My new book, Not Becoming My Mother is just out, and I’ll be traveling all over the country in the next month or so. My next appearance will be in Philadelphia on Tuesday, April 28th. To view my entire tour,please go to gourmet.com. You can also follow me on Twitter.
Leave your thoughtsCurious about my schedule? I’ve been at The MacDowell Colony for the past few weeks, working on a new book. And next week I go to England,to give the keynote address at the Oxford Symposium on Food. The topic this year is: Food and Morality. Plenty to talk about there. After I give the speech, I’ll post it here. At the moment I’m off to the farmers’ market to buy corn and peaches. Dinner tonight is going to be grilled steak, charred over a very hot fire, sliced tomatoes from my garden and fresh peach pie with homemade ice cream. Can’t wait. Wish you were here.
1 CommentHad lunch at The Spotted Pig today. You can’t get in there at night without an endless wait, but in the daytime it’s airy, pleasant, relatively calm. People in this funky room are laid back, happy, chatting from one table to the next about what they are eating.
But everyone seems to be eating the same thing. Burgers, big ones, with Roquefort and huge piles of lacy fries. And even on this absurdly hot day, sheep’s milk ricotta gnudi with crumbs of brown butter and crisply fried sage leaves.
One bite and I instantly understood. They seemed to fly up off the plate and float into your mouth where they hovered a moment, like feathers, before evaporating. And then you were left with crisp shards of sage, a bright green flavor, and the memory of the cheese. They were so good you found yourself dreamily putting first one little puff into your mouth, and then another, until you looked down and found that the plate was empty.
Afterwards we had bowls of cherries on ice, and tiny cups of intense coffee.
A wonderful meal.
1 CommentI just came up with this list of food books for NPR, to go along with an interview I did with Steve Inskeep. So I thought I might as well post it here as well.
The Language of Baklava, by Diana Abu-Jaber. I was talking to Diana the other day, and she said, “There’s something safe and wonderful about being raised by a strict father, but it has its drawbacks.” That’s pretty much what this memoir – about growing up partly in Jordan and always with food – is about.
Climbing the Mango Trees by Madhur Jaffrey. Madhur is an extraordinary cook with an amazing ability to recall – and recreate – the evocative flavors of the India she grew up in.
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. The original bad boy chef – and so much fun!
The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten. Before there was Bill Buford there was Steingarten. Few people are as erudite – and no one is as food-obsessed – as Jeffrey Steingarten, who will follow any food trail to literal absurdity.
The Tummy Trilogy by Calvin Trillin. Could be subtitled: Why life is more fun for people who like to eat.
The Apprentice, By Jacques Pepin. There is a reason why Jacques Pepin became one of our most celebrated French chefs. He’s a cook with a remarkably interesting mind.
Talk Talk by T.C. Boyle. A novel about identity theft that contains some of the most wonderful descriptions of cooking that I’ve ever read. And why not? Another Boyle book contains the great short story, Sorry Fugu.
Older Books
Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell. The ultimate writer’s writer, Mitchell is not usually thought of as a food writer. But so many of his stories are about markets, pubs and restaurants. And this book contains my all-time favorite food story, “All You Can Hold for Five Bucks.”
Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen by Laurie Colwin. You’ve never read Laurie Colwin? What a treat you have in store.
Between Meals by A.J. Liebling. Most famous quote: “The primary requisite for writing about food is a good appetite.” Probably our greatest food writer.
Hotel Splendid by Ludwig Bemelmans. An endlessly amusing behind-the-scenes look at a great hotel restaurant by the man who wrote the Madeline books. Bemelmans wrote from experience; he worked at The Ritz.
Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell. Contains a remarkably graphic, and completely unforgettable, behind-the-scenes look at restaurant kitchens.
Coming Soon:Fair Shares for All by John Haney. An extraordinarily affectionate book about growing up hungry in London’s East End.
1 Comment I persuaded Alice (Waters) to come on the Leonard Lopate show today, to talk about Slow Food. Alice always says that she’s shy, and the tininess of her voice makes this seem true, but when she cares about a subject, she can roar. And she cares, deeply, about Slow Food.
I picked her up at Otto, where she had just talked Joe Bastianich into helping her raise seed money for the big Slow Food Nation event she’s planning next May in San Franciso. I snagged a couple of pieces of pizza as I walked out the door; they do make great pizza!
I think it was a really good show; Leonard is such a great interviewer, and Alice was enormously articulate. Leaving, we decided to stop in at David Pasternak’s book party at Esca. We knew we’d be late, but Ed Levine was still there, with Lolis Elie, who was in from New Orleans. So we sat down outside, and David brought us some razor clam ceviche and crudo. It was lovely there, until the rain chased us inside. David consoled us, first with wine and then with the sweetest softshells I’ve ever tasted, the meat juicy and rich, the shell so tender it barely existed. Dave introduced us to his crabman, who he calls the “Ed Norton of the business” because he apparently works for the Department of Sanitation when he’s not out on his boat.
The rain was torrential now, so we stayed and ate trawberries. They’re the best I’ve had this year – from Tim Stark – and even Alice was impressed into admitting that she hasn’t had any this good in California yet. Then she admitted, Jersey girl that she is, that our tomatoes are better than the ones out west.
By now I had to get back to work, so we ran through the rain. Alice and Lolis were going up to Lincoln Center to drop in on a rehearsal of Wynton Marsalis. I was tempted… but I do have a job.
Tonight I’m having dinner with Nancy Silverton, who’s in town promoting her book.
It’s been a fine food day.