine – really, it’s pretty bad.  But even Zemser seems to realize this in her wink-wink epilogue where there is a comment about happy endings.  So I chose to believe that the conclusion was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek with a aren’t-happy-endings-like-this-silly? mentality.  My other issue with the book was Elaine’s relationship with her mother.  It was just never really fleshed out and, even when Elaine’s mother was engaging in a heart-to-heart with Elaine, I still felt like she was a two-dimensional character.  Additionally, Elaine’s mother has some issues with her daughter’s cooking, namely that she fought hard for women’s liberation and now her daughter wants to engage in such a domestic practice.  With the advent of Food Network, celebrity chefs, and the numerous Julia Child biographies, I just don’t know how an educated woman could believe that anymore.  I found that unrealistic.

But these are quibbles.  Overall, it was an entertaining read – I finally found a decent foodie book for teens.  This could also be a good recommendation for parents and teens looking for a “clean read” – there is a brief kiss toward the end and no sex.  No violence.  No brand- or name-dropping.  No swearing.  I would even recommend it to kids as young as 10 or 11 who are more advanced readers.

Eat, drink, and hope that the food revolution is affecting teens as well.

More reviews:

Erin Cooks
Teens Read Too (it received a "Gold Star of Excellence")

All I Ever Needed to Know, I Learned from Georgia Nicolson

Adam: I don’t understand the whole idea behind making high school girls wear those uniforms.  I feel kind of sorry for them, waiting for the subway and standing in the cold with those super short skirts on.

Me: The girls roll up the skirts so they’ll be shorter.

Adam: What?

Me: Yeah, I learned it in my Georgia Nicolson series.  Apparently the girls roll the skirts at the waist so they’ll be shorter while they’re out in public.  Once they get to school they have to unroll the skirts.

Adam: Really?  Huh. 

There you go.  And who says Louise Rennison’s series is fluff?  Not me.  Being able to spew useless tidbits of information is a Life Skill, people.