SUMMER READING
It's finally summer in San Francisco, which means it's time to go away to somewhere warm and get out of this freezing, windy city. Paula and I are heading to Austin next week, ostensibly for the IACP (International Assoc. of Culinary Professionals) conference, but equally to get some swimming pool time before the shroud of fog overtakes us in our fair city.
Recently, I was thinking about books I loved so much, I wish I could read them again for the first time, like The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen, Charming Billy by Alice McDermott, United States of Arugula by David Kamp, and My Life in France by Julia Child. I've read some great culinary memoirs in the last few months, and thought I'd list a few I wish I had saved for a sunny day on the chaise lounge, which I think you might enjoy:
Blood, Bones and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton. Wow, I felt a bit like I had been run over by a truck (in a good way) when I read this memoir by the owner of the restaurant Prune in New York. Hamilton has an amazing gift for writing, and an inability to beat around the bush. She tells it like it is, whether she's writing about food, her husband, her mother, or other women chefs. If you like Anthony Bourdain, my guess is, you'll love this.
Life, on the Line by Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas. Interestingly, this memoir came out at the same time as Gabrielle's, and it couldn't be more different. While Hamilton is from New Jersey, Achatz is clearly a Midwesterner, and his boyish curiosity about food comes through every page. Meanwhile, co-writer and business partner Nick Kokonas illuminates the business side of opening and running their restaurant, Alinea, and I found the blueprints and investor updates (printed verbatim) fascinating. They both write about Achatz's battle with tongue cancer bravely and with grace.
The Sorcerer's Apprentices by Lisa Abend. Time Magazine journalist Lisa Abend takes us inside the lives of elBulli's stagiares (kitchen slaves) for a season, and gives us a backstage pass to the kitchen of Ferran Adrià. Reading about the excitement, anticipation, dread and boredom of a group of young chefs from all over the world is mesmerizing (their first week, they have to clean the rocks around the outer perimeter of the restaurant). You'll really appreciate being a diner after reading this book.
Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. Okay, I know, this is not a culinary memoir, though there are some memorable meals described herein. But I just love Steinbeck, and his memoir about traveling across the country in his camper with his standard poodle, Charley, harks back to another time (1962) and left me wondering how so much could have changed in so little time.
Meanwhile, back at Omnivore, we've got a great lineup for June - though a bit sparse, as I'm taking off for London for a couple weeks and didn't plan too many events for the dates I'm away. Omnivore Books is proud to be a cosponsor of a June 4th benefit event to support a new public TV series about great cooking and sustainable agriculture, Kiss The Cook and The Farmer Too. You'll also notice two fantastic events beyond June, one with Yotam Ottolenghi and one with Jacques Pepin, so plan and book ahead if you'd like to see either of these culinary greats - we'd love to have you. Now, I'm going to go turn on the heat.
Warmly,
Celia Sack, Owner
Omnivore Books on Food
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Upcoming Events at Omnivore Books
Tues. June 7 • Paul Greenberg • Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food. 6-7 p.m. • Free
"Combining on-the-ground and on-the-ocean reporting from the Yukon to Greece, from the waters of Long Island Sound to the Mekong Delta, along with accounts of some stirring fishing trips, [Paul] Greenberg makes a powerful argument: We must, moving forward, manage our oceans so that the fish we eat can exist both in aquacultural settings and within the ecosystems of wild oceans." - Sam Sifton, New York Time Book Review
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Thurs. June 9 • John Jung • Sweet and Sour: Life in Chinese Family Restaurants • 6-7 p.m. • Free
John Jung has taken us down another memory lane and this time we brought along our appetite. "Sweet & Sour" evoked hundreds of memories of Chinatowns, favorite soul food dishes, haunts of opulent and garish banquet halls and the more frequented and beloved hole-in-the walls. These are the collective memories shared by families and friends. Sweet & Sour is also an anthropological study. Chinese cooks across these United States and Canada created an everlasting love for Chinese food enjoyed by all cultures. Find a "chop suey" house and generations upon generations will cite their favorites, be it chowmein, fried rice, beef brisket stew or even chicken feet. This talk is in conjunction with the Culinary Historian of Northern California.
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Fri. June 10 • Andrew Schloss • Homemade Soda • 6-7 p.m. • Free
Making your own soda is easy and inexpensive, and Andrew will give us a tutorial! Best of all, you can control the sweetness level and ingredients, so you can create a drink that’s exactly what you want. Using a few simple techniques, anyone can make a spectacular variety of beverages. Try Pomegranate Punch, Fruity Root Beer, Sparkling Orange Creamsicle, Honey Cardamom Fizzy Water, Sparkling Espresso Jolt, Maraschino Ginger Ale, etc. Some recipes show you how to re-create the flavors of favorite commercial soft drinks, and others show you how to use homemade soda in decadent desserts and adult cocktails.
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Sat. June 11 • Becky Selengut • Good Fish: Sustainable Seafood Recipes from the Pacific Coast • 3-4 p.m. • Free
Wild salmon. Scallops. Black cod. Albacore tuna. These are some of the good fish. Yet making smart seafood choices has never been more confusing or more vitally important for our planet and our health. Chef and seafood advocate Becky Selengut "knows from good fish," and in a voice that's informed but also friendly and infused with her edgy wit, she untangles the morass of information around seafood, enabling the reader to make the best sustainable seafood choices. Find out how good fish are caught, what to avoid, what to look for when you buy seafood, how to store it at home, when it's in season, and questions you should ask your fishmonger before you pull out your wallet.
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Thurs. June 16 • Erika Lenkert • Healthy Eating During Pregnancy • 6-7 p.m. • Free
This is, unbelievably, the first cookbook to include top-notch recipes from leading chefs across the nation as well as those developed by food writer (and my high school classmate!) Erika Lenkert, that are nutritionally analyzed by leading dietitian Brooke Alpert. Start your day with a Whole Wheat 'n' Berry French Toast then snack on some Almond Date Bars. Go for a Decadent Chicken Soup or Shaved Zucchini and Fennel Salad for lunch. If you're feeling especially healthy, choose the Red Snapper with Vinaigrette Provencal for dinner-or indulge in a Garlic Rosemary Chicken under a Brick with Oven-Roasted Parmesan French Fries and Chocolate Pudding Pie for dessert.
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Wed. June 29 • Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home • 6-7 p.m. • Free
Jeni Britton Bauer and her husband, Charly Bauer, founded Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams in 2002. There are currently seven stores in Columbus, Ohio, and one scheduled to open in Cleveland in 2011. The ice cream is also available in fine restaurants and stores throughout the country, and via mail order. Devotees who scan Jeni’s Web site, blog, Facebook, and Twitter feed daily cause a veritable run on new flavors. Jeni and her ice cream have been featured in The New York Times, Bon Appetit, The Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Departures, and The Atlantic, among others.
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Tues. July 12 • Yotam Ottolenghi. Plenty: Vibrant Recipes from London's Ottolenghi. TWO EVENTS! Book signing at Omnivore. • 6-6:45. FREE. • Dinner with Yotam Ottolenghi at Contigo Restaurant, 7 p.m. $60 Prixe Fixe meal inspired by the cookbook! (Tax/tip/wine not incl.). Limited space - call Contigo at 415-285-0250 to reserve space.
Yotam Ottolenghi is one of the most exciting new talents in the cooking world (check out this great New York Times article about him), with four fabulous, eponymous London restaurants and a weekly newspaper column that's read by foodies all over the world. Plenty is a must-have collection of 120 vegetarian recipes featuring exciting flavors and fresh combinations that will delight readers and eaters looking for a sparkling new take on vegetables. Yotam's food inspiration comes from his Mediterranean background and his unapologetic love of ingredients.
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Tues. Nov. 8 • Jacques Pepin in conversation with Joanne Weir • Delancey Street Theater, 600 The Embarcadero. 7 p.m. $40 • (purchase of ticket buys you a copy of Jacques' new cookbook, Essential Pepin, which is $40, so basically the ticket is free! Books will be available for pickup at the event) • Call Omnivore at 415-282-4712 with Visa or Mastercard to purchase tickets
Essential Pepin: More than 700 All-Time Favorites from My Life in Food celebrates his life in food, the world’s most famous cooking teacher winnows his favorite recipes from the thousands he has created, streamlining them even further. They include Onion Soup Lyonnaise-Style, which Jacques enjoyed as a young chef while bar-crawling in Paris; Linguine with Clam Sauce and Vegetables, a frequent dinner chez Jacques; Grilled Chicken with Tarragon Butter, which he makes indoors in winter and outdoors in summer; Five-Peppercorn Steak, his spin on a bistro classic; Mémé’s Apple Tart, which his mother made every day in her Lyon restaurant; and Warm Chocolate Fondue Soufflé, part cake, part pudding, part soufflé, and pure bliss.
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