The Cat's Table

This month we read The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje, which while not being the greatest in the food descriptions and totally lacked recipes, nevertheless was a interesting read.

 Only Rachel's had read many of Ondaatje's books, and she felt this may be one of his weakest.  While everyone in the group found the setting very interesting, and the trouble the kids got into pretty amusing. the plot was slow to develop, and generally unsatisfying.  It was unclear if he was leaving so many lose ends and unknowns in the story to illustrate how children know so little of what is going on around them and how memory and imagination fill in the rest, or if he is just actually piecing together his own childhood memories and doesn't have real answers to give.  While many folks were left with uncertainty about reading more by this author, most of us could agree that we would like to take a long journey by boat like this one.  One of the most disappointing passages was probably the secret dinner down in the hold.  While the setting and characters took on an air of magic in this scene, the food was sadly neglected.  Descriptive as this book could be in places, it simply was not drool worthy.

Happily, we still were able to piece together a lovely feast, loosely based on the regions featured in the book.

Heather McN.

 Harvey’s Bristol Cream sherry to stimulate our appetites, 

 lovely green vegetables, and rice.

 
Dawn 
simple veggie curry



 

 

Jennifer T. 

naan bread

 


Julie D. 
couscous with chicken

 

Katie S. –  Bademiya's Justly Famous Bombay Chile + Cilantro Chicken with Cilantro Sauce

Katie W.
cucumber mint tea sandwiches 
and tea

 

Laura H. 

spinach, pear and walnut salad 

with raspberry vinaigrette

 
 

Madeline 

fruit sculpture

 
 
Rachel R
Sri Lankan Coconut Cake

Sonja K-G – Cherry Cordial Cupcakes with condensed milk

Much thanks to Katie S. for making a sign for us to put on the door, so Al-anon folks won't have to be embarrassed about going to the wrong location any more!

Next month, on Wednesday March 5th, we will be discussing The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.  (takes place in Paris, with some Japanese cooking!) at Madeline's house (due to our regular location celebrating Lent with community dinners).  If you need her address, please contact me, or someone else who was at the last meeting.  She does not wish to post it online.

Heat report

This week we discussed Bill Buford's Heat : an amateur's adventures as kitchen slave, line cook, pasta maker, and apprentice to a Dante-quoting butcher in Tuscany. Some folks thought it was just hilarious and delicious and gobbled it up, but others found the writing style to be disjointed and unorganized and couldn't finish it. Overall the group found it entertaining and appetizing.

There was some question as to what happened to Mario's restaurants in the book, and to judge by his website they are all doing just fine!


Karen cooked ricotta cheese ravioli with carmalized onions.


Katie made cappellacci filled with sweet potatoes and parsley served with butter and cream sauce from The Classic Italian Cookbook by Marcella Hazan.


Katie S. made homemade pasta with fennel pollen, orange zest and goat cheese.




Dawn brought bocconcini, coppa, cappielio, olives and fresh Italian bread from Borracchini's Bakery in Seattle.


Heather brought bread and delicious Irish butter and olive and balsamic vinegar.


Julie brought Pasta Peas & Pesto.





Sheri brought Pasta e Fagioli - Mario's recipe from the Food Network.





Tanya brought marinaded vegetables, including mushrooms, white asparagus and artichoke hearts.




For show and tell, Julie shared her new herb scissors.


There was also discussion about clafouti, a French cherry dessert that someone will have to make for next time!

Overall it was a very enjoyable discussion and meal!

Next month we are traveling to a different region of Italy for A Thousand Days in Venice. We are short on copies, so please return yours to the library as soon as you finish!

See you next month!

Interesting Volunteer Opportunity

Deborah sent me a link to this cool project the New York Public Library is doing:

With approximately 40,000 menus dating from the 1840s to the present, The New York Public Library’s restaurant menu collection is one of the largest in the world, used by historians, chefs, novelists and everyday food enthusiasts. Trouble is, the menus are very difficult to search for the greatest treasures they contain: specific information about dishes, prices, the organization of meals, and all the stories these things tell us about the history of food and culture.

To solve this, we’re working to improve the collection by transcribing the menus, dish by dish. Doing this will allow us to dramatically expand the ways in which the collection can be researched and accessed, opening the door to new kinds of discoveries. We’ve built a simple tool that makes the transcribing pretty easy to do, but it’s a big job, so we need your help. Feeling hungry?

You can volunteer to transcribe these delicious lists! Find out more here.