Little Heathens report

For October we read Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish.

We all seemed to enjoy this book, though it was unclear how much of it was facts, and how much was just the romantic memories of an elderly lady.  We were very impressed by how much re-purposing of materials was done on the farm...everything seemed to have multiple uses until it was worn down to nothing!  It made some of us feel a bit shameful for how much we have and take for granted, and how easy our lives are by comparison.  The most fascinating parts were things we had never heard of, such as bumblebee honey and using egg whites to remove splinters.

Our spread was quite delish:

Heather McN – Apple Candy Pie with cream, greens with sour cream









Karen T. – carrot/orange marmalade and the Apple Candy Pie with nuts










Katie W. - carrot marmalade & homemade bread





Katie S. –fried chicken, tomatoes, homemade hot sauce

Laura – Homemade marshmallows, coffee, porcupines.







 Julie D. – grits

Dawn – corn on the cob with butter dipper

Next month's book is Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl. There are extra copies behind the desk at the Mountlake Terrace Library for Foodie Book Group members. You may remember, we did one of Ms. Reichl's other books a few years ago about her early life: Comfort Me With Apples. This book takes place much later in her life, when she is living in NYC working as a restaurant critic for the New York Times! Should be able to have some real fun with this one. Maybe everyone should wear wigs? We will be meeting on Wednesday November 14, 2012 at 6:30pm at the Bethesda Lutheran Church.

Charlotte's Web report

Because it is fall, and everyone is caught up in the hustle-bustle of back to school...plus, because we all loved the idea of cooking up fair food, we read Charlotte's Web by E.B. White this month.  Most of us had read it as kids, and it has been around so long that it was hard to tell if it was supposed to be nostalgic, or if it just simply captures the eternal charms of farm life.

We talked about who raise farm animals growing up (none of us personally, but many have close relatives who did or do).  We talked about our favorite foods to eat at the fair (corn dogs, scones, grilled onion burgers were high up on the list).   And we talked about this wonderful book and its author.

Overall we were very charmed by what this book had to say about the value of friendship, and what it meant to be a good friend.  We debated if this book made anyone want to be a vegetarian, and if it was meant to do so...and the conclusion was this would have been more effective to that end if Wilbur ended up being slaughtered, but since the reader is not traumatized by the events it isn't as strong a message in that direction.  We talked about how much we loved the language and descriptions in this book (particularly the lengthy details about what was in Wilbur's slops).  We also appreciated the value of being able to "just sit and listen, and be one with the barn."

The connection was made that E.B. White was same White who helped create The Elements of Style.  Wikipedia revealed he also wrote a spoof called Is Sex Necessary? Or, Why You Feel the Way You Do which we found rather amusing.

Carol brought in an amusing vegetarian title her neighbor gave her called Babe's Country Cookbook based on another fictional famous pig.

Alas for poor Babe, we did not stick to a vegetarian menu this meal, but did have a wonderful variety of flavors represented.

Julie made chicken fried steak, and Karen made Pigs in a Blanket:

Heather M. had a crock-pot tragedy, but still made scrumptious bochwurst sausage with sauerkraut.









Laura made delicious homemade pickles, caramel corn and yummy pasta salad.









I brought homegrown tomatoes (grown from plants I got from Prema) and store-bought veggie corn dogs.

Carol made a delicious "blue ribbon" strawberry rhubarb pie.

Katie W. brought perfectly soft homemade gingersnaps and raspberry soda.

And Katie S. made deep-fried fun-sized candy bars!






Next month's book is Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish.  There are three copies behind the desk at the Mountlake Terrace Library for Foodie Book Group members.  We will be meeting on Wednesday October 10, 2012 at 6:30pm at the Bethesda Lutheran Church.

Can't wait to see what sorts of food will come out of this book!  Hopefully it was be as tasty as it is resourceful.

Plenty report

Last night we had a terrific meeting! Our numbers were back up, and everyone is really enjoying our new space. Our book for discussion was Plenty: Eating Locally on the 100 Mile Diet by Alisa Smith & J.B. MacKinnon.  While very few of us achieved true "100 mile" dishes, a good effort was made and we had a wonderful showcase of local produce and meat.

Our icebreaker was discussing our favorite local food, and berries definitely topped the list for most everyone, closely followed by cherries, cheeses, and local wines.  We didn't talk much about seafood, but I think mussels and clams should definitely be added to the list.  Carol talked about her family ritual of harvesting geoduck, which sounds just wonderful (I want to try!)  We all feel fortunate to be able to get so much wonderful fresh food nearby, and love our farmers markets and you-pick-it farms.

Overall, we had somewhat mixed feelings about the book.  Sometimes it was challenging to figure out which of the narrators was taking a turn.  He tended to drift off into seemingly unrelated topics a lot.  She was much more emotionally reflective, though some found this a positive, as it drew them in more.  While we applauded their initiative in taking on this challenging project and felt enlightened by what the facts and background they shared, they were shockingly naive at times and it seemed like their research was more for giving background on the experiences they went through rather than preparing themselves in advance.  But overall we admired that they stuck with it.  While the recipes were very inventive, very few of them seemed like ones anyone wanted to try out (except the not-so-local casserole).  His reckless adventuresome attitude about cooking was impressive, but we wondered if it wasn't intimidating to his poor partner.  We were so proud of her when she broke out of their patterns and cooked that yummy sounding soup!

The book made us gush about our own gardens, and reflect on world gardening trends.  We discussed how half of the counties in the United States are in drought right now, and what that would mean for farmers.  We agreed that more small farms with diverse produce is very likely what will save American agriculture and could improve unemployment, our diets, and our environmental footprint as a people.

The food was wonderful and so fresh!   Heather McN brought a great fresh salad, and wonderful apples baked in honey, plus a lovely centerpiece for the table.  Her daughter Brenna made her first casserole...Grandma's Tuesday Night-Noodle Casserole (p. 27) with salmon.  Very yummy!

Katie S. made a very tasty dish made with local chicken cooked in local yogurt with herbs from her garden.




Laura made a lovely fresh ratatouille with ingredients from our very own Mountlake Terrace farmers market.





Katie W. roasted beets from her garden on the bbq (in a tin foil pouch) with just a little butter and salt, that came out magically sweet.

Carol made two dishes:  chard with basil and Walla Walla sweet onions, and a sweet nectarine and blueberry crostata.









I'm still unable to drive and didn't want to negotiate the bus with a cooked dish, so instead brought some of my local favories...the last organic cherries of the season and three "local" cheeses:  Beecher's No Woman and Flagship, plus Rouge Creamery's Oregon Blue.

Next month's book is another kids book that fits in nice with the season: Charlotte's Web by E.B. White.  I don't have any copies set aside of this one, so order it through the library, or find it used...this should be easy to track down.  There are plenty of delicious healthy things to make with local fall farmers market goods...but I know there is some real excitement building around cooking homemade versions of greasy sugary fair food too!

Next meeting:  Wednesday September 12, 2012 - 6:30pm in the basement hall of Bethesda Lutheran Church.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory report

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the delay in reporting, and the brief report (I did not take notes at the meeting).  I'm still in a sling for a few more weeks, which makes everything more complicated!

This month we discussed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, as we so enjoyed James and the Giant Peach from a few summers back.  Once again we were surprised by how dark Dahl's writing could be, and how truly crazy some of his characters could be.  We discussed how the book compared to both movies, and how children would perceive this book differently than adults.  While it certainly is an interesting and creative read, it took forever for Charlie to get to the chocolate factory, and once he arrived, everything moved with dizzying speed.

For food, we had far less chocolate than I might have anticipated, leaning instead on the German food favored by Augustus Gloop.

Heather made delicious Pork Ribs and Sauerkraut from The Encyclopedia of Creative Cooking, that was super tasty.

















Katie made a chocolately chicken mole and brought a great looking cookbook from the library called Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales from a Life in Chocolate by Alice Medrich that looks well worth checking out.  And also some bright colorful lollipops to insure we had enough candy!

Karen brought yummy cabbage and mashed potatoes to go with the pork, and I believe she also brought the yummy strawberry dessert too?

I brought chocolate zuchinni bread, and my pal and driver Rita brought some delicious fizzy lifting beverage (ginger beer).

Next month's book is Plenty: Eating Locally on the 100-Mile Diet by Alisa Smith.  There is one copy available in the Sno-Isle catalog right now, but I also have five copies sitting on my desk at Mountlake Terrace Library...just ask someone at the front desk to grab one for you.  Our next meeting is Wednesday August 8th at 6:30 in the basement of the Bethesda Lutheran Church (2 blocks from the library).

Hope to see you there, where we can share food made with produce from our gardens and local farmers markets!

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake report

Well well, hello ladies, this is Heather M. filling in for Dawn, reporting live from my cozy living room here in little ol' MLT.








It seems a combination of a new venue, a different weekday and a strange book selection converged on the second Wednesday of the month,this June 13, to bring about a small but dedicated gathering of our book club this time. After a small key snafu, we gathered in our new space in the basement of the Bethesda Lutheran church at 6:50 to talk about The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender. 

In attendance were: Dawn, our fearless leader, who had another library commitment that particular night (she still is in search of teen reading mentors for her program, know anyone?) but left with a care package of food, Katie S. who brought rare roast beast with horseradish, Lara who whipped up a fruit salad, Karen who made butterscotch pudding with caramel/cone cookies cut into triangles, my daughter Brenna Conwell who made her first cake all by herself-lemony bundt with lemony glaze, and myself who brought a quiche.

 If you read the book, I think you will agree that is was the "weirdest" one so far. Comments ranged from "Why didn't the author explain more about why and how" to "Did it seem to anyone that Joseph might have had Aspergers?" and finally "Why did he like being his grandmother's chair so much?" We all thought that George was the most likable character, but wondered why he became friends with Joe and his sister.

Questions abounded like; why did her gift of tasting start at 9?, why didn't her parents catch on earlier? (especially when it was revealed late in the book that grandpa could smell emotions), was it a genetic thing? and why did grandma constantly send inanimate objects in the mail? We will never know those answers. It was agreed that her style of writing was interesting, especially liked was her habit of utilizing analogies to categorize family members i.e. "Joe is like the dessert, he only needs air, you are like the rain forest, you need lots of water, I'm like the big island of Hawaii, with 12 different climate zones."

So in closing, the general consensus was that it was CREEPY that Joe became a chair, (with that particular passage even to strange for me to read outloud) but liked was the chapter of the romantic and tender way the dad roped in the mom with the velvet footstool gambit. A couple of us wondered out loud if all her writing is this way, maybe one day someone will find out and report back.

Also voiced was the new space and what a good vibe it had, with a huge kitchen containing all the dishes we needed and an industrial dishwasher the speed of light!

Next month we'll be reading Roald Dahl's best known work of literature, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory something we have all watched but probably haven't read. Looking forward to German food, tv dinners, blueberry pie and candy, lots of candy! Everlasting gobstopper anyone?????

Trail of Crumbs report and group update

Sorry about the delay in this month's report.  We've been trying to work out some details about where and when we will be holding future bookgroups and needed to get that worked out.

First, May's book was Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love and the Search for Home by Kim Sunée.  This is a memoir about a woman who was adopted in Korea as a small girl, and raised in Louisiana by a distant parents and foodie grandparents, then later goes on to live all over Europe, building her cooking and writing skills along the way.


Our discussion was small, with only Dawn, Heather, Katie, and Vernetta (I believe?) attending.  Mostly we felt frustrated with the decidedly unsympathetic plight of the author.  While it is understandable she might feel some loss and identity issues with her upbringing, it was hard to hear her complain about her extremely wealthy French boyfriend who adored her and took her shopping and on fancy trips all the time.  If only all of us could go through such tribulations in our 20s!  The food writing was quite appetizing though, and we regretted that this meeting did not featured home cooked food.  We did eat nicely though of a great Vietnamese salad Heather brought, some kim chee, and a  few other snacks.  I regretfully did not take photos or a thorough inventory, alas!


The real meat of the meeting was our discussion about what to do with the bookgroup.  It was decided rather than worry about future policy fluctuation, it would be easiest to move the bookgroup to another private location where we could potluck to our hearts content.  A few suggestions were discussed and it was decided (and later verified) that we would be meeting at the Bethesda Lutheran Church in Mountlake Terrace the second Wednesday of each month.


We are no longer advertising the group, though members are certainly welcomed to bring friends and coworkers who would enjoy it.  The expectation is that everyone attending will me a good effort to finish the book and cook something related to it.

June's title is The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender.  We will meet at 6:30 at the church on Wednesday June 13, 2012.


We will no longer have a mailing list through the library, so please sign up for either or Facebook group, or  our Google group page to get on that mailing list.


See you soon!