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February 14, 2008

Karina-s Kitchen: A Gold Mine of Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, and Delicous Recipes

In December, I stumbled on Karina-s Kitchen. I was looking for some new recipes for my gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free clients. Two clients had requested some treats for the holidays. I was bored with my standard treats that fit the bill and wanted to find something new. Karina's blog was exactly what I was looking for. Since December, I've made a bunch of recipes from her blog and each one has been a big hit with my clients. Some of the recipes that I've made are Vegan Coconut Bars, Vegan Banana Bundt Cake, Jazzed Up Turkey Tetrazzini, and Uncheese Sauce Fit for A Goddess. I have a lot more of Karina's recipes on my To Do list.

My banana cake wasn't nearly as pretty as Karina's, but my client loved it and wants it again. I'll try it in miniature bundt pans next time. My client who hasn't had cheese for a year has loved all of the dishes that I've made with the Uncheese Sauce.

If you or anyone who you cook for is gluten-free, be sure to check out Karina's blog.

Posted February 14, 2008 9:58 PM | Comments (0)

January 19, 2008

The Tenth Muse

If you love food and cookbooks, The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food by Judith Jones is a must-read. Who is Judith Jones? She is a legendary editor at Alfred A. Knopf who introduced us to, among many others, The Diary of Anne Frank and Julia Child. Judith Jones helped shape modern cookbook publishing.

The Tenth Muse is a memoir that tells the stories of how she discovered such gems as The Diary of Anne Frank and Julia Child. Along the way, we learn about her relationships and work with her husband Evan, James Beard, Claudia Roden, Madhur Jaffrey, Irene Kuo, Lidia Bastianich, Edna Lewis, Marion Cunningham, and many others.

I know of the work of many of these great cooks, but I don't own any of their books. Although I grew up watching and adoring Julia Child, I've never owned any of her cookbooks. But reading about the process of creating books such as Mastering the Art of French Cooking made me want to read Julia' Child's books. I'm not sure that I want to cook from them, but I do want to read them.

The Tenth Muse is a journey through Judith Jones' life. The writing is captivating and I felt like I was there on the journey with her. The book is sprinkled with photographs from her life: Judith with her family, Judith with Evan, Judith working with Julia Child, Judith with Edna Lewis, Judith's and Evan's home and life in Vermont.

Here is one of my favorite passages from the book.

When I attended Madrid Fusion, the food conference held is Spain in 2006, I couldn't help but think that there was a disturbing amount of manipulation of food going on these days on the part of the new, highly applauded star chefs. Obviously their goal in the interest of high art is to heighten the flavor of food so that its natural attributes are enhanced--not to distort its flavor. Nevertheless, as I watched some of the demonstrations, I felt as though I were looking at an operating table, the chef with the skill of a surgeon wielding injectors and dehydrators and bandaging the product in Cryovac. There was no smell of cooking filling the air, and when the poor, overworked piece of flesh was finally arranged on a plate, it was surrounded by three different foams. I thought a foam was a foam, but evidently you can steam it and bake it, too, if you want to. I admit to having an aversion to foam, particularly when it is pale green. It reminds me all too vividly of what happens when one's dog has deliberately eaten a large dose of grass to purge himself.
It seems to me that with all this experiment, high-tech cooking we are creating more distance between what goes into to the professional kitchen and what we do at home. And I feel passionately that we need to lure more young people into the kitchen, so that it becomes a way of life for them.

Judith Jones has devoted her life to making the recipes of great cooks accessible to home cooks. I had no idea how much influence she had on modern cookbook publishing until I read her memoir. Every word of it was delicious.

Posted January 19, 2008 9:28 PM | Comments (3)

June 13, 2007

Have you seen the Globe today? I'm in it!

In March, I attended a food writing seminar at Boston University with three of my personal chef buddies. Sheryl Julian, the Boston Globe food section editor and one of my favorite food writers, was one of the speakers. After the seminar we met Sheryl and chatted with her about our businesses.

A few weeks ago, a Globe correspondent called to interview me for a story about personal chefs. That story was published today.

Posted June 13, 2007 7:01 PM | Comments (4)

May 13, 2007

A Sad Day for Local Food Writing

The stories, recipes, and food stylings of Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven have graced the pages of the Sunday Boston Globe Magazine for many years. For as long as I remember, the Cooking section has been the first thing I have reached for on Sunday mornings. I love their stories and recipes and have a huge collection of pages torn out of the magazine. Today's Cooking section is Sheryl's and Julie's last one for the Boston Globe Magazine. I knew it was coming because I met Sheryl in March and she told us that she and Julie were going to focus on other things. Thank goodness that Sheryl is staying on as the Food editor of the Boston Globe. It will be wonderful to see more of her writing on Wednesdays.

Tonight, in honor of many happy years reading and cooking from Sheryl's and Julie's articles, I'm making Shrimp in Coconut Milk with Red Curry Paste from Sheryl's and Julie's book
The Way We Cook.

It's probably also time to organize all those pages torn from the magazine.

This is the end of an era. But I also can't wait to see whose stories and recipes will fill my Sunday mornings.

Posted May 13, 2007 11:53 AM | Comments (1)

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