briciole

mild chili oil / olio al pepe di Sichuan

pretty in red (napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO) While I was reading the current selection of the Cook the Books club, Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China by Fuchsia Dunlop1 we spent a couple of days in Ashland, OR, to watch three plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. One of my stops during our visit was The Spice and Tea Exchange2, a favorite store, where I like to explore shelves of spices (spezie), custom blends, and teas. In the pepper section, a glass jar labeled Szechuan Pepper Berry introduced me to the spice of... Read more →

Novel Food #32: the finale

Welcome to the roundup of the 32nd edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I created in 2007. Novel Food is about literary works (prose or poetry) that inspire the preparation of dishes. I continue to host this event with great pleasure, as it brings together two of my passions: literature and food. Every edition delivers a great reading list and a lovely set of recipes. Book-loving food bloggers have contributed posts, each describing a literary work that the blogger read and the dish that the reading inspired. Please, follow me on a short literary/culinary... Read more →

chocolate love: mole poblano

a vegan version of mole poblano that goes with vegetables (napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO) In September 2014, I attended LongHouse, where I met Carlos Gaytan, chef of the restaurant Mexique in Chicago1. He brought his mole sauce to the event and I fell in love with something I had not tasted before. Since then, I have kept alive a desire to make a version of mole poblano and finally the current selection of the Cook the Books club, The Discovery of Chocolate by James Runcie2 gave me the necessary nudge. In this historical novel, young Diego travels to the... Read more →

"empty the crisper" side dish / contorno "svuota frigorifero"

there is no secret, though there is a sauce (napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO) I enjoyed reading the novel Among the Lesser Gods by Margo Catts1 more than I expected. I read Deb of Kahakai Kitchen's review2 tried my luck at her giveaway and won a copy. Once I started reading the book, it was hard to put it down: I wanted to know whether Elena would sort out her life, how the children she takes care of would adjust to their new life, whether the truth of Elena's aunt's disappearance decades earlier would eventually emerge. Everything in the book... Read more →

Announcing: Novel Food #32

Spring is on its way and with it comes another edition of Novel Food, the culinary/literary event with a long history, going back to the fall of 2007. I read a lot and cook a lot and although many things in my life have changed in the years since, those two pillars still stand and support me. I am announcing another edition of Novel Food, a little voyage of literary discovery and also a delightful party with the literary-inspired dishes contributed by event's participants. I hope you will join. I am looking forward to learning about a published literary work (a... Read more →

braised celery and leeks / sedano e porri stufati

a plateful of flavor (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) The historical novel Feast of Sorrow by Crystal King, the current selection of our Cook the Books Club, was quite an interesting read. While the narrator is a slave named Thrasius, the protagonist is his owner, Marcus Gavius Apicius, who lived in the 1st century during the reign of the Emperor Tiberius and became famous for his love of food and his sumptuous dinners. Rich and ambitious, he is driven by the desire to become culinary advisor to the emperor. The pact with the devil (Sejanus) he makes exacts a high... Read more →

savoy cabbage and radicchio / cavolo verza e radicchio

a brilliant flavor behind subdued color (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) A few pages into The Patriarch by Martin Walker, the current selection of our Cook the Books Club, I had this image of Bruno, the protagonist, as a head of cabbage and Pamela, his girlfriend (who in the course of the novel becomes his ex) as a head of radicchio1. Bruno reminded me of a head of cabbage because, although he is a pleasant and sensitive person, a smart and conscientious policeman, a gardener, a cook, a horseback rider and dog owner, you'd probably overlook him at a party... Read more →

Novel Food #31: the finale

Welcome to the roundup of the 31st edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I created in 2007 — 10 years ago! Novel Food is about literary works (prose or poetry) that inspire the preparation of dishes. I continue to host this event with great pleasure, as it brings together two of my passions: literature and food. Once again, book-loving food bloggers have contributed a set of lovely posts, each describing a literary work that the blogger read and the dish that the reading inspired. Please, follow me on a short literary/culinary tour. For each... Read more →

seeded whole-wheat dinner rolls / panini integrali ai semi

what happens when you drop a poppy seedpod (on La FABBRICA del LINO placemat) In the many years I have been hosting Novel Food I have contributed and received contributions inspired by a wide range of literature, from thick novels to flash nonfiction, from intense memoir to moving poems. One category of books notably absent from the Novel Food library is so-called self-improvement books, which examine a life's problem and offer advice on a way forward (I prefer to avoid the word "solution" which is better applied to math problems). The Sweet Spot: How to Find Your Groove at Home and... Read more →

apple tart / crostata di mele

a personal take on an Italian classic Laura Ingalls Wilder's Farmer Boy, the current selection of our Cook the Books Club, is a well-known children's book in the US. It was an interesting read, giving me a glimpse into some of the literature people my age were exposed to during their childhood and a view into rural life and related activities in an age and place quite removed from mine. For Almanzo and his family the year was marked by the seasonal work they did, and that work is described in detail by Ingalls Wilder. There is also moral content, mostly... Read more →