Culinary Adventures with Camilla

I've had this cookbook - MASHED: Beyond the Potato by Holly Herrick* - on my nightstand for several weeks. When I saw turnips and apples in my CSA box this past week, I remembered a recipe in here I've been meaning to try. On the Page... In the introduction to MASHED: Beyond the Potato  Holly Herrick writes "mashed foods conjure up images of comfort, even childhood. ...In addition to comfort, mashed foods inspire the notion of simplicity, which is largely true." She goes on to share a secret: "The most important thing is to start with the freshest, best-quality food and ingredients you can find." That's always a good rule for any cooking. So, back to those CSA apples and turnips... On the Plate... Herrick starts with potatoes, then moves to other vegetable mashes. I am looking forward to trying her Buttery Parsley Rutabaga Mash and the Nutty Southern-Style Hubbard Squash Mash and Candied Pecan Crush. And, on the less traditional sid...

This is a post is sponsored by the author Monica Bhide .* All opinions are my own. I received an email from Monica Bhide, asking if I would be interested in receiving her novel - Karma and the Art of Butter Chicken** - for review purposes. Given that the title included the words 'butter chicken', you know I was in. Immediately. After years of enjoying her version, I finally wrangled my friend Priya's Butter Chicken recipe out of her; you can read about that:  here . Suffice it to say: We are huge fans of butter chicken! On the Page I had high hopes for this book. It's about a cuisine that we love...and the idea behind the story seemed fantastic: Eshaan wants to open a free kitchen to feed the poor in Delhi so that no one ever goes hungry. In one passage, they are discussing the biggest problem in India...that's it's not hunger. Not hunger. Lack. Lack is the problem. You know the saying, "There is one pomegranate, and hundred people w...

As we inch towards the final quarter of the  Foodie Reads 2016 Challenge , I cracked the cover on a copy of  Not My Mother's Kitchen: Rediscovering Italian-American Cooking Through Stories and Recipes  by Rob Chirico.* I received an advance reader's copy through a giveaway and was excited to dig in. On the Page I have to be honest - I had a hard time finishing this book. When I was given the choice of books from the giveaway, I immediately chose this one because it involved Italian food. How could I not devour the book? I lived in Italy. I learned to cook in Italy. I'll read just about anything set in Italy and anything that includes Italian fare. Well, there were two reasons that reading the book was agonizing for me. First, his tone bordered on disdainful towards his mother's lack of culinary skills. The first line of the introduction read, "My mother was an assassin." He continued, "Left to her own devices she laid waste to spaghetti, hamburge...

As we enter the final quarter of the  Foodie Reads 2016 Challenge , I picked up a copy of  Juilet's Nurse  by Lois Leveen.* There was a thread on Facebook about book recommendations and this one was on there; I can't remember which friend posted it. But I will read just about anything set in Verona. Let me admit that this is not, at first glance, an obviously foodie read. But the narrator is a wet nurse. And, while reading it, I was brought back to many conversations I had about breastfeeding while I was nursing my two boys. And it comes to this: yes, breasts can be sexual. But they are also a food source. I remember when I was nursing my youngest on a bench at the zoo in Oklahoma City. At least half a dozen zoo employees approached me in the fifteen minutes that I was sitting there and said, "Ma'am, there's a bathroom right over there. You can go nurse in there." I thanked them all, politely, and declined, thinking to myself: I don't eat in the bat...

As we inch towards the final quarter of the  Foodie Reads 2016 Challenge , I picked up a copy of  The Language of Baklava  by Diana Abu-Jaber.* I don't know if someone recommended it to me, if I saw it on someone else's reading list or blog, or if I just found it. I dove into the book and carried in my purse to devour pages in any spare moment that I had. But my interest flagged about two-thirds of the way through and I struggled to finish it. Still, I finally flipped that last page this morning and am glad that I did. She did manage to draw me back in at the end. On the Page... This is a memoir about growing up with a foot in each of her parent's cultures. Her mom is American; her dad is from a Bedouin tribe in Jordan. As a kid, the Abu-Jabers moved between the two countries; and, as an adult, Diana has done the same. There are recipes peppered throughout the book that tie in to the memory she just retold such as Poetic Baklava - for when you need to...

The boys heading back to school is wonderful for my Foodie Reads 2016 Challenge  because when they are busy with homework, I can sit down and read for myself! I love it. Also, D has been logging his reading time for school and he has asked me to climb in bed and read with him. "You can read your own books, but can you just read next to me?" Sure. On the Page... I received this book - Buck, Buck, Moose by Hank Shaw* - last month after taking part in the author's kick starter campaign last year. Even though I don't hunt, fish, or garden, I've long been a fan of his website: Hunter Angler Gardener Cook .  This cookbook is hefty, beautiful, vibrant, and informative. And it definitely made me wish I could get my hands on more wild game. Thankfully, in between hunting seasons and the generosity of friends and family who do hunt and fish, I order through D'Artangnan and Shaw even mentions them as a source.  The cookbook is well organized and runs...

While not a foodie book, per se , I was inspired to create a dish after finishing Monterey Bay by Lindsay Hatton.* First a little background: I call the Monterey Peninsula home...and have, almost continuously, since I was ten years old. Minus five years in Berkeley for college, one year in Italy when I was working Rome (and letting my LSATs expire without telling my parents I no longer wanted to go to law school), and one year in Oklahoma (which we try not to mention).  So when a bunch of friends from high school started a virtual reading group - to read and discuss Monterey Bay - I was in. We gathered copies and dug in. On the Page... Perhaps it's my familiarity with the area and the characters - the historical ones anyway -  that set my level of expectation too high. I wanted to adore this book. But Hatton's historical fiction is more fiction than history. And, unfortunately, the book did not convey a sense of the Bay, the Aquarium, or the historical ...

As I forge ahead with the  Foodie Reads 2016 Challenge , D picked a book at our only remaining local bookstore that I can't help but love. So, I grabbed it after he fell asleep and read it from cover to cover. Then I sneaked back into his room and placed it on his bed right where it was when I slid it away from him. Farm Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of Country Life by Julia Rothman* has no plot, no characters, and no story. It's just a sweet book with charming illustrations. There's everything from edible flower to parts of animals and from how to make candles to how to brew dandelion wine. We will likely never live on a farm, but we have talked about having a chicken coop and a bee hive. D excitedly explained the egg breeds, meat breeds, and dual breeds. "Mom, after she's done laying, we can make soup." Good idea. And, when he saw the section about pig breeds, he tried to identify his cousin Ari's pigs that we had met this summer. ...

When I signed on for the  Foodie Reads 2016 Challenge , I pledged that I would read more than nineteen books during the course of 2016. Amazingly, this is book number twenty-three and I still have a quarter of a year left to read! Dare I think I might be able to knock out another fifteen books this year? I'm not sure about that. But I'll try. Maybe I can hit at least thirty. Maybe. I read  Tomorrow There will be Apricots  by Jessica Soffer* last month while we were camping, but didn't get around to cooking from it until this week. On the Page... For now, let me say that Jessica Soffer is a gifted writer. But as talented as Soffer is, I found the plot implausible and the characters more cliché than compelling. Think about a troubled 14-year-old who self-harms and longs for the affection of her icy mother who is a professional chef. Think about an Iraqi Jewish immigrant who has recently lost a her husband and gets cajoled into teaching cooking classes. Every...

When I signed on for the  Foodie Reads 2016 Challenge , I pledged that I would read more than nineteen books during the course of 2016. Amazingly, this is book number nineteen and the year is not yet half over! Dare I think I might be able to knock out thirty-eight books this year? I'm not sure about that. But I'll try. Maybe I can hit at least thirty. Maybe. I had started  The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo  by F.G. Haghenbeck* last month, but just finished it this week. images from fridakahlo.org On the Page... I can probably pick out a Frida Kahlo painting; they're pretty distinctive. But I definitely can't say that I know much about her life. So, I was instantly intrigued by the premise of  The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo. The titular secret book was found among her personal effects at La Casa Azul, her childhood home, and contained recipes for offerings on the Day of the Dead. The book mysteriously vanished the day it was supposed to be exhibited. ...

May was a productive month for my  Foodie Reads 2016 Challenge , I have carved out full afternoons to read this month - meaning, I ordered my family to leave me alone while I crawled under the covers and devoured pages and pages of books. After making Cricket Chip Cookies for my Bizarre Foods SEM , I came across  Edible: An Adventure into the World of Eating Insects and the Last Great Hope to Save the Planet  by Daniella Martin.* Timely. On the Page... I have to admit: I didn't love this book. It was okay. The subject is even wildly compelling for me. So, it means something that I struggled to get through this. Well, I struggled through the first 100 pages or so. And, considering that the book itself is only about 130 pages, not including the voluminous introduction...well, you can do the math. I definitely didn't love this book. She starts off as too much of a treatise and less of a narrative. For pages and pages she details the FCR (food conversion ratio) ...