Books for Foodies III

You must read Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, by Anthony Bourdaine.

I've always enjoyed Bourdaine's personality on TV -- part rebel and part cook. His show, "No Reservations," takes me to exotic places that I may never be fortunate or brave enough to visit. While in other countries, he takes risks when deciding what to eat, and he admits he does get sick sometimes. But, he feels you must accept these risks in order to fully appreciate other cultures.

Anthony Bourdaine is a great story-teller. In this book, he is honest (painfully honest) about his what it's like behind the kitchen doors of our favorite restaurants. Some of the information is hard to hear, but it does make you feel like an insider. For one, he says that most restaurants re-use their bread from their bread baskets. He basically says, "Get over it." He advises to never order fish on Mondays because it's been too long since their last fish delivery (probably at the end of the past week). In addition, food served at brunches is notoriously filled with stuff which should be on its way to the garbage. He never orders mussels at a restaurant because they are so small -- checking to make sure each one is still alive is too time consuming. Don't take the chance!

After reading his book, I bought tickets to see him "perform" in a live show. He basically talked to the audience for two hours. It was fun seeing him in person, and he did a great job fielding questions and comments from people. I'm an official fan.

He even has a blog which is always fun to read. You must read his article about an encounter with Sandra Lee! It's called A Drive By Shooting.

Put Kitchen Confidential at the top of your must read list!

Here are some other Must-Read Books For Foodies!

Books for Foodies II

On an earlier post, I made a quick summary of some "Foodie" books I read. I've since read a couple more books, so here's my take on them.

Paula Deen: It Ain't All About the Cookin' by Paula Deen with Sherry Suib Cohen

For me, watching Paula Deen on the Food Network has always been enjoyable. She's so cheerful, warm, and she has a great laugh. Her recipes look yummy, but I hadn't tried any of them before reading this book. The reason? I'm constantly trying to find recipes that use less butter, not more.

However, I enjoyed reading this book from start to finish. As I read, I felt like I was listening to an old friend chat with me over a cup of tea. Her story is truly inspiring because she started out with nothing. She is a success today because of a lot of hard work, determination, and a little bit of luck.

Before reading this book, I felt like her sons (whom you constantly see on her shows) were riding on their mother's coattails. (I mean, they even have their own show?) Now I see that they were an integral part to building the empire that she is today.

The details about her agoraphobia are shocking and graphic. You feel her pain, and when you finish the book you will like her even more.

I was inspired to cook one of the "recipes" she describes in her book. I said "recipes" because you're going to laugh when you see how easy it is, but it is SO GOOD.

Paula's Romantic Puff Pastry Dessert

Buy a box of puff pastry and let it defrost. Cut the pastry into squares (about 5" X 5"). Brush each square with some milk, and then place a mini chocolate bar in the center. (I used mini Snickers bars.) Bring the corners up to form a small package and seal the edges. Bake in a 425 degree oven until brown. (I made four in my toaster oven.)

Oh. My. God. So good! You must try making these at your next dinner party. People will flip.

Even though it seems that I see Paula's name on every kitchen product around these days, I think she deserves every penny! A great read.

Julie & Julia by Julie Powell

I was inspired to read this book after enjoying the movie. Loved, loved the movie.

The book, however, did not work for me. As a fellow-semi-foodie-blogger, it was interesting at the beginning. I enjoyed reading about how she cooked each dish, what went wrong, right, finding the ingredients, etc., and then it started to feel repetitious. Then it continued to feel repetitious. Then I felt bored. So quite honestly, I stopped reading it when I was about half-way through. Is that wrong? But I highly recommend the movie.

Here's a link to my earlier post on Books For Foodies.

Books for Foodies

Am I officially a Foodie? I don't know. But I have discovered that I love, love reading books about food and restaurants.

Several months ago, on the first day of April vacation, instead of taking out yet another cookbook from the library (which is so fun!), I stumbled upon The Saucier's Apprentice, by Bob Spitz. Not only did I enjoy Spitz's writing style, but I also savored the chance to tag along with him as he visited restaurants and cooking schools in Europe that I can only dream about (for now!). This book was a treat to read.


This book began my obsession of finding books written by restaurant critics and chefs. Next, I found "Heat, An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany" by Bill Buford. Although I am a huge Food Network fan and you'd think I'd be interested in reading about a man who worked for Mario Batali, I could not get through this book. I read enough about Batali to learn that he drinks a ton, and he has been known to take food out of the trash (allegedly) because it could be used for another dish. I read only about one-half of the book before returning it to the library.

This book did not stop me from finding some more books on this topic. Next, I read "Garlic and Sapphires: the Secret Life of a Food Critic in Disguise" by Ruth Reichl. I recognized Reichl's name on the shelf because she is featured on one of my favorite shows on TV, "Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie." (TiVo it!) I loved this book. Reichl describes in great detail some well known restaurants in New York City and includes some nice recipes too. Very fun.

The most recent book that I've read which falls into this category is a memoir from Linda Ellerbee called "Take Big Bites: Adventures Around the World and Across the Table." Score! It was fun being transported to places around the world with her. I now have Greece on my list of places to visit some day.

Here's a link to Books For Foodies II.

I would love to hear from you if you know of more books I could try. Happy reading!

Veggie Pasta - Simple Abundance Style

The book "Simple Abundance," by Sarah Ban Breathnach, is one that I find myself visiting quite often. It reminds me to be grateful for each day.

My favorite parts of the book are what she calls "Joyful Simplicities." She gives ideas about how to celebrate each month throughout the year, based on the weather, available foods, holidays, etc.

I was recently inspired by her July 10 entry titled "Kitchen Mysticism." Here she explains that through cooking, you mix food with love and emotion to create a sense of balance in your home.

Here's her recipe for this delicious Veggie Pasta. I used regular tomatoes and eggplants, and I didn't have any fresh oregano or yellow peppers, but it still came out excellent. The slow cooking brings out the sweetness of the vegetables.

"Slice red and yellow bell peppers, tiny eggplants, and zucchini into strips. Chop red onions, fresh basil, oregano, and Italian plum tomatoes. Saute slowly in good olive oil and minced garlic until the vegetables are soft. Take a sip of wine. Add penne pasta to boiling water for six minutes. Grate fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese...Call everyone to the table. Stop to give thanks. Offer a toast and a thanksgiving for good health, love, companionship, delicious food, and a moment of contentment. A day fully lived, simply abundant."