Ravenous for more food media

I have a confession to make: I collect cookbooks like other people collect treasured pieces of art, sports memorabilia, or rare bottles of wine.  If there's one section that I lurk in at my local bookstore, or one theme among the titles Amazon.com so expertly recommends to me, it's cookbooks.  I have a running wish list completely dedicated to the next cookbooks I'm longing to purchase.  And like most others in the cookbook hunting tribe who have an insatiable hunger for more, I technically have too many recipes when compared with actual kitchen time available.  With each title I acquire, I add to the list of recipes that sit on my bookshelves, begging for my undivided attention.

When life's commitments pile up and I can't reach for the apron strings and spatula to do something about this, I live vicariously through the kitchens of others-- reading culinary-themed memoirs and diaries in the lives of chefs.  These tales of culinary pursuit are a way to connect with the kitchen even if your own kitchen remains neglected.  Best of all, they require no clean-up.  They offer inspiration and encouragement, and a reminder that a big part of appreciating food is learning about the stories behind it.  Perhaps its a chef talking about the first time he mastered a cooking technique, or a food writer reminiscing about their grandmother's famous potato salad.  It's the stories that surround the food that keep me turning the pages, ravenous for more.

Most recently I read Gesine Bullock-Prado's "My Life From Scratch", detailing her journey moving away from Los Angeles to open up Gesine, her bakery in Vermont.  While I have yet to make a strategic trip to the East Coast to visit her bakery, her love of honest ingredients and dedication to bakery culture certainly made me want to.  Much like the author, I cherish family recipes and the memories associated with them.  In one chapter, she discusses "bringing 3 pm" to America, a reference to the custom of afternoon cake and tea she experienced as a child while visiting her grandmother in Germany.  Many Americans would otherwise miss out on this tradition without bakers like her who create a space for such afternoon bliss.  The author says that at 3 pm in her community, there is a "steady, gentle stream of easygoing pastry-hungry folks" who visit the bakery.  We could all use a reminder to slow down a little and stop to appreciate life-- whether this involves indulging in an afternoon slice of cake or going for a jog. On top of appreciating her philosophy, I became even more of a fan when I read that she's a dedicated marathon runner who has done athletic fundraising for the American Cancer Society, a cause  close to my heart (and a sport that I love.)  You can bet that my first visit to Vermont, whenever that might be, will include a stop into her shop-- preferably around 3 pm when the pastry fans congregate.  And until life brings me to Vermont, I will look forward to her new cookbook Pie it Forward.

While waiting for her book to release, I'm already well on my way to meeting new chefs through more paperbacks, food blogs, and culinary internet columns.  Thanks to Huffington Post's "Food Informants" series, I now have a bakery to hunt in Virginia after reading about a day in the life of Red Truck Bakery owner Brian Noyes.  Michael Ruhlman has brought me inside the doors of the Culinary Institute of America through "The Making of a Chef."   Books like Dalia Jurgensen's "Spiced" and Yuko Kitazawa's "Career Diary of a Pastry Chef" have given me insight into the quirks and rewards of the pastry world.  Chefs like David Lebovitz and Dorie Greenspan provide compelling culinary content in books and through their blogs (not to mention some of my favorite content about food in Paris, content that therapeutically tends to my aching desire to make a return visit.)  I am equally in debt to Sara Rohen, author of "Gumbo Tales", who through her focus on the culinary tales of New Orleans, provided me with a valuable and entertaining education about the food culture of the Crescent City.  Beyond this handful of titles that are a part of the great food content out there, I won't even try to list all of the Julia Child related books currently on my "to read" list.

I'm very thankful to the hard work that goes into creating this content and getting it into the hands of culinary admirers like myself.  I'm especially thankful to those food narratives that bring the rush of the kitchen or the nostalgia of recipes into my home, even during those busy weeks when my cookbooks collect dust and my oven remains colder than I would like.

If anyone has favorite recommendations about other books to read (chef diaries, food narratives, memoirs, etc) I would love to hear them!

What does your ideal cookbook bookshelf look like?

Jane Mount's "Ideal Bookshelf"series features a print for cookbook lovers based on favorites often included in home cook collections.  If you're a cookbook addict like myself, you will really appreciate this print.  

Top photo: Jane Mount's ideal bookshelf 102: Cooking (mounted on a bulletin board for viewing purposes)

Bottom photos: Some of my actual bookshelves (confession: many more cookbooks are in my possession but not featured in this post)

The authors of "Bite Me" take a bite out of Santa Monica with The Great American Bakery Hunt

Last week, the authors of "Bite Me", also known as the saucy sisters, joined The Great American Bakery Hunt for lunch in Santa Monica.  After a morning preparing the last touches of their cooking demo, Lisa Gnat and Julie Albert took a break from a busy day of bringing the flavorful pages of their cookbook to life in LA. 


If you visit the "Bite Me" website, you will notice the sisters described as Lisa "whisk girl" Gnat (the chef) and Julie "ink-slinger" Albert (the writer).  But beyond their technical backgrounds, it's undeniable that both sisters bring a sense of carefree fun, humor, and wit to the table.  When I met Julie and Lisa, it was no surprise that just like their cookbook, the sisters were full of life and food-related witticisms.  

In "Bite Me," clever pop culture references peppered throughout the pages combine with music playlists to rock out to while cooking.  This gives readers the opportunity to question conventional cooking habits, for example: who says you can't air guitar while in an apron? While I adore cookbooks of all sorts, this is a unique question that not many in the food writing genre would stir up.  Fresh and original, Lisa and Julie are like the Chuck Klosterman of the food world, giving you nibbles of pop culture and morsels of music to snack on even as you focus on the main recipe.   

Best of all, with featured quotes ranging from TV-series How I Met Your Mother lines to Bill Cosby sound bites, this book is approachable to members of whatever generation happen to be in the kitchen that day.  Julie commented that the sisters have received feedback from parents who have used "Bite Me" to reconnect with their teenagers through cooking.  But beyond the hip appeal of the book's fresh design, their philosophy is all about creating tasty but approachable food, which lends itself well to teaching cooks of all ages about how to make great meals.  

Wanting to give one of the recipes a try before our lunch, I whipped up the cinnamon swirl breakfast bread (page 224) and proceeded to consume it for both dessert and breakfast.  This comforting  recipe is perfect with a piping hot cup of coffee and I am sure to have it in my back pocket for many years to come.  Best of all, most of the ingredients in the bread are probably in your cupboard already, so it's quite simple to make if unexpected guests come into town.

Since the sisters hail from Canada, I quizzed them on where I could find a good Nanaimo bar.  I assumed these originated in Canada ever since a 3rd grade report I did on the country in which I had to make a regional recipe, and my Canadian neighbor gave me her written version of this layered bar dessert. However, I have since learned that the Nanaimo bar's origins are forever under historical dispute.  Despite the Nanaimo mystery remaining unsolved, Julie and Lisa enlightened me about their culinary philosophy and reminded me why fun is an important part of the kitchen.  (My belief in this philosophy probably explains why I own things like this guitar spatula.  One can't resist a little rock and roll twist in a spatula design!)


Perhaps one of my favorite anecdotes from lunch was when Julie handed me a sticker with a recipe for their chunky white chocolate cranberry cookies.  She said that when offering them to others, such as the postman for example, she will ask them if they bake.  And if they don't bake themselves, she'll suggest "Well give it to the little woman!" Lisa charmed me with her approach to chocolate chip cookies, deeming herself a "chocolate chip cookie purist."  Anyone who takes chocolate chip cookies seriously is a friend of mine.  Generous in spirit, fun, and chocolate chip cookie philosophies, Julie and Lisa were a pleasure to meet and I hope the rest of their travels leave them with some time to take a bite out of life! 

Merry Christmas Bakery Hunters!

Ah, the obligatory Christmas post. Today was a gorgeous Christmas day in Southern California, and I had plenty to be thankful for-- I was surrounded by my whole family and an excess of baked goods.

My family was more than generous in their holiday giving, and many of their gifts will help me to contribute more content to The Great American Bakery Hunt in the future. I acquired an entire library of treasures including:

• A 2-year subscription to Nordic Reach, a magazine dedicated to Scandinavian culture. (In its own words, Nordic Reach "covers people, places, and stories of interest to everyone with a foot-or soul- in both the Scandinavian and American cultures, as well as to those who wish to appreciate them more deeply.") With articles like "In Cod We Trust", how can I go wrong?
• A selection of expatriate novels, including Peter Mayle's Provence A-Z (I really enjoyed reading his book French Lessons because of all of his adventures with French food, so I'm hoping it will be another good read)
• Not one, but three, repeat three books about the greatness of cheese! My selection includes The Cheese Plate, Cheese: A Connoisseur's Guide to the World's Best, and The Cheese Board: Collective Works. Oh happy day! (Side note: The great thing about a cheese book is that it will always pick you up when you're feeling down. A good friend of mine once mailed me "The Cheese Companion" after I suffered a break-up. Since she had temporarily relocated and couldn't provide a shoulder to cry on, she sent the Companion to me as a substitute. Perhaps the healing power of cheese doesn't work for everyone, but that cheese companion sure saw me through some tough times. God knows my Connoisseur's Guide will come in handy one of these days!)
• The Cake Bible. I have been wanting to get the Cake Bible ever since acquiring the Bread Bible about a year ago. Clearly they belong sitting side by side on my bookshelf, in holy baking communion with one another.
• A pastry cookbook from the La Brea Bakery
• A cupcake cookbook, titled "Crazy about Cupcakes"-- Just how crazy will it get? Only time will tell.
• the Tartine cookbook, from the San Francisco bakery I have been dying to try- one of the bakery's founders has Scandinavian (Swedish) roots, so I am already a fan...
• The 3rd edition Food Lover's Companion, an alphabetized culinary reference book from which I have already learned that "Abbacchio" is Italian for a very young lamb. I sneaked a peak at the end of the book, confirming that exciting discoveries await me throughout the whole reference guide. Zwieback, my friends, is a "twice-baked" German bread often served to people with digestive problems. Who knew?

Aside from all this reading, I really do need to make more time to bake, especially because my parents also got me three silicone Le Creuset pastry brushes! They are so adorable, and go perfectly with my new "drop, smidge, pinch, and hint" measuring spoons. A new whisk, measuring cups, and ceramic pie weights will also be welcome additions to the kitchen.

As we approach the New Year, I am armed with plenty of reading materials and baking tools to aid me in future bakery hunts and baking endeavors. Time to get to work! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good pastry...