Food and Drink Reads: Hibernation Instinct Edition

I know it is still hot as blazes but leaves are falling all over town and you know Fall is in the air when the pumpkin ales start taking over local taps.
Speaking of taps, and ales, and fall produce...

The Complete Beer Course: Boot Camp for Beer Geeks

This book was sitting on my desk the other day and I can't tell you how stoked I was to see that the book fairy knows what I like. If you have been meaning to develop your palate to keep up with Richmond's habit of opening a new brewery every 10 days or so and be able to hobnob with the hopsnobs you'll want to crack open this text book and get to studying, er, tasting. The book is broken into 12 "classes" in which you will learn to appreciate all varieties of beer, from ales to pils to sours. This is a crash course in knowing what you are drinking and why. Bonus points for coverage, depth, and readability, but I have to take away points for repeated use of the word "mouthfeel". That is a gross word, food nerds.

Apples of Uncommon Character:123 heirlooms, modern classics & little-known wonders
Behold, the humble apple, red or green, oft-forgotten and unwanted brown bag lunch staple. But oh my there is so much more to know and love about this curious experiment in fruit, far beyond Johnny Appleseed, more than cider even! Have you ever been to an apple tasting? Me either, but I desperately want to now. I am a long time apple devotee but I had no idea there were so many varieties. Expect lively apple history, appetizing photographs with details about individual varieties, and even pairing and cooking tips in this book.
Pro-tip from this apple fan: Try making a grilled cheese sandwich with plenty of Gouda, caramelized onions, and slices of Honeycrisp apple on Billy Bread sometime. Add a little bacon if you need it. Then read this book while eating that sandwich. You'll thank me.

The B.T.C: Old-Fashioned Grocery Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from a Southern Revival

Truthfully, I like reading about Southern cooking and the idea of Southern food more than I actually enjoy cooking or eating it. If you feel the same way, or if you really like making biscuits and gravy and need a new recipe, then this is for us! The writing and the pictures are great and the recipes are actually interesting; some are twists on traditional Southern dishes and others less traditional. I'm totally sold on the curried cauliflower soup, southern yellow squash casserole, and tomato caper cream cheese!

I also might have hunker down with a series this fall. I tend to avoid books in a series because I hate waiting (flash back to the AGONIZING wait for the final book in the Maddaddam trilogy and the way I totally lost interest in the Strain trilogy by the time the second book came out) but the Southern Reach trilogy is about all published now so I can safely go ahead. My favorite quote from the mostly super positive reviews so far: "If the guys who wrote 'Lost' had brought H.P. Lovecraft into the room as a script doctor in the first season, the Southern Reach trilogy is what they would've come up with." Totally perfect because I also waited until Lost was over and done with before watching the whole series.  And how better to spend a blustery fall weekend than huddled under a blanket with a savory snack and an unsavory trilogy, and some apples? Lots and lots of apples. Or should I finally read Lev Grossman's Magician trilogy? If you've read either or both trilogies, what would you recommend? What series have let you down, left you hanging, or made you beg for a prequel?

Gotta love Fall!

Best of May: Joie de Vivre!

Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932

Francine Prose

This novel is intoxicating.  Seriously, do not operate any heavy machinery until you are done reading it, which is probably sound advice for life anyway.  Lovers at the Chameleon Club is historical fiction at its most exuberant.  The story of Lou Villars, told through multiple accounts, goes from her debut as a cross-dressing nightclub act to a controversial race car driver to a brutal interrogator for the Gestapo, and takes the reader from the libertine Paris of the 20s, through the depression in the 1930s, and finally into world war.  Along the way we are acquainted with an unforgettable cast of storytelling characters: the powerful but resigned Baroness Lily de Rossignol; caustic American writer Lionel Maine; brilliant Hungarian photographer Gabor Tsenyi and his brave partner Suzanne, teacher and member of the French Resistance, and Yvonne, owner of the Chameleon Club, a refuge as well as a nightclub.

My Paris Kitchen

David Lebovitz

Food blogger David Lebovitz packed up and moved to Paris 10 years ago and this gorgeous book is the result.  Besides 100 recipes to tempt every palate, written in clear, concise instructions even feeble cooks such as myself can proclaim "totally doable", he delights us with stories about life and dining in Paris as an American expat, (like figuring out how and when to serve rosé and the French relationship with air-conditioning) and lush, dreamy photography to compliment the text.  The recipes are modern French classics with an international twist here and there.  You'll find a cassoulet and coc au vin, as well as duck fat cookies and a croque-monsieur (fried ham and cheese sandwich with creamy bread sauce) that I can't wait to try.  

C'est magnifique!

What's Cooking at Ginter Park?

My mother is a marvelous cook, the sort of cook who seems to have this preternatural sense of when something is “just right”, be it dough, broth, or batter.  I, on the other hand, need detailed directions with pictures or my mother a frantic phone call away talking me through her gravy recipe again.  I've been so envious of what has always seemed to be completely natural culinary instinct, which I did not inherit, but have realized it is actually the result of years of patient trial and error using cookbooks.  She still pulls out a Martha Stewart Living, or Artisan Breads in 5 Minutes a Day, or a well-worn 3x5 card penned in her neat script (something else I did not inherit) for a recipe she has been preparing for decades.  I can picture her cooking library lined up neatly on top of the pie safe.  I loved browsing their flour-dusted spines, pulling them off the shelf to look at the sumptuous images and reading the cryptic instructions to mince, temper, proof, etc. The thought came to me recently while I was shelving, as thoughts have a way of doing then, (trade secret: shelving can be a very meditative experience) that I should test-drive a handful of our wonderful collection of cookbooks available at Ginter Park to find my own flavor and to start compiling my own library of trusted recipes.  

Classic Spanish Cooking: Recipes for Mastering the Spanish Kitchen by Elisabeth Luard

This book presents traditional Spanish recipes to perhaps more confident cooks than me.  The directions are minimal and seem to assume a lot of prior experience with the ingredients, such as the time and temperature requirements for  short grain rice. Still undaunted, (no, slightly daunted) I opted to try out the arroz a la cubana, or Cuban rice, recipe because I love fried plantains and I already had the tomatoes pureed. Ultimately it was simple enough and fortunately I’ve prepared risotto before, which operates similarly, so I could make educated guesses as to the missing directions.  The result was great!  It was rated quite highly by Peter, my taste tester, and seemed pretty healthy at least in keeping with the Mediterranean diet I have been reading so much about, so I would definitely incorporate this into my culinary repertoire and I will definitely try another recipe from this book.

The Best American Recipes 2003-2004, ed. by Fran McCullough and Molly Stevens

This series compiles the most highly reviewed recipes each year from sources such as The New York Times and House Beautiful. I love the little “cook’s notes” the editors add which are special caveats included with certain recipes.  I made a simple "escarole and little meatball soup" (minestra) because I love miniature things and "little meatballs" sounded a-dor-able. It was very easy and inexpensive, using ingredients I had on hand already, but it was a little spare in flavor, so perhaps it would be a good canvas for experimenting with seasonings. I liked it for the potential; Peter thought it was just OK. Alas, I am aware of my limitations and overall these cookbooks are great.

Richmond Receipts: Past & Present by Jan Carlton

I am new in town from Cincinnati so I wanted to try something local and this certainly fit the bill. Intimidated by all the ways to prepare ham, I got cook-shy and ended up choosing a recipe for rice croquettes, sometimes called arancini, that looked like a simple way to use up leftover rice.  I opted to use some leftover risotto rather than the long-grain rice the recipe calls for, so I basically ignored the recipe completely but the result was every bit as good as I had hoped and the book itself is an informative collection of local culinary history and customs so it is well worth a read.  And anyway, the rice croquettes provided a nice side dish for the recipe I tried from the next book.

The Breakaway Cook by Eric Gower features beautifully photographed results of recipes with gorgeous, exotic, and sometimes difficult to find, ingredients.  I selected a recipe with a short ingredient list: the baked peas with tarragon, yogurt, and pistachios.  I found it to be fabulous and Peter agreed. With such fresh, light, and flavorful ingredients, (yogurt, tarragon, peas, pistachios, scallions and olive oil) it brought summer to mind, and then it snowed.  Spring is finally springing though and I am so ready to dine  outdoors again!  I will definitely be making this dish again.

Moosewood Restaurant New Classics by the Moosewood Collective

My mother has a Moosewood cookbook, so this was sort of a nostalgia checkout for me; I can't walk past this book on the shelf without thinking of her.  Nobody does vegetarian cooking better than these guys, seriously.  Fare that can often be sad, bland veggies with under-heated grains is transformed into food so flavorful you won’t miss the meat.  I made the curried quinoa because it used up all the leftover peas from the recipe above.  It paired well with a leftover chorizo soup and some homemade bread. Hungry yet?  

Just think how extra great a home-cooked meal using your homegrown herbs this summer would be!  Maybe you should go sign up for the container gardening program at the Ginter Park branch, March 30th, to find out?  

Find your new favorite cookbook!

	Weeknights with Giada : quick and simple recipes to revamp dinner Giada De Laurentiis
	Deliciously g-free : food so flavorful they'll never believe it's gluten-free Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
	How to cook everything. The basics : all you need to make great food Mark Bittman.
	The pioneer woman cooks : food from my frontier Ree Drummond.
	At home on the range Margaret Yardley Potter.
	Martha's American food : a celebration of our nation's most treasured dishes, from coast to coast Martha Stewart.
	Whatever happened to Sunday dinner? : a year of Italian menus with 250 recipes that celebrate family Lisa Caponigri.
	Vegan cooking for carnivores : over 125 recipes so tasty you won't miss the meat Roberto Martin.
	In my kitchen : 100 recipes for food lovers, passionate cooks, and enthusiastic eaters Ted Allen.
	The joy fit club : cookbook, diet plan & inspiration Joy Bauer.
	The Sriracha cookbook : 50 "rooster sauce" recipes that pack a punch Randy Clemens.
	America I am : pass it down cookbook Jeff Henderson.

To see a listing of new materials at the library, click New Materials, top right, of the library catalog.