The Hundred Foot Journey

 This month we read The Hundred Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais.   This was a sumptuous book, packed full of amazing food descriptions, but alas, no recipes.

Most of the group found the book delightful overall, although they were uncertain where it was going at first.  Morais is a "wonderful, descriptive writer", whose writing one reader found beautiful but "too much like a fairytale".  Another was reminded why she does not want to visit India, as she "could not handle the filth and poverty".

Our favorite parts of the book were the gorgeous descriptions of the French countryside and India...one reader felt this read like "a set of travel snapshots" (although another felt the book was like a "bunch of magazines stories squashed together").  The hard core foodies amoungst us loved the section with the foodcart, and the porchini mushroom festival the family visits on their European tour.  But also appreciated were the interesting relationships in the book, and getting the perspective of what might be the driving force behind non-Americans.

What people disliked a variety of small things about this book.  They were frustrated that the relationship between the main character and his sister never really developed.  That the pacing felt inconsistent (perhaps the author's journalist background lead to this?)  Opposing viewpoints in the group held that it was too much like a fairytale, where another wanted it to be a true story.  Another found the butchering descriptions far to realistic and frequent.  There was much frustration expressed towards Madame Mallory...from her only eating at the restaurant once, to the amount of control she had over the town, and that she was responsible for almost killing the kid, but faced no charges.

There were many drool-worthy passages in this book, with tons of appetizing descriptions on practically every page.  But the memorial dinner for his friend Paul really stuck out in people's minds.

Our own feast was just lovely this month!  The desserts were particularly exceptional.

Barbara  – croissants and cheese
 








Dawn –   champagne and sparking cider

 
Heather McN – chicken tikka masala, 3 bean marinated salad, rice brown/white






Jane - roasted fingerling potatoes, with creme fresh and caviar







Julie - Ezell's Chicken  and rolls






Katie S. –   Haricots Verts with Dijon-Shallot Vinaigrette and  Chutney with blue cheese.

 









Katie W. –  crème brûlée






Laura  –   dessert - pear claufouti and homemade vanilla bean ice cream, and spinach pear salad.

Madeline -  (house arrest – calling in)

Vernetta – mushroom soup




Next month:  The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love by Kristin Kimball:

Single, thirtysomething, working as a writer in New York City, Kristin Kimball was living life as an adventure. But she was beginning to feel a sense of longing for a family and for home. When she interviewed a dynamic young farmer, her world changed. Kristin knew nothing about growing vegetables, let alone raising pigs and cattle and driving horses. But on an impulse, smitten, if not yet in love, she shed her city self and moved to five hundred acres near Lake Champlain to start a new farm with him.

There are currently copies available at the Mountlake Terrace Library. We will not be meeting at our usual location, due to a conflict.  Be sure to check our Facebook page, or the email list for more details the week before!  See you in March...

The Abundance

 This month we met to discuss The Abundance by Amit Majmudar, a story about a married Indian immigrant couple and their very American children, struggling to deal with the mother's struggle with cancer.

This book received an overall strong positive response from the group.   Most found it to be a very enjoyable, and fairly fast read.  While it could be very sad at times, the honesty of the book insured that it really hit home, and was very relatable. And the group liked that everything was not neatly resolved at the end, making it feel even more real.

We were especially taken with the mother-daughter relationship, and how they were able to use cooking to heal their relationship.  The collecting of the recipes was something we really like, and Katie W. did just this when her kids became adults, so they could have the family flavors as a continuing part of their lives. It was great to see a character (the dad) who did math just for pure enjoyment.  But best of all was the pure human qualities that came through, and how well you could relate to the family, even if yours was Mexican American, or pure mutt.

What we didn't like was how the father treated the mother.  We were unsure how much of this was cultural, if he was trying to keep everything looking as normal as possible, or if he was just a jerk.  Or was this the author giving an exaggerated generational perspective?  It was also frustrating when the son tried jumping in on the cookbook, with an eye to profit, almost ruining the beautiful thing his sister and mother were creating.  Clearly some part of him wanted to be included and celebrate their achievements, but the way in which he handled it was very heavy handed and a bit selfish.  Last of all, not everyone was up for a cancer book :(

While this worked as a foodie book, there wasn't a ton of drool worthy moments.  Ghee melting on roti was tasty sounding, and the first feast the mom and daughter made together was mouthwatering.  But otherwise the food descriptions were not tantalizing.  But perhaps that was part of the tragedy of the mother's illness?

Happily, our meal was quite delicious:

Madeline - Indian salad cucumber








Dawn –  naan from a local Indian restaurant


 

Jazmin - chickpea and spinach fritters with strawberry lime basil spread

Katie S. –   roasted eggplant curry

Laura  –    Chicken marsala, cucumber yogurt (ratia?)

Emily - yummy Dal Nirvana!





Vanessa - (tika chicken fail - don't cook when you're angry) sag panner, goat, garlic naan from Curries "the best Indian in Snohomish county" - on Casino road.




Barbara - mango mousse

Katie W. –  Kulfir - Indian almond pistachio ice cream.

(oops...no dessert photos!)

February's book is The Hundred Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais. This book is hugely popular right now due to the movie.  Most of our bookclub copies were checked out at the meeting, but I was able to dig up a few more...so if you go soon there should be a few copies left at the Mountlake Terrace Library!

Cooked

This month our book was Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan.  We had previously read The Omnivore's Dilemma some time ago.

Unfortunately, between the holidays and the length of this book, we had a pretty small turnout, and none of us had finished the book.  But it did bring up some good discussion points.  We discussed:

• How cooking with our families is a big part of our lives.
• Vernetta mentioned how the book made her aware meat and industrial process, to the point that she will be seriously rethinking her shopping patterns.
• Stereotype that the best cooks are men, and thought how wonderful it would be to have a tv show that gave tours of their mom's (or other familial inspiration) kitchens ;)
• How this book could make you a BBQ smokemaster.
• How roasted animals = the smoke is the offering to the gods (priest gets the meat.) Volcano sacrifice, no meat.
• Old hogs vs. new....fed horrible things now.  Mad's pig ate rotten milk from dairies. Cows ate better too.
• Pig story very funny...pet pig got away.
• Teacup pigs - a nice fantasy.
• Fire - bbq - hard to get through if you don't like bbq ;) + manliness and death 
• Water - braising - family and unity 
• Air - bread - Stuff taken out of white bread is sold back to you in vitamins - what a racket!
• Earth - fermentation

Despite having a small crowd, we had a lovely meal and cookie exchange.

 

Vernetta – taco soup








Katie W. –  homemade honey wheat bread / pecan tassies

Madeline - Mexican salad







Sunny S. – German chocolate wafer cookies 












Heather McN – homemade brownies, and frosted sugar cookies


Dawn –  ginger brew and chocolate shortbread stars

Who made the delicious fruit salad???

Next month we are reading The Abundance by Amit Majmudar (all copies are checked out Sno-Isle's catalog, though there were still a few book group copies at the Mountlake Terrace Library last I checked.  You can also find it for 75 cents (plus shipping) on half.com.

Happy holidays!

- Dawn