“Finally” was the first word that came to my mind when I got an email from Norma announcing a “celebration in honor of Chef John Howie’s new cookbook:  Passion & Palate:  Recipes for a Generous Table.” Chef John Howie is the owner of Seastar restaurant and raw bar (as well as Sports and Steak) which has been, and still is, one of our favorite restaurants since we move to WA about 10 years ago. I’ve been waiting for this cookbook ever since.

So, yeah, finally. He wrote a cookbook.

The launch party was a lot of fun with some of my favorite dishes:

Raw, fresh oysters with shallots, grapefruit and pomegranate seeds

(The recipe is in the book.)

Scallop ceviche with mango-kiwi relish (It’s in the book!)

Sushi… I love their pickled ginger (That red pile in the front)—it’s the best!

(And what do you know? They are all included in the book!)

Chubby oysters in a creamy leek sauce and silky deviled eggs with Ahi tartare (It’s in the book!)

I believe this was a Mahi Mahi ceviche with pineapple relish. Yum yum.
(And if I’m right then… It’s in the book! Page 55)

Shots of porcini soup with truffles cream (You guessed it, it’s in the book.)

All this beautiful food spearheaded by Chef Howie

Superb wines were poured by the charming sommelier, Erik Liedholm (Fantastic suit, BTW) from champagne to sauvignon blanc to an esoteric wine/grape I never heard about before and can’t remember it’s name, to pinot noir, and moscato—Wow—I tried them all.

No, it’s not in the book (Or maybe it is?) It’s close to home, from Willamette Valley, OR

A tower of desserts: Lemon poppy seeds cookies, White chocolate Irish cream truffles (It was so soft, like a baby’s butt!), Chocolate hot chili truffles (I Love, love chili & chocolate together), and Ginger snap cookies.

Fun party,

and then we went home

They say that 350 people tested the recipes.

What should I make first?

Mussels Provencal or crab cakes?

Sorry for not being around much lately. With summer and all, you know, I’ve been away doing other stuff. Well, summer only lasts here about 2 months! Only!

When I moved here 10 years ago people would say “Let’s meet for coffee” and when I’d say “OK, when?” and open my calendar (It was in paper, no iPhones back then) they would reply “Ahhh…sometimes in September or October.”

I thought they were kidding me back then, but now I get it. With such a short summer, no one wants to do things they can do later in the year in the summer. Meet for coffee? We can do this during winter.

Seattle summer is a time to be outside, outdoors, out there. Unless you are sitting in your warm-to-hot car defrosting your bones.

But I just had to stop by for a quick post and tell you about this book that my friend Keren wrote—I’m very proud of her!—because you might be traveling to Seattle, or maybe you are a local but still, in this book, you will discover many food places that you have never heard of before. You might need this book.

Keren covered every place: restaurant, lounge, bar, coffee shop, food truck, specialty food store, market, events, etc, worth mentioning in her book. She has done an extremely thorough job.

I’ve been living and eating here for 10 years and I haven’t heard about many of the places in the book.

It’s a small and lightweight and you can carry it in your purse and check mark every place you went to.

Get a copy: Food Lovers’ Guide to Seattle: Best Local Specialties, Markets, Recipes, Restaurants & Events by Keren Brown

Also see: Food Lovers Guide to Seattle Book Launch Party and many other upcoming events (especially for moms at a local café in Seattle) with Keren—click here.

And a list of places to start checking out at Sexy Food: One-On-One With Keren Brown by Linda Miller Nicholson

Enjoy, travel, and feast!

(Because I had a store credit at Williams-Sonoma and I really don’t need anything from the store right now.)

My son’s reaction as he unwrapped the gift and saw the book cover picking through the paper wrap was “Is this a gift for me or for my sister?” Hmm, it pretty much confirmed my concerns—I have anticipated this.

Later that day I encouraged him to look inside. He browsed through the pages but overall the book received a chilled response and was left on the floor until I picked it up and put it on the cookbooks shelf. Unlike the enthusiasm with which he greeted the 6 Lego sets and other gifts he got from his friends.

***

I think the book is beautiful. I love the choice of recipes and they are the kind that an 8 years old can make. Even younger kids can make most of the recipes.

However, browsing through many kids cookbooks I found out that many lack originality and there’s a major repetition in the choice of “kids” recipes like muffins, pancakes, chicken pot pies, pasta with meatballs, pizza—of course!, burgers/sloppy Joes, chicken nuggets, brownies, cupcakes… and this book has them too.

Many of the children cookbooks I’ve seen had a messy layout with crazy fonts and scattered photos and doodles all over the page which gave a sense of chaos and a slight headache for Mama. This book is very nicely organized. They did a great job in the layout.

I really like that the recipes are written for adults and children (Well, they do call it “Cooking together”) and have separate preparation steps for the kids and the parents which you can tell by the different font they use. This was particularly important in my decision to buy this book after hearing my son declare recently that he has “Only 4 more things left to learn about cooking and then I’ll know everything”. Yeah, dude, that’s right.

The photos are gorgeous but they are of children who look younger than 8 years and most are of girls, and in most of the photos the girls are cooking and the boys are eating… We have discussed that.

Bottom line, I like the book but—I knew it!—I should have saved it for my little girl.

There are other choices of cookbooks for boys he might have liked better like the Star Trek cookbook he brought from the school’s library last week. He made Yoda Soda…

In short, it makes me a little angry. And somewhat frustrated, as a person, as a woman, and as a mother to a boy and a girl.

I was merely looking for a cookbook for my boy, you know, so he will have one of his own, a birthday gift. Any suggestions?

And if I had only two sentences, I’d add: This is an amazing book—a must read to all aspiring food writers and bloggers!

And why do I tell you about this book?

1. A friend asked me if I would like to get a free copy from the publisher and write a review and I immediately said “yes” because I wanted to buy it and read it anyway.

2. I knew I’d want to tell you about it just as I share other things I learn about blogging. (Like my food photography tips).

I first heard about Dianne Jacob about two years ago during a Foodista food bloggers conference. Her name was mentioned again and again by quite a few presenters who recommended her book (The first edition) as a must read to any wannabe food writer. Since then I’ve heard food people refer to Dianne Jacob as the most professional resource to learn about food writing. A few months ago the second edition of “Will write for food” hit the stores with an additional big, fat chapter dedicated to food blogging.

The chapters in the new edition include:

Chapter 1: What, Exactly, Is Food Writing?
Chapter 2: Characteristics of a Food Writer
Chapter 3: Getting Started
Chapter 4: Get Published with a Food Blog
Chapter 5: Becoming a Successful Freelance Writer
Chapter 6: Secrets of Restaurant Reviewing
Chapter 7: The Cookbook You’ve Always Wanted to Write
Chapter 8: The Art of Recipe Writing
Chapter 9: Memoir and Nonfiction Food Writing
Chapter 10: Writing About Food in Fiction
Chapter 11: How to Get Your Book Published

There’s tons of information in each chapter, no stone was left untouched, no detail left out in this very, very comprehensive guidebook to the world of food writing. You will not only learn about food writing but about writing in general. For example, take this tip on page 84 where Dianne demonstrates how to write a serious book review (which really applies to all types and topics of writing):

“If you loved the book, explain why with a “show not tell.” Show readers why with examples, rather than just writing “I loved it.”

In my review I will focus on the new added chapter that discusses blogging. You can read general reviews about the book—all of them 4 to 5 stars—on Amazon’s web site and/or the one by Rebekah Denn, including an interview, in The Christian Science Monitor.

***

In the food blogging chapter, “Get published with a food blog”, Dianne compiles tons of knowledge based on interviews with the most successful and popular food bloggers who turned blogging into a career and a source of income. In one extremely informative chapter she collected words of advice from Ree Drummond, David Lebowitz, Shauna Ahern James, Elise Bauer, Michael Ruhlman, Molly Wizenberg, and others. (If you have never heard about even one of those names before…. Get the book! Now.)

As she writes:

“Part of being a blogger is taking charge of all the parts: you’re the publisher, the writer, the photographer, the marketer, and the technical support person.”

For this reason Dianne covers everything blog-related from the technical and creative aspects of food writing to the business side of it. She provides all the information and tools you need to make it happen.

From starting and choosing a software service to writing a great “About”page, how to decided what will be the focus of your blog, how to make readers care about what you write, deciding how personal you should get in your posts, developing your voice, many, many tips about writing a post, how to write recipes and book reviews, accepting free products and reviewing them and forming a policy, how to get your blog noticed, etc etc… to making money out of blogging, and taking the leap from blog to book, to words of encouragement and writing exercises—did she leave anything out?—Dianne covers all aspects of food blogging.

Tip: “Get your own domain and name as soon as you start.”

Tip: “The best bloggers know how to make you identify with them.”

Tip: “Post often, at least twice a week.”

Tip: “Good photos of food are critical on a food blog.”

I admit that I was surprised at first to see a section about food photography in this book since this is a book about writing (and Dianne is not a professional photographer) but food blogs are heavily visual. The quality of the photos can make a huge difference between a good blog and an awesome blog so it was a must to include this topic even if it is not her field of expertise. However, in this section too, Dianne turned to the best food photographers/bloggers for advice: Matt Armendariz, Nicole Stich, Heidi Swanson, Deb Perelman, and others. So, this area is covered too. As I have already said, she is thorough.

***

My conclusion: If you are serious about food blogging and are interested in turning it into a career, you will find this book to be your best friend. The friend who tells you the truth (even when it’s unpleasant), holds your hand, keeps you grounded but lets you fly, and shares all their secrets and inside information with you. A friend who even talks about money and how they make it.

In the book, Dianne Jacob portrays the reality of the food world industry—it’s a tough world out there and it’s getting tougher—but she shows you the way, she gives you the nuts and bolts, she inspires, motivates, and provides all the know-how so you can go out there prepared and knowledgeable.

You should also visit Dianne’s web site and blog for more tips, news, trends, and advice, and be sure sign up to get her newsletter.

Shauna James Ahern, a.k.a Gluten-free girl, inspires me.

When I read her blog posts (She is also on Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr), I get a feeling as if life is one big, ongoing, happy celebration. There’s beautiful food, and fun with friends, parties, and picnics, and potlucks, living on a dreamy island with her husband, Danny, and her little girl, Lucy… But most of all I can feel the love and appreciation for one another in her words, food, and photos. Sometimes it seem as if Shauna’s life is glossy-magazine-perfect.

But wait, there’s so much more.

Shauna is a stay-at-home mom to a 2 year-old toddler and works from home, full time! I asked her a while ago on Twitter how does she do it all. She replied that her house is a mess. Well, my house is already a mess (at least 66.38% of it)—I kind of gave up on the idea that it will be tidy one day–but I can’t do even a 1/4 of what this woman is capable of…

In her post from April 2010, she let her readers know more about what’s been on her plate in the past year. There are difficulties and challenges:

“It has not felt like the right place to talk about terrifying life decisions, watching a baby in pain, living on the ragged edge of desolate sleep deprivation, worrying about cancer, taking a pill that saddens our lives into something we never expected, and coping with it all in old, familiar ways.”

Her candor and openness about her life amazes me. In spite of it all, she projects happiness and satisfaction—life is a celebration. The woman has incredible levels of energy and strength–or does she have super powers? Instead of letting hard times bring her down (I think this is how I would have reacted), she grabs life with two strong hands and embraces and squeezes the joyful moments out of it. Surely something I still practice doing.

Following Shauna’s work energizes me to get off my butt, go out and celebrate life, food, and my family. It encourages me to get out there and fight for the things that matter to me the most. To try again even when it feels like I failed, and not give up.

I wanted to know more, so I asked Shauna if she can answer a few questions and she has agreed to do an interview.

You should know, Shauna and Danny co-authored a cookbook that is soon to be in the stores. I don’t have to eat gluten-free food to be healthy and alive like she does, but I can’t wait to put my hands on their cookbook, “Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef”, for the stories if not for the gorgeous food that is probably in there…

(All photos in this post are used with permission and grabbed from Shauna’s Flickr photostream.)

1. You and Danny cook and work together and you have a new cookbook, “Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef “, coming out in September 28th, 2010. Can you share some tips about how you, as a couple, collaborate in the kitchen in ways that strengthen your family?

Danny and I love being in the kitchen together. Shortly after we met, we started cooking together. At first, I worried that he would think my skills were woeful in comparison to his (they were) and want to direct or correct me. But that’s not Danny. Instead, he enjoyed the chance to collaborate, to smell the spices, to slow down and enjoy the process. And stop for kisses, too!

Danny may have spent over 20 years in restaurant kitchens, and thus can chop an onion neatly in the time it takes me to remove the peel, but he is not interested in being the one who knows everything. Instead, we learn from each other. The first time we cooked together, I taught him a trick I had picked up from Jamie Oliver, about putting a boiling-hot lemon into a chicken before you stick it in the oven. The juices release immediately and make the chicken juicier than any other I have roasted. He loved it. He taught me how to roast peppers under the broiler and add them to mashed potatoes. That first meal we cooked together was a revelation.

Since then, we have cooked many meals together, including all the dishes in our cookbook (many times over!). There are times that I’m too busy writing to help Danny or he’s too exhausted from a long day at the restaurant to help me, but almost every meal means the two of us in the kitchen, side by side, working together, talking about the day and laughing.

And now there are three of us in the kitchen. We want to give our daughter this space, and the joy in the process, as well.

2. Have you cooked in harmony from the beginning of your relationship or did you have any bumps along the road? If you have had any cooking-together-hiccups, how did you overcome them and what have you learned about each other along the way?

For the most part, Danny and I have cooperated and enjoyed each other’s company in the kitchen. We’re human, though. There are times we irritate the heck out of each other!

It irritates Danny when I go fast and forget to put a wet towel under the cutting board. (This cuts the risk of the knife and board slipping.) I think he wishes I could do the dishes at night more often, but we’re all so exhausted near midnight after a day with the toddler and writing full-time. He’s tired after a day at the restaurant. We tackle them together at lunch the next day, as often as we can.

When we first began our time together, I asked him to be my teacher. It was so clear that I didn’t know the techniques that are muscle memory to him. At my behest, he gave me lessons. I wrote everything down in a little black book, like I was his Girl Friday. He loved it. So did I.

After a couple of years, however, I had learned enormously. I’ll never be as good as him, but I was confident in the kitchen. But he kept up the lessons, stopping me in the middle of cooking to tell me how I could do it better. We had a couple of months there where I’d refrain from saying anything, then had to ask him to back away. We were both kind of annoyed with each other. We had to step back and realize we were in a different space. I just wanted to cook, not  have a lesson anymore.

Other than that, however, it has been easy. We really just love talking about food, planning meals, going to the grocery store, and cooking. Of course, the eating too. But it’s really the entire process that moves us.

Gluten-free pizza with barbequed duck breast, pine nuts, mozzarella, and cilantro

3. Your little girl, Lucy, who is only two years old, spends time with you and Danny in the kitchen. What do you do together? How can parents include their little kids in the kitchen action?

Lucy is the light of our lives. Every day, both Danny and I are amazed by something she says or does. She is delighted by life and reminds us to live to it too.

That is particularly clear in the kitchen. She stand on a chair at the counter with us as we cook. She has been doing this since she was just over one year old. She has great balance, so we never bought the tower that some families use (but they look great). By now, she uses the mortar and pestle to pound the spices we throw in there for her. She helps to stir fruit with a spatula when we are making pie. She loves to smell lemons and fresh-ground pepper and everything we are cooking. Because we spend so much time in the kitchen, she knows it’s an important place. She wants to be there.

She eats everything. I don’t think it’s entirely because we have her in the kitchen with us–some kids seem to just be born picky. But I think it has played a great part. When we were working on the cookbook, she was a tiny baby, sitting in a bouncy chair. But whatever we were cooking we would put under her nose to smell. I loved watching her eyes go wide.

(I’m working on a book about food and pregnancy and little ones right now. I learned that babies can smell what their mother smells as early as five months in the womb! You can give them a sensory joy before they are even born.)

We involve her in every step of the process, except for the part about working with sharp knives or burners on the stove. She loves food.

And we all eat every meal together, as we can. We three have breakfast together, and then lunch. She and I sit for her dinner before she goes to bed, and then I share some with Danny later too. As soon as she could sit in her high chair, we realized she would not eat unless we were sitting together. So we all take the time to turn off the computer and the thoughts of the day and sit together at the table.

I think this is the best thing we do.

4. Food-wise, what’s the toughest recipe or food project you have ever worked on?

Writing a cookbook was the hardest work I have ever done, aside from being a parent. (That’s in its own category.) I can make up a quick recipe for my website, throw it up there, and if there are holes or places that aren’t clear, I hear about it from people. And then I fix it.

But a cookbook is permanent. It needs to be filled with recipes that endure, that are clear, that inspire people to go into the kitchen and start cooking. Danny and I cooked and cooked, talked and talked, cooked some more, edited, and wrote down everything the best we could. And then we edited again.

Most of the recipes are ones that Danny had cooked as dishes in the various restaurants where he worked. It might have taken some pulling for him to put them into words, but it was a joy.

However, coming up with the gluten-free baked goods in the book? Those were a wonderful challenge.

We knew, no matter how much we talked about the foods that are naturally gluten-free, readers would feel the cookbook was a bit of a cheat if it didn’t have some bread and pasta. So, over the course of two years, we taught ourselves how to bake gluten-free. I thought I knew before. I was wrong. Everything became easier when I learned to bake by weight, instead of volume. (Everyone should buy a kitchen scale!)

I must have made the homemade pasta recipe about 58 times before we had it right. And then, after we had written it down and turned in the manuscript, we were working with our editor’s notes. I made the pasta again, exactly as written on the page. It was terrible! I flailed and despaired. Danny tried it. Still bad. I was apoplectic!

Then I read an anecdote in Heat by Bill Buford, where a visiting Italian chef is in despair because her homemade pasta didn’t work for a big banquet. Someone figured it out for her: grocery store eggs. Eggs that we buy in the store have more protein and weigh more. I had been doing all the original testing with eggs from our sister-in-law’s chickens! We realized that the recipe worked if you use 1 grocery store egg plus 2 egg yolks in place of a farm-fresh egg. Once I figured out that ratio, it worked every time.

Gluten-free homemade pasta

5. Where do you find your food inspiration?

I’m inspired by listening to my husband talk about his specials that night. By the latest vegetable to hit the farmers’ market. By a new spice we find and I try to pair up with everything we eat. By a book called The Flavor Bible, which tells you which foods complement other foods. By crazy ideas I get from reading about other people’s dinner on Twitter. By our daughter, who is new to everything and so excited that I remember just how beautiful blueberries are.

I’m very lucky. I’m inspired by food all the time.

***

Thank you, Shauna, for the Q & A.

And, if you haven’t already, go visit Gluten-free girl!

When I first heard about the The Newlywed Kitchen cookbook, I joked that “If I had to write a newlywed cookbook, it would have ended with divorce, or murder.”

This week, H. (a.k.a, The Husband) and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. While we make a pretty good team in most areas of life (we work hard on our relationship), we still need to figure out how to make a good team in the kitchen. I remember that once upon a time we used to cook together, side by side, and we got along well. We used to have fun doing so. But nowadays we rarely collaborate when it comes to cooking, and when we do share the kitchen floor, we end up stepping on each other’s toes. Our “solution” evolved to be that when H. cooks (on the rare occasions I let him), I have to step out of the kitchen, and vice versa. I would really like to go back to cooking together with him like we used to do nine years ago…

Recently, I had a chance to attend an event with Lorna Yee, the co-author of the The Newlywed Kitchen cookbook (published in May 2010). What caught my attention about the cookbook, even more than the good looking recipes, was its emphasis on couplehood and relationships as they are reflected and developed in the kitchen. The cookbook is designed to inspire couples to cook together and has food-love stories woven between the different chapters.

At the event, I couldn’t help but ask Lorna about how she shares her kitchen space with her husband. She was very kind and sweet with her reply and I wanted to inquire more. This is how the idea of interviewing her has budded. I asked Lorna and she agreed to answer a few more questions.

A bit about Lorna Yee:

Lorna is a Seattle Magazine food writer. Her blog is The Cookbook Chronicles. Born and raised in Vancouver B.C. (Canada), she now lives in Queen Anne neighborhood in Seattle, WA.

***

1. Not all couples are interested in cooking together. What encouraging words would you say to them to give it a try?

A love for food is one of the things that brought my husband and me together, so for us, it is natural to want to prolong the special mealtime experience by preparing dinner together, too. If you’re not used to cooking with your spouse, it might seem unnerving to dive into a complicated recipe together. Instead, try baby steps: take a morning to explore a farmer’s market, or even just your neighborhood grocery store together. When you get back into the kitchen with your fresh vegetables and bread, why not divide up the tasks—perhaps one person can put together the salad, while the other makes garlic crostini and sets out a charcuterie or cheese plate. That way, you’re still doing things your way, but get a feel for what it’s like sharing the kitchen space with your spouse. Eventually, you might feel more comfortable giving up some control, and tackle a more complicated recipe together.

2. There are couples who don’t know how to share the kitchen space without stepping on each other’s toes. What advice can you give them?

An important thing to remember is your spouse is not going to do everything exactly the way you do them—and that’s ok. This is a lesson my husband and I had to learn, too, given that we both love to cook and both have very strong ideas about the “right” way to truss a chicken, or make fried rice. A common thought among bloggers might be: “Well, I have to arrange the {insert ingredient} on the plate my way, because if I don’t, it’ll ruin my photo for my blog!” And sometimes, this sort of stress makes a person forget about living in the moment, and just enjoying the time he or she is spending preparing a meal. When you think about it, would you rather look at a pretty photo of a meal you meticulously arranged and executed 100%, remembering how it was later eaten in silence because feelings were hurt? Or would you rather remember sharing the bottle of wine, laughing over a little joke, and finally tasting the ragu the two of you collaborated on together? My husband and I are both strong-willed, and we did not always work perfectly together in the kitchen. But over the years, we’ve learned that complimenting (instead of criticizing) each other goes a long way in creating a wonderful evening, and strengthening our relationship.

3. What dishes do you and your husband love to cook together?

My husband and I love cooking Chinese food together, since that is what we eat most at home. My family is from Guangdong and Shanghai, and his mom taught him how to cook Hunanese and Szechuanese food. So together, we’ve learned a pretty broad repertoire of Chinese dishes. When we first started dating, it was really fun to try new-to-us Chinese dishes that we hadn’t been exposed to before, given that our families cooked regionally. The first meal he cooked for me was about a month after we first started dating. He made a simple dish of ma po tofu (tofu and ground pork in a Szechuan peppercorn-flecked sauce), and Hunanese bacon with leeks. Since then, I’ve learned these two recipes and we prepare them regularly for casual weeknight meals.

4. What kind of dishes do you and your husband prefer to cook separately, and why?

My husband has zero interest in baking, and I adore mixing up a gooey batch of brownies, kneading bread dough, or spreading homemade lemon curd in between layers of golden sponge cake. So I handle all the sweets and breads in the house, and he is content just to pick up a fork and dig in when it’s done. And I guess in true stereotypical fashion—he is much more comfortable in front of the grill than I am!

5. If you had such an experience, can you share a story about a time when you and your husband cooked together and it did not end well? What insight/s do you have about that experience?

My husband and I have different cooking styles—he is a “clean-as-you-go” kind of guy, and I’m content with letting the dishes pile up until the cooking is done. We’re celebrating our two-year anniversary next week, and I can honestly say it’s taken us all this time to finally learn how be more selfless, and how to try to accommodate each other’s preferences. I now try to remember to wash the cutting board and knife as soon as I am finished using it, but if I forget, he will wash them without nagging. He knows how I’m used to cooking, and he knows that I am trying. That is enough for him.

6. What recipes in your cookbook would be easy for those couples who would like to practice their cooking-together skills?

My husband went to school in Italy for a year, so he has a particular fondness for the Italian meatballs recipe in The Newlywed Kitchen. The recipe can be found here.

There is only one Chinese recipe in The Newlywed Kitchen, because we wanted this cookbook to be more a resource for American home cooks. But this spicy, aromatic Taiwanese beef noodle soup is one of my favorite comfort food recipes, and I’m glad I got the opportunity to include it. Click here for the recipe.

Gluten-free? Shauna adapted one of my top “indulgences”—Buttermilk Onion Rings for those with celiac. If you don’t have celiac, simply substitute the gluten-free flours and xantham gum with plain all-purpose flour. Here’s the recipe.

If you are a beginner cook, the Samoa Blondies is one of the easiest dessert recipes in the cookbook. I simply adore them, and whip up a batch at least every couple of weeks! The recipe is here.

***

Thank you, Lorna, for the insights and wise words as well as your lovely recipes!

There are so many recipes in the cookbooks that I’d like to try but the first one I plan to make is Lorna’s Triple-layer red velvet cake with bourbon cream cheese frosting. It is a true treat! I saw it—it was beautiful—and tasted it—it was delicious!–at a potluck I was invited to a few months ago. Lorna brought the cake and I remember it had such a delicate crumb and a luscious, but not too sweet, frosting . I’d like to make it to celebrate our anniversary (although it’ll have to be postponed by 1-2 weeks from the original anniversary date, but that’s life…).

***

While working on this post, H. and I had a long talk about why we only rarely cook together these days. I won’t go through all the details—it was late at night, it was a 1-2 hours talk while we sat outside, covered in a blanket, looking at the stars from time to time. But in the end, we agreed that we both miss cooking together and decided to have a cooking date once a month. (Well, we are way busier these days then we were 9 years ago.)

But then, the other day—it was a spontaneous thing—we found ourselves in the kitchen, cooking. H. made his halibut with herbed breadcrumbs and I made side dishes and chopped herbs for him. We helped each other; it felt good.

I think that, even though we are not newlyweds, it’s never too late to start cooking together (again).

***

Sometimes I get stuck. Plain stuck in a rut. When everything seems to be the same old routine, dull and boring. When nothing much is happening. I’m sure it happens to everyone, right?!

Does it ever happen to you?

When it happens to me, I find my posts are dreary, my photos are terrible, the food I cook a total bore – well, when you’ve been cooking chicken for 20+ years, how do you get giddy about yet another chicken recipe?

To get out of the mud, I seek new energies. Look for new ideas. Hunt for exciting recipes. See what other people are doing.

(Or I go shopping. I went. I’m back.)

I search for inspiration.

Sometimes I find it.

Have you heard about Mireille Guiliano?

No? OK, let’s try again. Have you heard about the book “French Women Don’t Get Fat”? A-ha! I thought so.

I attended a gathering in Muse coffee shop in Seattle last Monday. Oh, how I wish I had a coffee shop like Muse close to my home. It’s a very energetic and exciting place; the coffee is so tasty and fresh, the beautiful art hung on the walls is so colorful, and there’s so much light… It’s just fantastic! The sort of place that gets you in the creative mood and in the muse indeed.

My friend Keren, a.k.a the Frantic Foodie organized another fun food event; this time with Mireille Guiliano, who has a newly published book, the French Women Don’t Get Fat Cookbook!

We had an opportunity to hear Mireille’s stories and philosophy about life and food, and ask her questions. (For some reason, I always find myself to be the most curious person in the room/the one who nags with so many questions.)

So what is so inspiring about Mireille Guiliano?

First, she wore a fabulous royal purple jacket.

Her hair looks great. And I loved her green sunglasses.

But I think it was her repetition of the word “pleasure” (with a French accent) that did it.

Yes, that pretty much summarizes everything. Pleasure…

Anyone who encourages me and my fellow people to have more pleasure in life is my guru.

OK, you want to know more?

“Pleasure”, “eating with pleasure”, “good life”, “Joie de vivre”, if you must. How can a person who talks like that not be inspiring? And she seems the kind of person who practices what she preaches; pleasure.

Pleasure as a way of living, pleasure as a way of eating.

Food-wise, she made a good point when she asked, “Are we eating to live or living to eat?”

I want to be living to eat.

A while ago I have blogged about weight loss together with 3 other bloggers and after a while I quit. I just thought that diet talk is a total bore and leads to nothing. (I won’t even bother to point out the link to it.) I did nothing really to lose weight. Just talk, talk, talk… and blog, blog, blog… Mireille is right; diets don’t work. Instead, she proposes eating as a way of living.

I know that for me the main problem with food is that I relate to it as a task, as “eating to live”. I constantly feel I’m on the run, thinking about the millions things I need/want to do next, I don’t feel relaxed when I eat. I cook fast, I eat fast, I barely breath between bites. Literally, I sit at the edge of the chair during each and every meal. Not a good thing.

My main question for her was, “How can I, with two young kids, can relax and enjoy dinner when there’s so much noise at the table, and when there’s so much to do after dinner? It just makes me eat fast and as a result, more than I need.”

Here are a few notes I took while she spoke (the rest you can read in her book/s):

- To enjoy eating with children, delegate tasks, set rules at the tables, cook together, take the time.

- As a general approach, we need to take the time for enjoyment and pleasure by setting boundaries. It’s the 21st century trap – we eat too fast, as if it is work. Don’t speed, slow down.

- Focus on the food when you eat (no talking on the phone, or reading a book, no eating by your desk at work, etc).

- Balance.

- No snacks. Three meals a day. Each meal should have carbs, protein, and fat.

- Portion size. (I noticed the recipes in her cookbook have smaller portion size. For example, 3-5 oz. of meat and fish per person.)

There are many recipes I plan to try from her new cookbook. Some are: Shaved fennel and citrus salad, Macaroni with ricotta and walnuts, Lemon ricotta pancakes… But as a daily reminder, I’ve decided to adopt Mireille’s breakfast suggestion, her recipe for Magical Breakfast Cream.

Mireille’s Magical Breakfast Cream

I thought that since the recipe has oil and nuts, why not use a nutty oil (like walnut or hazelnut oil) instead of flaxseed oil? Also, I like to add a little sweetness from a fresh fruit. Otherwise, here it is, the recipe from the French Women Don’t Get Fat Cookbook.

Makes 1 serving

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Remember the Naked Chef?

You know, the guy with the cool hair, very energetic, talks fast, cooks even faster, Jamie Oliver? About 10 years ago when he became famous, he was referred to as the Naked Chef. These days he is simply Jamie. I did not understand what the nakedness was all about back then. I tried out as I looked and cooked some of his recipes. They were all good but after a while I thought they were too simple, too minimalistic. Not worth spending my money on his cookbooks because in those days I believed that only cookbooks and recipes with a long list of ingredient that took a long time to make were worthy. After a while I stopped using Jamie’s recipes. Only years after, under the influence of Ina Garten and cooking as a personal chef for nearly 4 years in other peoples’ kitchens (The food had to be fresh, quick and easy to prepare), I finally learned that cooking good food doesn’t necessarily mean using long and elaborated recipes. It’s not about killing myself in the kitchen in order to make good food, to make other people happy.

As I changed my approach to cooking, I realized that I prefer to use good ingredients and only do little to them in the process of cooking. I understood that when I shopped for ingredients of lesser quality (sometimes, but not necessarily, cheaper) I needed to work harder to make them taste good. But still, it was not nearly as good as when I used higher quality products (sometimes, but not necessarily, cheaper/the same price/cost more) which did not require any messing around with. This is how I’ve been cooking in the past 7 years. Naked.

Well, not literally.

I invest more of my attention and time to read the labels on products at the grocery stores so I can make better choices when I buy food. I’m not saying I do a 100 % perfect job but I do my best to buy ingredients that are fresh, local, organic, sustainable, and seasonal. It’s good for me and it’s better for the environment. Another approach to the nakedness “thing” is when I read the labels, I look for those products with the shortest list of ingredients where I know what all/most of the words mean! Then, back in the kitchen, I don’t have to work so hard to make those products taste good because they are already beautiful and their flavor is as it should be.

About two weeks ago, friends invited us for dinner. The guy cooked some recipes from this cookbook,

I love cookbooks, so I had to take a peak.
The book was beautiful and had many recipes I immediately wanted to try out. The photos of the natural, unfussy food were amazing too.
The food our friend cooked was simply delicious.
So, of course, I had to buy the book.
And cook from it.

As for reading recipes… Jamie’s recipes are of the few that I actually enjoy reading. (Most recipes are written in such a boring and technical way…) It feels like he is really talking to me. I can feel myself getting energized just by the way he writes them, as if he is standing in my kitchen only a few feet away (I wish), and the photos only add that extra kick in the butt to make me jump off my seat and get cooking.

See?

Photo by © David Loftus as seen on Jamie’s web site

But these days, there are other ways in which I find Jamie Oliver inspiring. He is not only a very talented chef, business man, and fun to watch and read, but his passion about food exceeds way beyond his home and restaurants’ kitchens. He is passionate about teaching people about good food, how to raise it, and how to cook it.

You know that bad food is making people terribly sick.

Oliver is doing a very important job in schools and cafeterias in England, and wanting to do so in the US as well, teaching parents, children, schools, and the lunch ladies about real, healthy, good food. I don’t want to go into much detail because in this video below Oliver does a great job.

Also, make sure to read “Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children” by Ann Cooper. The book has eye opening information about the food kids eat in the schools’ cafeterias and offers healthy recipes. Ann Cooper works with the legendary Alice Waters.

Now watch this:

For the original whole baked cauliflower with tomato and olive sauce, click here. I made a few changes, here’s my version:

Whole cauliflower in marinara sauce and olives

Adapted from “Cook with Jamie” cookbook

1/2 red onion, peeled and sliced
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 large head of cauliflower, outer green leaves discarded
olive oil
a handful of black olives, pitted
1 anchovy fillet, sliced
a handful of fresh parsley
20 oz. tomato/marinara sauce, or canned chopped plum tomatoes
a splash of red wine vinegar
salt
ground black pepper

First, find a pot in which the whole cauliflower will fit, leaving an inch around.

To the pot, add the onion, garlic, and a drizzle of oil and slowly sauté for about 10 minutes over medium heat until softened. Add the olives, anchovy and parsley and cook for another couple of minutes. Add the tomato sauce and about 1/2 cup of water, and a splash of red wine vinegar, season with salt and pepper. Stir everything together and bring to the boil.
Gently add the cauliflower to the sauce. Half of the cauliflower should be in the sauce, half above it. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, put the lid on and let it cook on low heat for about 30-40 minutes.

NOTE: I think an even easier and faster way to do this is to cut the cauliflower into florets and cooked it totally immersed in the tomato sauce.

I really did not plan to post a gift guide. But, as I was finalizing my own gift list, the who, the what, the when, and the why, I started thinking about books. How could I not? I love books. I’m always happy to receive a book as a gift. (Or something for the kitchen, but the kitchen is almost completely covered with everything I… need?)

As much as I love buying cookbooks, this year I did not buy as many as in previous years. After more than 130 cookbooks – I stopped counting – I changed direction a bit and focused more on other food-related books and mostly on food memoirs. My favorites are the food memoirs. Each one has a unique voice and story to tell, and recipes to share. I love recipes that are connected to stories. Anyone can write a recipe but not too many people can attach a great story to a good recipe.

I want to share with you some of my favorite books from 2009. If you’re a little behind on your holiday shopping, like me, then I’d like to help a little. I’m gonna share my list as my holiday gift to you.

I really don’t want to analyze or review why and what I liked about these books. How very conveniently, almost all these authors blog as well! So, either you’ll have to trust my judgment on this one or go visit their blogs to get a sample, a taste, of their writing. Ahhh, go there anyway, I won’t take it personally. No, I won’t see it as a sign of not trusting me. No Siree, I won’t. Go, have fun, enjoy it. I just hope that in a small way I might have helped you out a bit just in case that you were stuck with the holiday shopping. And don’t forget to treat yourself to a book too. It’s the holiday! But who needs an excuse to buy a book, right?!

I would love to hear about the great books you read this year! Please tell me and share with others in the comment section below, OK? Thanks!!!

Here’s my list:

“A Homemade Life” by Molly Weizenberg, the author of Orangette, one of my favorite blogs: http://orangette.blogspot.com/. It reads like poetry.

“The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry” by Kathleen Flinn, blog: http://kathleenflinn.blogspot.com/. A romantic story of studying at Le Cordon Blue, cooking and living in Paris.

“Julie and Julia” by Julie Powell, blog http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/2002/08/25.html. She’s got a mouth! Honest and direct, she doesn’t try to make things pretty. I love it!

“Hungry Monkey” by Matthew Amster-Burton, blog: http://www.rootsandgrubs.com/. I am starting to believe he’s got a point and I’m trying to adopt his approach with my kids and their picky eating. The book also made me laugh a lot. But mostly one night when I was haunted by guilt feeling that I am not a good enough mom.

“The Sweet Life in Paris” by David Lebovitz, blog: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/. Funny stories and observations about life in Paris from the eyes of an American who happens to be a former pastry chef in one of the best restaurants in the US.

“Not Becoming My Mother” by Ruth Reichl. Ah, I have discussed this book in length. It started here.

One of the handful of cookbooks I bought this year – the one who made it into my cookbooks shelf – is “The Steamy Kitchen cookbook” by Jayden Hair, blog: http://steamykitchen.com/. It’s easy Asian cooking with which I didn’t have much experience but I could not resist making these sweet and sour pork meatballs! And the rest is history.

Next I’m going to read “Fat of the Land” by Langdon Cook. His blog and book made me very curious as he is a forager! As in hiking in the Northwest mountains, forests, and shores searching for food from the wild, wild mushrooms, clams, geoducks and more. How cool is that? Visit his blog: http://fat-of-the-land.blogspot.com/.

Also I can’t wait to dive into this book, “Best food writing 2009”, a collection of the best… well, the title says it all.

And, coming out in February, I cannot wait to read “The Butcher and The Vegetarian” by Tara Austen Weaver. I love Tea’s blog: http://teaandcookies.blogspot.com/. It’s real life, with the whole spectrum of emotions, good and the bad, happy and sad. It makes me feel good and normal and sane.

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Don’t forget Menu For Hope!!!

Donate = buy tickets to bid on really awesome food prizes! It’s a great way to help others. As little as $10 helps a lot and then you have a chance to win something delicious and exciting. Click here for details.

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Happy Holiday!

Nurit