Culinary Adventures with Camilla

  For the October-November selection of  Cook the Books , Simona from  Briciole  invited the group to read  Cooking with Fernet-Branca  by James Hamilton-Paterson. You can read what she wrote here . Join the fun, if you wish, because you still have almost two months before the deadline. I'll start with this: I don't really have a sense of humor. I kept shaking my head as I read this, especially the recipes, and thought, "This has to be a joke, right?" Then I ran some of the passages by my trio who all just said - satire! Fine. Still, this is one of the strangest books I've read in a long time. Cooking with Fernet-Branca  tells the story of two expatriates. Gerald is an English snob and amateur cook who makes his living as a ghostwriter; Marta is a composer from an organized crime family in a (made up?!?) former Soviet Republic country. They are next door neighbors living on a mountaintop in Tuscany and appear to despise each other despite their constan...

For the August-September selection of  Cook the Books , Debra from  Eliot's Eats  invited the group to read  Alice's Adventures in Wonderland  by Lewis Carroll. Read  her invitation  and join the fun, if you wish, because you still have more than a month before the deadline. I knew that I had read the book in college for one of my literature classes, but when I read Debra's invitation and she mentioned the Salvador Dalí illustrations for the book, I was excited about re-reading it.  I had seen some of those prints at a museum in San Francisco. And, though we have the largest Dalí collection on the West Coast at a museum here, I've only been once and I don't remember if they have any of those. But I do remember really liking them. My favorite is "The Mad Tea Party"... from amazon.com I excitedly dug into the book, but within two dozen pages, my enthusiasm had waned. Maybe my patience with nonsense is thinning as I get older. I found this a mind-bog...

  For the June-July selection of  Cook the Books , Claudia from  Honey from Rock  invited the group to read  A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines by Anthony Bourdain. Read  her invitation  and join the fun, if you wish, because you still have more than a month before the deadline. Four years ago this month he committed suicide and the world lost a poignant, candid voice about food, about cooks, and about the often detrimental effect America has had on countries and cultures around the world.  This #CooktheBooks assignment has launched me down the Tony Bourdain rabbit hole this month. In years past I read and posted about  Kitchen Confidential  and  Medium Raw .  But this was my first time reading this book. Jake and I just watched  Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain . And I just started streaming the series he was filming as he wrote this month's book selection! His life was simultaneously...

I am finally catching my breath and getting on top of my blogging deadlines! Oh, it has been a crazy time. I have cooked things for events and just didn't get around to writing it up. I hate that. I wasn't missing out on this book though because I adore him as an actor and recently discovered his travel documentary Searching for Italy. For the April-May selection of Cook the Books , Deb from Kahakai Kitchen invited the group to read Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci. Read her invitation and join the fun, if you wish, because you still have a month before the deadline. On the Page Stanley Tucci is an Italian-American actor who has shared the magic of his family meals in The Tucci Cookbook  and The Tucci Table . And, as I already mentioned, he has a travel documentary series called Searching for Italy .  Taste: My Life Through Food  is a memoir whose tone reminds me of others I have devoured. Think Comfort Me With Apples: More Adventures at the Table by Ruth ...

  Claudia of  Honey from Rock  is hosting our bi-monthly reading group  Cook the Books .  And, if you'd like to join the fun, the posts aren't due till the end of March, so you still have time. You can read her announcement  here . She has asked us to read  Where I Come From: Life Lessons from a Latino Chef  by Aarón Sánchez* which is the book pick for February and March 2021. I have had this on my shelf for a few months and just kept pushing off starting it until I read some other books. When I had a lull...and realized that February was almost gone...I picked it up. And it was a breeze to read and a completely delight! I know that I have seen  Aarón Sánchez on television when we've stayed in hotels and watched the Food Network. Maybe Chopped . Maybe MasterChef   or IronChef . But he never struck me as a television personality that I was compelled to read more about or learn his back story. So, I'm glad that Claudia picked this mem...

Deb from  Kahakai Kitchen  is our   Cook the Books   hostess for this round (December 2018-January 2019); she chose   Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers by Sara Ackerman .*  You can read Deb's invitation:  here .  I definitely needed an easy read this month. Between life, work, school, and the holidays, this was a great book to look forward to at the end of the day.  And, despite the craziness of the season, I carved out time to read as I crawled into bed each night. While I am not lucky enough - like host Deb and author Sara - to live in Hawaii, I do have ties there. My dad grew up on Oahu - after his family immigrated from the Philippines - and I spent many, many summers there as a kid. Jake and I honeymooned on Kauai and went back with both sides of our family a few years later.  My parents have taken the boys to Oahu - to see where Nonno lived, where he went to school, and to experience some of our favorite haunts. Can you say ...