If you're interested in the behind-the-scenes working of restaurants, you'll love this one.
Brothers Leo and Britt run a popular restaurant in their hometown. Their younger brother Harry has just returned with the plan to start his own restaurant - edgier, hipper, newer. He's looking for their help - but do they want to give it? Might his failure be their success?
It's a relatively light novel that deals a lot with relationships: between the brothers, with their love lives, and as a family.
But there's a ton of food and menu planning and chef talk to keep foodies interested. And if you were ever unclear on how much work it takes to run a restaurant, you'll understand by book's end.
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Pogue's Basics: Life, Essential Tips and Shortcuts (That No One Bothers to Tell You) For Simplifying Your Day by David Pogue
This book is a compendium of those so-called "hacks" they're always click-baiting you with on Facebook. Read the book! Don't click the ambiguous links!
Actually, I learned a lot reading this book. Yes, I knew to use a piece of uncooked spaghetti as a long matchstick. But I didn't know how to make shortcut keystrokes in my iPhone for my email address or my phone number - very helpful when you fill in a lot of online forms.
This is a pick-up-and-put-down kind of book; best to dip in and read a bit, rather than try to read all the way through. But I guarantee there's something here you didn't know - and you'll be simply STUNNED when you discover it.
Actually, I learned a lot reading this book. Yes, I knew to use a piece of uncooked spaghetti as a long matchstick. But I didn't know how to make shortcut keystrokes in my iPhone for my email address or my phone number - very helpful when you fill in a lot of online forms.
This is a pick-up-and-put-down kind of book; best to dip in and read a bit, rather than try to read all the way through. But I guarantee there's something here you didn't know - and you'll be simply STUNNED when you discover it.
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Strandal
THIS IS MY BOOK OF THE YEAR! It's that simple.
Eva Thorvald is a once-a-lifetime palate destined to greatness, born to a foodie father and an oenophile mother. In this series of short stories, we learn about Eva's life, but we don't hear about it from Eva herself; these stories each star someone else - random characters with whom Eva has varying degrees of involvement. Yet through their eyes we get a reflected-light look at Eva's life and a truly multi-faceted story.
This book is funny, sad, and even heartbreaking. But right from the start you're drawn into the characters, their struggles, and this all-encompassing story of Eva. I wanted to know more, I couldn't get enough, and if Eva didn't show up right away in each new chapter I started peering into the shadows and around the edges to find her. How does she relate, this time? But even without Eva these are fantastic stories of common people and regular Midwestern lives.
The audiobook was narrated by Amy Ryan and Michael Stuhlbarg. The pair delivers an amazing performance of characters from snotty teenagers to harried moms, from redneck drunks to wealthy businessmen.
I have been evangelizing to everyone I meet about how SPECTACULAR this book is - it's a must-read. Don't delay in finding a copy for yourself!
Eva Thorvald is a once-a-lifetime palate destined to greatness, born to a foodie father and an oenophile mother. In this series of short stories, we learn about Eva's life, but we don't hear about it from Eva herself; these stories each star someone else - random characters with whom Eva has varying degrees of involvement. Yet through their eyes we get a reflected-light look at Eva's life and a truly multi-faceted story.
This book is funny, sad, and even heartbreaking. But right from the start you're drawn into the characters, their struggles, and this all-encompassing story of Eva. I wanted to know more, I couldn't get enough, and if Eva didn't show up right away in each new chapter I started peering into the shadows and around the edges to find her. How does she relate, this time? But even without Eva these are fantastic stories of common people and regular Midwestern lives.
The audiobook was narrated by Amy Ryan and Michael Stuhlbarg. The pair delivers an amazing performance of characters from snotty teenagers to harried moms, from redneck drunks to wealthy businessmen.
I have been evangelizing to everyone I meet about how SPECTACULAR this book is - it's a must-read. Don't delay in finding a copy for yourself!
Monday, March 9, 2015
Sweetness #9 by Stephan Eirik Clark
Flavorist David Leveraux is a guy who makes the medicine go down, makes microwave popcorn taste so good, and makes diet soda sweet. And while that's a noble, necessary chemical trade ... he's also having moral pangs about the consequences of putting all these chemicals in our food.
No, this isn't the latest nonfiction food expose; it's a comic novel set in a slightly fictionalized modern day!
This is really a fun story with captivating characters. In his first job out of college, David was involved with product testing - and he's spent the rest of his career trying hard to forget about it. But when his daughter starts researching Sweetness #9 for a high school newspaper article and his red dye addicted son stops using verbs, David is forced to again consider that something's wrong with the way America eats.
There's plenty here to get you thinking, but it's put forth in a way that's funny and light with no black-and-white answers and lots of gray space. Even when David believes the junk is bad, it only takes a day or two for him to backslide into eating garbage again. His former-Nazi boss and mentor provides lots of history and a good many laughs, too. You'll learn about how food is produced, and also ponder a return to the fresh market.
No, this isn't the latest nonfiction food expose; it's a comic novel set in a slightly fictionalized modern day!
This is really a fun story with captivating characters. In his first job out of college, David was involved with product testing - and he's spent the rest of his career trying hard to forget about it. But when his daughter starts researching Sweetness #9 for a high school newspaper article and his red dye addicted son stops using verbs, David is forced to again consider that something's wrong with the way America eats.
There's plenty here to get you thinking, but it's put forth in a way that's funny and light with no black-and-white answers and lots of gray space. Even when David believes the junk is bad, it only takes a day or two for him to backslide into eating garbage again. His former-Nazi boss and mentor provides lots of history and a good many laughs, too. You'll learn about how food is produced, and also ponder a return to the fresh market.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Blue Plate Special: An Autobiography of My Appetites by Kate Christensen
Despite the title, this book's not about food; it's really a memoir about growing up and traveling and figuring out who you are ... but there's also a good bit of food, too (and recipes).
Christensen had an uneven childhood with some rough family dynamics: her parents divorce and her dad's involvement in the family falls away. They struggle through hard times. Even as an adult Christensen has a tense, volatile relationship with her sisters and mother.
Throughout her life she travels in an almost accidental, haphazard way facilitated by her extended family's ties in the anthroposophist movement and Waldorf schools; by becoming a nanny or cook or camp counselor she spends extended time away from home and around the globe.
She experiences many styles of food and many kinds of cooking, picking up bits here and there. She's chubby then thin, fat and then willowy again - her relationships with food are as uncertain as her home life.
It's an interesting story, and well written. I kept rooting for her to get her life straightened around and find happiness - it's not a tragic story, more a relatable tale of an unconventional family and a self-described late bloomer.
I would recommend this to those who also enjoyed Jeannette Walls' "The Glass Castle."
Christensen had an uneven childhood with some rough family dynamics: her parents divorce and her dad's involvement in the family falls away. They struggle through hard times. Even as an adult Christensen has a tense, volatile relationship with her sisters and mother.
Throughout her life she travels in an almost accidental, haphazard way facilitated by her extended family's ties in the anthroposophist movement and Waldorf schools; by becoming a nanny or cook or camp counselor she spends extended time away from home and around the globe.
She experiences many styles of food and many kinds of cooking, picking up bits here and there. She's chubby then thin, fat and then willowy again - her relationships with food are as uncertain as her home life.
It's an interesting story, and well written. I kept rooting for her to get her life straightened around and find happiness - it's not a tragic story, more a relatable tale of an unconventional family and a self-described late bloomer.
I would recommend this to those who also enjoyed Jeannette Walls' "The Glass Castle."
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Nowhere But Home by Liza Palmer
Unfortunately named sisters Queen Elizabeth and Merry Carole have spent their lives trying to live down their mama's bad reputation. While Merry Carole stayed in their hometown to build a successful beauty shop business and raise a fine, upstanding boy on her own, chef Queenie's trotted the globe, flitting from restaurant to bistro to cafe. When she's fired (again) for losing her temper, Queenie decides a trip back to Texas might give her time to decide what's next - and allow her to get to know her nephew.
But faster than she can blink an eye, Queenie finds herself with a strange new job, a handsome beau, and all the small-town drama she's been avoiding for more than a decade.
It's a cute, light book that balances heavy drama with light banter. The story's never better than when Queenie's in the kitchen - I wish there'd been more of that. My enthusiasm flagged a little with some of the more melodramatic scenes, but if you enjoy a bit of small-town cattiness and long-held grudges, this one's right up your alley.
But faster than she can blink an eye, Queenie finds herself with a strange new job, a handsome beau, and all the small-town drama she's been avoiding for more than a decade.
It's a cute, light book that balances heavy drama with light banter. The story's never better than when Queenie's in the kitchen - I wish there'd been more of that. My enthusiasm flagged a little with some of the more melodramatic scenes, but if you enjoy a bit of small-town cattiness and long-held grudges, this one's right up your alley.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Tales for very picky eaters
by Josh Schneider
This book is technically an early reader. However, I don't know if kids should be allowed to know the secrets held within its pages. It might be better as a true guidebook for parents. OK, not really. This is a funny account of a father trying to get his boy to eat. The dad concocts wild stories about the food that is being snubbed until the boy decides the only choice is to at least give it a try.
This book is technically an early reader. However, I don't know if kids should be allowed to know the secrets held within its pages. It might be better as a true guidebook for parents. OK, not really. This is a funny account of a father trying to get his boy to eat. The dad concocts wild stories about the food that is being snubbed until the boy decides the only choice is to at least give it a try.
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