THE LADY OF SHALLOTS

 Cross-posted at Reb's Reading Rants and Raves I am working my way through two Japanese cookbooks right now, both of which are filled with insight and craft (my review of Sonoko Sakai's Japanese Home Cooking: Simple Meals, Authentic Flavors coming soon!). Nancy Singleton Hachisu's Japanese Farm Food is, as advertised, very much about farm life in Japan and the food that grows there. For that reason, it resonates more as a narrative for me than a cookbook, as many of the ingredients are specific and connected to the life of the farm. She is not as free with the substitutions as Sonoko Sakai, but there are a few (blackstrap molasses for kuromitsu, for example). To call her a purist wouldn't seem totally correct, and that's largely because of the beautiful narrative she constructs about life on the farm and learning how to acculturate in meaningful ways. In truth it is inspiring, if somewhat a bit daunting at times. In addition to spending massive amounts of time pr

  Cross-posted at Rebecca's Reading Rants and Raves Why We Cook : Women on Food, Identity, and Connection by Lindsay Gardner My rating: 4 of 5 stars Lindsay Gardner's whimsical-yet-substantive illustrations make this a charming book that is a pleasant mish-mosh of reflections, substantive essays, and lighter fare (inspirational quotes and magazine-type survey questions). While there are a few recipe, it isn't a cookbook--although I certainly would have appreciated an index (foods, recipes, people). The table of contents suffices, however, split into "Memorable Meals", "Kitchen Portraits", "Essays", "Home Cooks in Conversation", "Recipes" (listed by contributor, rather than dish), "Profiles" and "Contributors in Conversation." I found the "in conversation" bits to be the least engaging on the whole, although the occasional nugget of wisdom or a surprising witticism made them worth reading. No

 Cross-posted at Rebecca's Reading, Rants, and Raves Colu Cooks: Easy Fancy Food by Colu Henry My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the cookbook I've been waiting for. Easy, Fancy, Food. YES. This lovely volume is filled with inviting and welcoming text that celebrates humanity as much as food, and in multiple contexts: when we need comfort, when we are on vacation, when we are coping (or not) with a pandemic (that's not a chapter, but it is in the narrative), when we are feeding a crowd, or enjoying the joy of re-imagined leftovers with close friends. If you don't grow your own herbs, Colu Henry will make you want to start. Her recipes abound with fresh herbs and ingredients that are simple, but fancy in the right context. The Smoky and Spicy Shrimp with Anchovy Butter and Fregola (110) is a new favorite, and I'm here to tell you frozen shrimp works just fine and you should have a bag in your freezer at all times. Recipes like Cumin, Ginger, and Citrus Roasted Salmo

 Cross-posted at Rebecca's Reading Rants and Raves Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci My rating: 5 of 5 stars I didn't know a thing about Stanley Tucci beyond "he's an actor" when my best friend recommended this book to me. Since I had a few free Audible credits, I decided to make this my first audiobook experience as well. I'm not sure it was the best choice on that front, as having recipes "read" to me is not that fulfilling (and if I'm listening to an audiobook I'm not going to be in a position to write them down). On the other hand, hearing Stanley Tucci recount his own memoir was wonderful and entrenched me in a deep nostalgia for my own Italian-American roots. Having spent considerable time in Italy, Tucci's pronunciation is more European than the particular East Coast American Italian er...dialect...that I learned from my father, but he nods to it on more than one occasion. Given his wry humor, hearing him say "fa

 CW: enslavement/trauma Cross-posted at Reb's Reading Rants and Raves The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael W. Twitty My rating: 5 of 5 stars A "journey" is an apropos description for this book. I won't even attempt to quantify the percentages of history, memoir, documentary, and food writing. Twitty manages to intertwine his personal story with a history of foodways and people that inextricably connects ancestry, personhood, and food in ways that left me contemplating my own complicated feelings about food and culture. As an adoptee, with two parents who have died, I've not cared to search too much into my own genealogy--I suspect in fear that somehow the cultures and stories into which I was adopted will become "less than." If fear is in the mix, I am even more humbled because this book is at times gritty reckoning with both Twitty's own ancestral history, and this country's foundat

 It has been a minute. Or several. I've been thinking a lot about social media this week as I watch people react to the shooting of nineteen students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School. People need an outlet, and I get that...but I increasingly despair about how empty it all feels. Sometimes it is just preaching to the choir with some sort of acerbic or biting meme that finds a way to amplify our emotions. Sometimes it is directing our energy toward arguing about gun control or mental health with a few people online. I've never been a single-issue voter, but I also realized that I haven't been monitoring gun control votes very carefully, outside of when it comes time to vote for a candidate. So I looked up the information  and there were a few surprises, and some questions, but not many. I made a few donations. And I cooked. What does cooking have to do with tragedy? Not a whole lot---at least as it happens in my kitchen. I'm not World Central Kitchen . I'm