THE LADY OF SHALLOTS

I'm a geek. I'm not a science genius, but I like knowing why and how things work--including cooking. What I really love is when amazing chefs and science geniuses team up and give FREE lectures. Check out the Science and Cooking Public Lectures at Harvard! Better yet, these lectures you can watch in your pjs, smoking jacket, muumuu, etc, from the comfort of your own home. Watch them...Monday nights at 7: http://video.isites. harvard .edu/liveVideo/liveView.do?name= Science Cooking Schedule Here: http://seas.harvard.edu/cooking Tonight's fantastic lecture featured Harold McGee and Dave Arnold . Any many thanks to the Hungry Musicologist over at Food, Wine & Song , for the heads up!

Mission Street Food: Recipes and Ideas from an Improbable Restaurant by Karen Leibowitz My rating: 5 of 5 stars First, let me start with some full disclosure. I know one of the authors of this phenomenal book. That said, we haven’t seen each other or talked to each other in over twenty years. Karen Leibowitz and I went to elementary school together, and for a short time, even took tennis lessons together. Through the wonders of the internet, and some gentle stalking research, I learned that Karen has been busy—you know, the usual: getting a doctorate while starting a wildly successful restaurant/concept/model for humanity in the meantime. Oh, right. And then there’s this book. And do not be fooled—yes, it has recipes, so one might call it a cookbook. But “cookbook” doesn’t begin to touch this amazingly honest, engaging, inspiring, and creative narrative about two people, their friends, their perseverance, their sheer luck, and the joy to be had in both dreams and realities...