Food Bloggers vs. KidLit Bloggers: A Study

Funny thing about food and children’s literature bloggers.  Of the food blogs I read, I find they post much less frequently than the kidlitosphere – I’ve assumed that this is because food bloggers are more “lifestyle” than kidlitters.  They don’t have time to blog – they’re too busy living.  Children’s lit bloggers do lots of reading, and lots of reading is usually done somewhere in the vicinity of a computer.  Not to mention that most bloggers of kids’ books are librarians who are semi-attached to computers all day long anyway.

But Thanksgiving surprised me.  A lot of my kidlit friends dropped off completely, or wrote significantly less, than they usually do.  But the food bloggers?  Holy crap-a-lacka!  They went NUTS!  Dozens and dozens of blog posts, documenting every single stir of the spoon, photos through dirty oven windows, photos of family and friends at the table....  The great thing was that their posts completely captured the mood of the holiday: joyful, chaotic, fun, crazy, lovely, and neurotic.  I had a blast reading so many posts!

That said, I clearly became a children’s literature blogger during the holidays.  Documenting the play-by-play?  I’m not that kind of gal.  No, I cozied up with my Soul Twin and her husband, made amazing food, and watched Christmas Vacation at the end of all the magnificent mayhem.  And – shhhhhh! – I enjoyed the time off from blogging.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!  

Chez Lutz: Gougère au jambon

I’ve blogged before (here and here) about the surprising relationship between food and Joanne Harris, who wrote Chocolat and now has ventured into children’s/YA literature with Runemarks.

It’s been a few months since I’ve made anything from The French Market, and I’m so glad I revisited this cookbook tonight.  Both books – The French Market and The French Kitchen – challenge me and my abilities…yet they do so in manageable ways for a full-time working mother such as myself.  Tonight I made the gougère au jambon, and it turned out mighty fine:

 

 I didn't use the exact right-sized dish (I should have gone a bit bigger) so the ham mixture didn't cook as thoroughly as it could have.  Even then, I added five minutes to the final cooking time because I realized my dish was too small and deep.  But it tasted RAD.  Unfortunately, I can’t post the recipe since I followed it exactly (minus the one extra clove of garlic I added – the recipe called for two cloves).  But here are links to other related recipes:

- Gougères stuffed with ham mousse (Emeril Lagasse)

- Gougères (Epicurious)

I also can recommend The French Market by Joanne Harris and Fran Warde.  In addition to the gougère recipe, I have also made their salad with walnuts (salade aux noix), their warm salad with Camembert dressing (salade tiède au Camembert), and their potato, cabbage, and Camembert casserole (tourte au Camembert)…all to huge success.  Not to mention that you can impress the hell out of your guests by giving them the French names for the meals!

Mangez, boivez, et parlez français!

 

WINE NOTES : Thanks to Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg’s What to Drink with What You Eat, I found out that an Old World Chardonnay would work well with the gougère.  So Adam picked out the Chateau Lafayette Reneau Seyval-Chardonnay.  I said, “Honey!  That’s a New York wine!  It’s not Old World!”  To which Adam responded, “But it says Chateau!”  All you French speakers out there will appreciate that there is no l’accent circonflexe in the word “Chateau” on this bottle.  But the only other Chardonnay we had was Casa Silva 2007 Chardonnay…from Chile.  So I had to take a leap.  And the Casa Silva was fantastic with it.  I’m drinking a glass right now, post-dinner, and it’s rather oaky.  But the oak just disappeared with the gougère and they perfectly complemented each other. 

A cornucopica, if you will...

Oh, for heaven's sake, you guys!  I was having such a lovely, relaxing - albeit, cold - weekend...and when I sit down to my computer on Sunday night, I find that you all have been busy posting all kinds of awesomeness.  On one hand, it makes for fascinating reading and I'm always for that.  However, it means that I have all kinds of thoughts I want to blog so now I have to do that.  And I worry about some of you not having a life away from the computer...but I suppose that's your business...and I don't really know most of you on a personal level.

ANYWAY, here are some of my favorites:

1. The gals at Haphazard Gourmet Girls have started an off-shoot blog: Obama Foodorama.  Naturally, anyone interested in food and its policies is curious to see what impact our President-Elect will have on our future...on the food revolution.  So the Girls are now tracking it.  As I've said, I don't always agree with the Haphazard Gourmet Girls but, to their credit, they always get me thinking and mulling.  Let's hope the upcoming administation can actually enact some CHANGE on agricultural policy in the U.S.

2. Chicken Spaghetti has a post up about the movement of Slow Blogging, as reported by the New York Times.  Curiously, I get the weekend Times and somehow missed this article!  Naturally, the movement of Slow Blogging is inspired by the Slow Food movement*.  I love the idea, of course, of both slow food and slow blogging...however, especially in the U.S., I wonder how much of it is a trend and just paying lip service.  As a country, are we really committed to slowing down?  To doing less?  To turning off the world for awhile?  To being more intimate?  I'd like to think so, but the skeptic in me is doubtful.  The NY Times article quotes Todd Sieling as saying that "slow blogging is a rejection of immediacy...It is an affirmation that not all things worth reading are written quickly."  Okay, I get it.  I do.  But isn't that the point of blogs?  Immediate information?  Having your finger on the pulse?  If I want something contemplative, something poetic, something life-affirming...well, I certainly don't reach for the blogs.  That's what books are for, n'est-ce pas?  But ignore me.  I'm just posting on my blog.  Thanks, Susan, for the link - it gave me food for thought on a Sunday evening!

3.  This is for all you New York foodies out there: Sustainable Table has linked to information about a "Food Wheel" that helps you ascertain which foods are in season when in New York state.  This is going to be incredibly helpful to me because, like most Americans, I've become so accustomed to having year-round access to all foods that I have ceased to understand the seasonality of my local area.  Hint: if you're living in NYC, this is NOT the time of year for asparagus...even though my nearest grocer recently had it on sale.  Don't even get me started...  Additionally, I have a copy of the Field Guide to Produce: How to Identify, Select, and Prepare Virtually Every Fruit and Vegetable at the Market by Aliza Green (which I named on my list of Top 10 Cooking Books) and I find it enormously helpful for determining the seasonality of different produce (though it doesn't help with NY specific).  It also identifies what to look for in ripe produce and various suggestions (no recipes) for preparations.  

4. Pink Me has the Cybils' graphic novels list up.  I'm pulling for Mo and Jo: Fighting Together Forever by Jay Lynch and illustrated by Dean Haspiel.  It's a huge hit with Kiddo, and it truly nails the sibling relationship...at least, the one I had as a kid with my brother.  I love Jellaby by Kean Soo.  Really, I looooved it - the spread where Jellaby is kicking the leaves is joy personified.  But I found the ending SO abrupt.  I can't get past it.  It was a needle-scratching-across-the-record sort of ending.

5. This didn't come to me via Bloglines but, rather, through Facebook.  My new friend, Ariel from Sesame Workshop, just handed over a recipe for "hot apple butterbeer."  No measurements so apologies to you more exact baking-type people.  But here's what she said: "apple cider, lemon, rum, maple syrup, butter, allspice, cloves, cinnamon.  Just add all the other stuff to the cider and keep tasting".  She also added that you need to "serve it HOT" or the butter starts solidifying.  It's Sunday night so I'm not quite in the mood for this drink, but you can bet your arse I'll be whipping it up come this weekend when my Soul Twin and her husband come from North Carolina for the holiday!

Eat, drink, and enjoy all the warm alcoholic drinks that winter brings!

* Ironically, I'm on the mailing list for Slow Food NYC...but never have time to go to any of their events.  

National Book Award winner

As anyone involved in children's literature knows, last night the National Book Award was announced and What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell won. Congratulations!

I haven't read the book yet; as it stands, I have The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks in my book bag, and The Underneath is sitting at my desk, waiting for me. So it might be awhile before I get to What I Saw...

However, I do want to note how frustrated I get when I see the cover for What I Saw and How I Lied because it should have been the cover for Ten Cents a Dance:

The cover for Ten Cents a Dance just isn't as impactful as it could have been (which I discussed in my review), and this cover -

- is exactly what I wished for Ten Cents a Dance. Luckily, Christine Fletcher's excellent sense of time, place, and character rise above the less-than-stellar cover.

"Have you ever stopped to think that plate of fries might just as soon feed you to the dog?"

I just received the Winter 2009 Hyperion catalog, and here's what caught my eye:

Food Hates You, Too and Other Poems by Robert Weinstock (February 2009)

And here's a sample poem from the catalog:

Benjamin Benjamin Dietz

Meet Benjamin Benjamin Dietz.

He repeats and repeats what he eats.

He eats sweet-flavored meats,

With his meat-flavored sweets,

And eats beets with his beets with his beets.

The catalog also shows a spread of a great Goodnight Moon parody.

I anticipate this will be the perfect antidote to the plethora of baking-as-family-bonding books coming out soon (or already out).

My Addictions: Food-related books and the Luxe series

Kirkus has published a review for yet another foodie book for kids: Bring Me Some Apples and I’ll Make You a Pie by Robbin Gourley (Clarion, 2009). I look forward to any book where the reviewer says: “A mouthwatering morsel that should come with the warning to eat before reading.” Between this book and Kitchen Dance, it looks like Clarion is on the foodie bandwagon. So now I need to figure out why Clarion is one of the few publishers who don’t send me review copies. Dammit! I keep pimping these books and I haven’t seen them yet!*

In other children’s literature news, I am officially the last librarian in this country who has not read The Underneath by Kathi Appelt. You hadn’t heard that news? Well, I am. Which means I’ll probably feel like a real arse tonight if it wins the National Book Award. Why couldn’t Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson have been nominated? Or Rumors by Anna Godbersen? The fluff I read never gets awards, alas.

Speaking of Rumors, when-oh-when will I get my itching hands on a copy of Envy, Godbersen’s upcoming entry in the Luxe series? Elizabeth must triumph over that evil Penelope…

And now I have done a fine job of illustrating why I never seem to find (or make) time for the lovely award winners.

* Actually, I see that Amazon now has the "Look Inside" feature available for Kitchen Dance, which wasn't there when I previously posted about the book.

And, now, the more practical side of food...

Aside from its sensual pleasures, food keeps us healthy, too.

For most of my teenage and adult life, I have been hit by the flu at least once, if not twice, a year. However, in the past 3 years since I’ve been eating healthier and wiser, I have vastly improved my record. I haven’t had the flu at all, only minor colds and sniffles (though I did get strep throat, which the flu shot wouldn’t have prevented anyway because the flu shot doesn’t prevent 7-year-olds from bringing every imaginable disease home from school). Even when I am sick, I tend to get over it so much faster; rather than a week, the snifflies only last 2-3 days.

My point is that I attribute my improved health to my diet and I’m a big believer that, if you’re getting most of your vitamins and nutrition from your food, you can stay healthier naturally. Sustainable Table has some good specific suggestions, such as incorporating oregano into your diet for antioxidants. And I don’t need Sustainable Table to encourage me to eat more garlic – as it is, I already add an extra clove to most recipes I make! Luckily, as a perk, it keeps me healthy too!

Eat, drink, and do both to stay healthy this winter season!

Food books and Queens

Horn Book has a booklist up about food.  Naturally, I came up with completely different ones here, here, and here.

Which all reminds of some sad news: I just noticed the other day that How Pizza Came to Queens by Dayal Kaur Khalsa is out-of-print.  It's the one book we could truly call our own!  No longer.  

So thank goodness for David Ezra Stein.  Oh, and Mark Siegel.  Both Queens residents.  I'm definitely taking some consolation in that.  So boo to you, Brooklyn, and your silly Jon Scieszka.