Garlic and Sapphires report

This month we discussed Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl.  A few of us had read Comfort Me With Apples a few years back in the early months of the group, and were pleased to revisit Ms. Reichl.  While the food writing was very good (it was fun to hear the stories, then read the related review), it was the disguises that were the real fun of this book.  We loved all the wigs, and the way she developed an individual persona for each costume, and how her kid saying "mommy is a secret food spy" helped her get into it. She took this secret reviewer thing so seriously!  But while it was interesting to see how restaurants treated anonymous diners vs. a known food critic, what was even more interesting was how Ruth was treated so differently depending on if she was dressed up as a blond hottie, or an old lady.  Does that cloak of invisibility await us as old ladies, too?  In the end, Reichl got a bit too much into the costumes, and started acting like a jerk, so we were glad to see her get called out on the carpet for her poor behavior.  On the positive side, she really helps raise awareness of what we eat..."don't settle for crap!"

On the negative side, some of us were very uneasy with her going out on a date in her blond persona.  There were some incredibly rude people in the book (an exaggerated view of New Yorkers?  Most of us have had very pleasant experiences there). And the recipes included in the book didn't really feel that connected with the story...though happily when we made them they came out pretty darn tasty!

Heather brought a delicious roast chicken and some tasty mashed potatoes.

Julie D. made the hash browns, and though they came out yummy, she is convinced Reichl never made them herself.



Katie S. made some very tasty roasted Brussels sprouts.




Vernetta made a tasty kale/chard/spinach salad with pecan dressing (not from the book, but great!)






Dawn made super creamy scalloped potatoes.

Laura made a tasty risotto for the first time.




Karen made the spaghetti carbonara.





Next month's book is The Language of Baklava by Diana Abu-Jaber.  There are a few extra copies behind the desk at the Mountlake Terrace Library for Foodie Book Group members. We will be meeting on Wednesday December 12, 2012 at 6:30pm at the Bethesda Lutheran Church.

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.