I Get to do a Book Review!

Having spent most of my life as a mom there are few things that cause my calloused heart to soften toward anyone.

Big brown puppy eyes? Nope.

Tantrums? Ha! Never.

Abject Sucking Up? Not likely.

There does seem to be one way to get my attention, however

and that is to say that you are a fan of my blog.  Pick one, any one..but in this case my special baby…Baking Delights.  Not that I have a favorite or anything.  I am too mature for that.

So when Tess emailed me and said the very words, “I am a big fan of Baking Delights and I was wondering…” how could I do anything but grin like a loon and nod repeatedly?

Tess happens ot be a publicist for Sasquatch Books and what she had asked me to do was to read and review two of their newest food related books.

I know, I know..it is a tough job but someone has to do it.

Last week, sure enough, two books arrived in the mail or by FedEx or maybe carrier pigeon, I am not sure.  But there they were on the table..the kids had all ready ripped into them and stuck papers at the recipes they were interested in.  I am so glad they did NOT do that with the book I reviewed for Marriage Actually!

That is what happens when you have food freaks in the house.  Shiloh has all ready made one of the recipes from the book I only just started reading!

Anyway, I read Secret Suppers all afternoon yesterday, deliciously curled up on my bed under a very special afghan, with the cats, Snowball and Chipotle, wrestling and chasing each other across my legs.  Very relaxing.

Yep, Chef Kyrie named Snowball herself.   C’mon, give the kid a break..she is from Texas…and snowballs are as rare here as they are in……

well…you know….

Secret Suppers is not so much a cookbook as it is a journal of the Foodie Underground.  The author, Jenn Garbee, does not care for the word foodie but I like it and since this is my blog I can do what I want, capiche?

Jenn just feels that everyone is a foodie at heart. Me? I am not so sure.

Anyway, I had no clue because I am far, far out of the edgy foodie loop, but chefs and chef wanna-bees are  finding ways skirt the system and have incredible dinners for up to 100 guests in thier homes or other places.  Since the dinners are generally in private homes, and the cost is generally a suggested donation there is no need to have one’s creativity squelched by moounds of paperwork.  I love it.

Anyway, each chapter highlights one of these underground eateries and rogue chefs, their philosophy, what they are cooking, how it all works….and it is all chronicaled in a sort of play by play of the dinner, the wine lists and the guests.  Generally there are four or five recipes at the end of each chapter that the chef shares with the readers.

The recipes honestly did not do much for me.  Please try to imagine the look on my children’s faces as I placed a sweet pea panna cotta with tamarind chutney in front of them.  It would not be pretty I tell you.

But I loved this book.  I felt like I was swept away into the lives of these chefs, foodies, and just really cool people.  The recipes, while the majority of them will be untried, did rekindle my food imagination and I feel inspired to create, to experiment with flavor and to try some new things.

You probably will not turn to this book as a source for Sunday Dinner, but what you will do is read it, be inspired, and read it again and again to go back and visit the places that inspired you.  Each chapter stands alone as an exceptional read, connected to the other chapters only by number and subject.

Now that you really, really want to read it…it does not come out until October….be watching for it…

Images:Marye Audet