Results tagged “Food” from One Hour to Read

A New Life In An Old Land

When my life gets a little crazy, I daydream about running away to Tuscany and starting my life from scratch.  I don't speak the language and I'm perpetually broke so it's a not a big risk (I'm sure my family is breathing a sigh of relief about that one) but I think about it.  While Marlena De Blasi will always be my go to author for these times, Mate is good to follow it with if it's a particularly tenacious time of trial.

Sometimes I cook something that tastes like Tuscany and (weather permitting) I open up the windows so I can hear the leaves in the courtyard (and ignore the busses on the street).  I like to read a book like this at those times too.

Call me naive. Call me a dreamer.  Call me a pie-eyed optimist.  I'll probably take it as a compliment.  I like to think that it's part of my charm.

I bought the book because I'm a raging foodie and love to read about food when I'm not actually cooking, eating or browsing at my local butcher shop (hey, some people collect stamps.  Oops, I do that too, never mind.)  I feel like good food can contain all of the best parts of life, love, sex, laughter, luck, joy, awe, and fun.  Sorry, I'm just waxing rhapsodic (and a gold star sticker to whoever can gues what movie that line is from).

This book is about Esther (one of my favourite female Biblical names by the way.  Weldon's Esther has nothing else in common with Queen Esther).  Her husband has an affair with his secretary who then leaves him for his son.  Esther's response is to retire to a dirty basement studio and start eating, watching television and reading science fiction novels.  I'm not knocking the dive into food and books, I've been known to go on the occasional Harlequin romance/potato chip bender myself but her determination to stay there drove me absolutely up the wall. It's just, in my world, the occasional culinary disaster just helps you to appreciate the (also occasional) culinary triumph.  In Esther's world, it's an excuse to live on canned soup and frozen fish sticks.

I've read reviews of this book and they seem to be a collection of "witty" and "triumphant".   I hated it.  I really hated it.  I hated almost every moment of reading it.  I hated every character save one (I think I only liked her in comparison to everyone else).  I hated that I spent money on it.  I liked that I got it off the cheap table at the bookstore.

365 days, 524 recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen: How One Girl Risked Her Marriage, Her Job, and Her Sanity to Master the Art of Living

I owed Joe an apology after reading this book (past tense because I've already delivered it).  I had ridden him pretty hard about what I had classified as "stunt" books.  While I still maintain that the best ones are about challenges that people undertook without the book deal in place already, I do have to admit that a good stunt can still resonate pretty deeply.

I'm pretty sure that I saw Julie Powell doing a guest judge spot on Iron Chef America and she seemed like she'd be cool to eat with.  Probably cool to cook with too.

I found out that this book is being made into a movie to be released in 2009 starring Amy Adams.  I'm really ambivalent about this.  There's a growing number of movies that are based on "stunt" (sorry, Julie) books (mainly thinking of Yes Man) and, while I'm happy that movies are turning to print for story ideas again, I can't help but feel disappointed when a book that I enjoyed is adapted.  To be honest though, there are scenes in this book that I can see really well on screen.  I don't think that I'd see the movie but there weren't nearly enough explosions in the book to make it a movie that I would enjoy.

I personally love the process of cooking, I'm fascinated by arcane knowledge and tempted by complexity so I was right there with her when she contemplated a five page recipe.  Unfortunately for me, I was also right there with her when she got the news of Julia's death in 2004 (I remembered it). 

Ultimately, her imaginary version of Julia Child is pretty close to my imaginary version of Julia Child and I'm glad that she threw herself at this challenge.  Challenge is a better word than stunt, don't you think?

At Home in Umbria

In my imaginary extended adopted family, Marlena de Blasi is an honorary fairy godmother.  She is my hero, my Auntie Mame.  I swear I'm not a stalker, I've just never met anyone else who was just as enamored of rosemary.