Niki Nakayama: A Chef's Tale in 13 Bites by Jamie Michalak and Debbie Michiko Florence, illustrated by Yuko Jones

Niki Nakayama grew up in Los Angeles in a traditional Japanese family. As a child she loved creating her own recipes and trying new foods.  When she expressed a desire to go to culinary school and become a chef, she was told she was too small and delicate to work in a restaurant kitchen. It seemed like people at every turn were telling her that a woman couldn't be a professional chef. 

Not only did Niki prove the doubters wrong about her ability to stand toe-to-toe with the best Japanese sushi chefs, she eventually decided to fulfill her ultimate dream of becoming a kaiseki chef, which is a type of cuisine that focuses on quality ingredients, technique, and story-telling. 

This picture book biography is a feast for the senses. As I read the book I became more and more intrigued by the idea of kaiseki and even sought out the episode of Chef's Table that Nakayama was featured on so I could learn more about her and the type of cuisine in which she specializes. If you have a budding chef in your life or just want to learn more about badass women busting glass ceilings, I highly recommend this wonderful book. 

Niki Nakayama: A Chef's Tale in 13 Bites by Jamie Michalak and Debbie Michiko Florence, illustrated by Yuko Jones

Published: September 14, 2021

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Pages: 40

Genre: Picture book biography

Audience: Primary/middle grade

Disclosure: Library Copy

If you buy this book or any book through Amazon, it is my hope that you also regularly patronize independent bookstores, which are important centerpieces of thriving communities. While I am an Amazon Affiliate, that by no means implies that I only buy my books through their website. Please make sure you are still helping small, independent bookstores thrive in your community. To locate an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound. 

Short & Sweet by Josh Funk

Josh Funk is back with another Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast adventure, this time the two friends are feeling a little stale. Professor Biscotti has a contraption in his lab that will help to despoil them, but in an attempt to make them fresh again, they instead transform into little kids! Now it's a race against the clock for Professor Biscotti and Baron von Waffle to try to transform Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast back to their old selves.

I adore every picture book that Josh Funk creates, but I hold a special place in my heart for his Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast books. Not only is Josh one of the most effective and adept authors when it comes to rhyming picture books, which can get hokey really quickly, but this series speaks to the foodie in me loves his playful use of food in these stories. Phrases like the Fjords of Farfalle, Bran Canyon, and the Great Wall of Pine Nuts gave me a good chuckle (and made me a little bit hungry). 

But even better than his rhyming and clever use of foodie phrases, are his incredible book trailers which he created, recorded, and SANG himself. Yes, I think it's safe to say that Josh Funk is a jack of all picture book trades. 

Also watch the trailers from the previous books in the Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast series:

Short & Sweet by Josh Funk, illustrated by Brendan Kearney

Published: September 1, 2020

Publisher: Sterling

Pages: 40

Genre/ Format: Picture Book

Audience: Primary

Disclosure: Digital copy of book provided by author

If you buy this book or any book through Amazon, it is my hope that you also regularly patronize independent bookstores, which are important centerpieces of thriving communities. While I am an Amazon Affiliate, that by no means implies that I only buy my books through their website. Please make sure you are still helping small, independent bookstores thrive in your community. To locate an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound. 

How to Feed Your Parents by Ryan Miller, illustrated by Hatem Aly

Matilda Macaroni is an adventurous eater. But she certainly doesn't get that from her parents.

While her parents only eat things like chicken nuggets, pizza, mac and cheese, and sugary cereal, Matilda would much prefer to eat quiche, jambalaya, miso soup, and sushi. Since she can't get those things from her parents, she resorts to making meals for her more sophisticated palate with her grandmother and babysitter.

When Matilda offers to make her parents a very safe meal of hamburgers and fries for dinner, even that starts off on shaky ground. Will Matilda convince her parents to branch out and try new things?

While this book definitely exaggerates a role reversal of the usual scenario of kids being picky eaters, How to Feed Your Parents is a good conversation starter for parents to have with their kids about healthy food habits and learning to turn on their sense of curiosity rather than fear when it comes to new flavors. As a recovering picky eater, I think had my parents taught me about food from a young age by letting me help with dinner and showing me to have a respect for where food comes from, I might not have been so distrustful of what was being put in front of me at the kitchen table. As a result, I didn't start branching out my food palate until I was in college, sticking to a diet very similar to Matilda's parents.

So for me, the takeaway of this book is: teach your kids about food from a very young age and make it fun and interesting for them to try new things.


How to Feed Your Parents by Ryan Miller, illustrated by Hatem Aly
Published: August 7, 2018
Publisher: Sterling
Pages: 40
Genre/Format: Picture book
Audience: Primary
Disclosure: Finished copy provided by publisher

If you buy this book or any book through Amazon, it is my hope that you also regularly patronize independent bookstores, which are important centerpieces of thriving communities. While I am an Amazon Affiliate, that by no means implies that I only buy my books through their website. Please make sure you are still helping small, independent bookstores thrive in your community. To locate an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound. 

What I've Been Up To (Besides Reading)

It's been a while since I've done any posts that revolve around food or travel. I think about those things all the time, but I haven't written about them in a while.

My body is continuing to heal from all the digestive/IBS issues that have exacerbated the past few years and I finally found a solution with the Low FODMAP diet. I feel like going through that 6 week elimination two summers ago was my body's way of purging all the toxins that were causing my digestive system to overreact to almost everything I ate. I can't say that I can eat now with reckless abandon, but I have been able to add some foods back into my diet that were causing me problems before.

What else have I been up to? Well, I won't be writing about any big trips this year because my husband and I elected not to take a big summer vacation this year like we always do. Why is that? Well, because we just moved to Ann Arbor.

A horrible, sweaty picture of my husband and me post-run in front of our new house

I have always loved this town. This is both a physically, culturally, and politically active community, and as such, I have felt more motivated to get out of the house and get moving. I can now walk and ride my bike to places, whereas before, our neighborhood was not conducive to walking or bike riding. 

I also recently left my social media coordinator position with NCTE due to some reorganization they've been doing, but no worries because I accepted a full time position at my school next year. I will be teaching my regular 8th grade English classes, but then I will also be the K-8 librarian! To say I'm excited would be an understatement.

Since things seem to be falling into place, I'm hoping to start writing more regular posts here on the blog, especially food and book-related posts. Travel? Those posts will likely continue to be few and far between unfortunately.

The World on a Plate: 40 Cuisines, 100 Recipes, and the Stories Behind Them by Mina Holland

When we eat, we travel. 

And with that, Mina Holland lays out the thesis for The World on a Plate in the very first sentence. It's like beginning a piece of music on a crescendo. Unexpected and somewhat jarring, but certainly attention-grabbing. And every single chapter begins with these attention-grabbing statements that compel you to keep reading.

While not a cookbook in the strict sense of the word, The World on a Plate contains enough recipes to be considered a cookbook. But it is so much more than a cookbook. It's filled with history, culture, personal stories, and most importantly, decadent food writing.

I learned so much from reading The World on a Plate, most importantly, how to make a decent pomodoro sauce. Every time I make tomato sauce, it ends up tasting too acidic and raw, no matter how long I cook it or how much garlic and herbs I add to it. But Mina Holland teaches you the trick to the perfect tomato sauce with only three ingredients. She shares Marcella Hazan's recipe from the book The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking:

The Ultimate Tomato Sauce

Serves 4

2 yellow or white onions, halved
2 x 14 oz cans plum tomatoes
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
salt to taste

Lay onions cut-side down in a big saucepan. Pour tomatoes over the top, throw in the butter, cover and cook on low for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally, blending in melted butter and gently crushing the whole tomatoes to a pulp. About 20 minutes into the cooking process you will begin to smell the flavors melding. 

I ended up using an immersion blender because I like a smooth tomato sauce, and I found this sauce to be a bit too chunky for my taste, so I think the next time I make this, I will true using canned crushed tomatoes instead of whole tomatoes. I also added oregano because I like my pasta sauce to have so Italian herbs in it. However you choose to doctor this up, just know that the richness from the butter and the sweetness from the onion is what makes the flavors come together.

Overall, The World on a Plate is a perfect read for someone like me who loves food and loves to travel. As Holland says in the introduction, food is a common language and it shapes our memory. It's hard to imagine talking about a culture without talking about its food. This is one book where I felt like I learned a lot and also enjoyed the beautiful writing. As evidenced by the myriad post-it flags, I will definitely be referring to this book for recipes, food information, and also a mentor text for really great writing.


The World on a Plate: 40 Cuisines, 100 Recipes, and the Stories Behind Them by Mina Holland
Publisher: Penguin
Published: May 26, 2015
Pages: 367
Genre: Nonfiction/Cookery
Audience: Adults
Disclosure: Review copy provided by publisher

If you buy this book or any book through Amazon, it is my hope that you also regularly patronize independent bookstores, which are important centerpieces of thriving communities. While I am an Amazon Affiliate, that by no means implies that I only buy my books through their website. Please make sure you are still helping small, independent bookstores thrive in your community. To locate an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound. 

I'm bringin' foodie back...

As I've stated a few times here on the blog, I have been a bit mum about food lately due to the fact that my IBS issues seemed to have amped up over the past couple of years and I have been working to get them under better control. Plus, those food issues were compounded with my return to teaching after a year off. So not only did I have to be more diligent about my eating, but I had to do so while also navigating my way back into the classroom.

Now that summer vacation is here, I feel like it's time to sample, play, and experiment again.

This post goes to show what one week of freedom can do for a person.

Last weekend my husband and I drove to Traverse City, Michigan for our anniversary. Thanks to people like Mario Batali, this city has been put on the map as a foodie destination. While we were there, we ate at a Batali-recommended restaurant called The Cooks' House, which feels much like the name describes. It is an intimate space that gives you the impression of having dinner at a friends' house rather than a restaurant, with seating for about 25 people. The food is locally-sourced and embraces the seasons, with a blackboard in the dining room displaying the names of the purveyors they patronize.

If I'm being completely honest though, most of the dishes we actually ordered at The Cooks' House did not bowl me over. The salad I ordered tasted like I just walked into the woods and started eating

Dinner at The Cooks' House: They spoiled us with their amuse bouche

plants. There was barely any dressing and there were no complementary flavors to try to balance the bitterness of the wild, foraged greens. The main dishes were all heavy and meat-centric, with no vegetarian option. The one saving grace was the appetizer of pasta carbonara we ordered, which was not only delicious and perfectly seasoned, but we could clearly tell the pasta was house-made.

While I wasn't a fan of most of our meal, what I thought The Cooks' House did amazingly well was the little amuse bouche they bring between courses. Their after dinner amuse bouche was a variety of little nibbles, but the one thing that I went gaga over was the kettle corn with ground fennel. I loved it so much that our waiter graciously brought me over a second helping.

So if I could offer The Cooks' House one suggestion, it would be to put more of the little bites on their menu and don't focus so much on the heavy meat dishes and flavorless salads.



*~*~*~*~*


Upon our return home from our anniversary weekend, my husband and I needed to go grocery shopping, but with barely any food in the house, we decided to eat out for lunch. We drove to downtown Ann Arbor since it's near the Whole Foods where we shop, and we ate a place called the

Pho and ginger tea streetside at Ginger Deli in Ann Arbor

Ginger Deli. This is where I tried pho for the first time, a Vietnamese broth and rice noodle dish. I know, I know. I shouldn't be allowed to call myself a foodie having never tried pho before, but the opportunity just never presented itself.

Having finally tried it, I now understand why it has such a cult-like discipleship. The broth! That magical broth! I don't know how to describe the beautiful balance of sweet and savory in a beef broth, but boy will I be seeking out more opportunities to have pho in the future.


*~*~*~*~*

Last night my husband and I decided to try a new restaurant in Ypsilanti called the Bona Sera Cafe. They used to be an underground supper club and turned into a brick and mortar restaurant. Overall, the experience was really positive. They have a great, funky atmosphere, as evidenced by the Elvis lamp that greets you when you walk in the door. Incidentally, the electricity went out midway through our first course, and despite this huge setback, the kitchen and waitstaff rallied and were still able to provide patrons food service.

While my husband and I weren't in love with our main entrees -- he ordered the crab mac and cheese and I ordered something called the bi bada bing, which is an Italian riff on a traditional Korean dish -- what I absolutely fell head over heels in love with was my salad and dessert.

Bona Sera Cafe: Fun and funky, with good food

I ordered the orange salad which obviously came with orange segments, it also had arugula, shaved onion, and a white balsamic vinaigrette. There's something so poetic about a perfectly executed salad and that's what this was. It was dressed to the point where you could taste the oil and vinegar but the salad wasn't dripping in it. And it was salted! Never underestimate the power of salting a salad. And this tasted like a beautifully delicate, flaky sea salt. This was the salad experience I was missing at The Cooks' House last weekend.

But let's not forget dessert. I ordered the lime tres leches cake. I am someone who will order anything on a menu if it has lime or lemon in it. I am not usually a fan of rich, heavy chocolate desserts. But I will order something light and citrusy. And the tres leches cake was everything I love in a dessert: light, citrusy, and slightly sinful. You know a tres leches cake is good when the "leche" seeps out the bottom.

Since the Bona Sera Cafe has such a fun, funky vibe and chefs who are passionate about food, I look forward to trying it again to see what their menu is like in the fall/winter. I think if they tweak a few things, they will be a hot spot in the Ann Arbor area.

A Fine Dessert: Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat by Emily Jenkins, illustrated by Sophie Blackall

From Goodreads:
In 1710, a girl and her mother in Lyme, England, prepare a blackberry fool, picking wild blackberries and beating cream from their cow with a bundle of twigs. The same dessert is prepared by a slave girl and her mother in 1810 in Charleston, South Carolina; by a mother and daughter in 1910 in Boston; and finally by a boy and his father in present-day San Diego. 

A Fine Dessert, written by prolific children's book author Emily Jenkins, is told from an interesting perspective. Instead of a character, it is told from the perspective of an age-old dessert: blackberry fool. And what the reader is likely to notice as they progress through the story is that as life changes and society changes, the dessert stays the same.

Kids will notice obvious societal changes throughout the story such as the evolution of kitchen utensils, going from a wooden whisk, metal rotary beaters, and finally an electric mixer. But there are also subtle changes in the narrative that might be less obvious to kids, such as how the roles of women and men in the home have changed. There is also a greater emphasis on equality and diversity by the end of the story as one notices that the interaction between people of different backgrounds and races is vastly different. This type of progress might be obvious to adults, but to kids it is likely less so, which would make it a great book for discussion in an intermediate classroom. But what I most love about A Fine Dessert is that it is another reminder to us all that food, like family, is steeped in story.

Sophie Blackall's illustrations are soothing and pleasing to the eye and while visually the emphasis is not on the dessert per se, but more on the people, the book is still likely to make you want to run to the store to gather ingredients for blackberry fool. Luckily, the book includes the recipe at the end, and it is simple enough that it would be perfect to make with your kids.

A Fine Dessert:  Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat by Emily Jenkins, illustrated by Sophie Blackall
Published: January 27, 2015
Publisher: Schwartz and Wade
Pages: 44
Genre/Format: Picture Book/Historical Fiction
Disclosure: Library Copy

If you buy this book or any book through Amazon, it is my hope that you also regularly patronize independent bookstores, which are important centerpieces of thriving communities. While I am an Amazon Affiliate, that by no means implies that I only buy my books through their website. Please make sure you are still helping small, independent bookstores thrive in your community. To locate an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound.   

Tapas in Ann Arbor: Aventura is my foodie happy place

I recently discovered while having dinner with my husband at a new Spanish tapas restaurant in Ann Arbor why I consider myself a foodie.

It was close to the end of our meal during our second visit to Aventura, and I was describing all of the nuanced and complementary flavors that were occurring in all of the dishes we ordered, when I said to my husband, "This is why I love food. Because when it's done artfully and with passion, it is a heightened sensory experience. And as a writer, English teacher, and lover of words, nothing gets me more excited than to describe all these flavors and textures."

Since Aventura's opening a little over a year ago, my husband and I have dined there four times and not one of those four times has been disappointing. In fact, quite the opposite. Each time my love for this restaurant grows and grows. We were elated over the opening of a Spanish tapas bar in Ann Arbor since the closing of our favorite tapas place in Royal Oak, which had the best sangria of any place on the entire planet. Even Aventura's sangria, while good (it's more spicy and herbaceous than fruity), can't hold a candle to the sangria of our former favorite tapas place, appropriately enough called Sangria.

But what Aventura's sangria lacks, they more than make up for it in their food. While our former favorite tapas place had good food, when stacked up against Aventrua, it isn't even a fair fight. They have managed to create dishes that sound unusual enough to question the sanity of the chef, but not so much that you're not curious enough to try it. A perfect example of this is their dessert called Tarta Basura, which is described thusly:

pretzel crust, caramel, chocolate ganache, shoestring potato chips, buttered popcorn ice cream


We ordered this dessert in addition to TWO others when my husband and I took a friend to Aventura a couple weekends ago. The other two desserts were good (the dipping sauces that accompany the

Tarta Basura, Brown Butter Cake, and Churros

churros are out of this world:  espresso chocolate sauce, crème anglaise, salted caramel) but the Tarta Basura with its variety of textures and its perfect balance of salty and sweet was the star of our self-created dessert flight.

In addition to unusual food combinations, another superlative of Aventura is that I have felt bold enough to try dishes that include foods I normally despise because they handle food with such care and passion. The Brussels sprouts are charred just enough to bring out a lovely umami flavor without any of that mushy, sulfuric taste/texture combination so many of us are still traumatized from experiencing when our moms forced us to eat them as children. A weekly special during a recent visit included a roasted sweet potato dish with green onions, garlic, and feta cheese. Once again, I am not a fan of sweet potatoes, but I knew from my experience with their Brussels sprouts that if anyone could change my

Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes: two things I normally hate are stellar at Aventura

mind about my distaste for them, Aventura could. And sure enough, I was right. Now I'm slightly upset that I ordered this dish since it was a special and can't go back and order it again. I told our server that they need to put that dish on the regular menu.

Speaking of servers, let's talk about them, shall we? They are, quite simply, some of the best, most knowledgeable servers you will ever encounter in a restaurant. Clearly they are asked to sample the dishes as part of their training and education because their enticing descriptions of the food comes from a place of sincerity and enthusiasm. It feels more like I'm having a conversation with another food enthusiast rather than the typical restaurant experience where the only time you talk to your server is to tell them what you want and to inform them when you need more of something. Because of that feeling of amiability and collegiality, you also can feel comfortable enough to tell them when something in a dish isn't working. I remember the second time I visited Aventura, our waiter was so personable that I felt compelled to tell him that I enjoyed my chorizo, kale, bean, and potato soup, but I would have liked it better if the kale had been in smaller pieces running throughout, rather than just in two big chunks. He thanked me for telling him and said, "We appreciate this kind of feedback."

Our most recent visit to Aventura was last Friday to celebrate some really good news I had received that day: I had just been selected as the winner of the most outstanding grad student in the English studies program at my university. My husband and I go to dinner every Friday as it is our date night and we had planned to go to a different restaurant, but when I received this good news and my husband said we should celebrate, I came home from work and said, "Well since we're celebrating ME, then I want to go to Aventura." And so we did.

Cheers!

A long overdue food-related post

As I mentioned in a previous post, the reason I haven't talked about food in a while is because I was going through a rather intense elimination diet to help pinpoint my IBS triggers. I kind of lost the joy of food last year as I attempted to seek out the things that continued to make my digestive system attack itself. Food was strictly utilitarian until I could figure out what was making me so sick all the time.

I'm happy to say that I've finally started to pinpoint the things that were causing me problems, but more importantly, I know better how to manage my eating so that I can indulge in an amazing meal every now and again as long as I practice more restraint in my every day eating habits. For anyone battling IBS and are beginning to feel hopeless about your condition (I know I was), I highly recommend seeking out a nutritionist who can help you with the Low FODMAP diet. It's not a cure or a magic pill, but it is incredibly empowering to understand your body better. I am so thrilled with how much hope this experience has given me.

So, one of the glorious things I've discovered about this diet is that even though lactose is considered a no-no in the beginning total elimination phase, most hard cheeses have virtually no lactose in them, so I was able to indulge in cheese every day with no problems. That was truly my saving grace. I pretty much don't drink milk anymore because it is a huge trigger for me, and have finally discovered a dairy free milk I can tolerate: rice milk. So much so that the other night I mixed it with some Kahlua and couldn't tell the difference between rice milk and regular milk. ;)


I also was told of this delicious, refreshing Low FODMAP salad from the very awesome Raina Telgemeier: pineapple, bell pepper, green onion, with your favorite herbs (I used mint and cilantro).


*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Unrelated to above, last night my husband and I watched The Hundred-Foot Journey and wow! If you are a foodie, that movie is a must-see. It's actually one of the few movies I enjoyed more than the book. I think this is because Helen Mirren played Madame Mallory so much better than the one-dimensional character the narrator made her seem when I listened to the audiobook. Helen Mirren brings out more dimensions in her character than what I experienced listening to the book. Not only that, but you leave the movie feeling absolutely famished. :)

 It probably goes without saying but Chef  is also another must-see movie for foodies. The food porn in it is definitely meant to titillate the senses for sure! Watching both of these movies recently has helped to remind me of why I am a foodie in the first place: because good food is such a rich, sensory experience. As a writer and lover of words, I get excited over the prospect of not only tasting delicious food, but being able to describe it.

Edible Colors by Jennifer Vogel Bass

Did you know that:

broccoli can be purple,
bananas can be red,
and cherries can be yellow? 

As a foodie, I dig books like this. Not only does Jennifer Vogel Bass introduce kids to colors by showing fruits and veggies that we are familiar with like yellow corn, orange carrots, and green cucumbers, but in Edible Colors, she also familiarizes them to unusual, lesser-known varieties of fruits and veggies such as purple carrots, red dacca bananas, blue jade corn, and white queen tomatoes, which Bass grows her in very own garden in New Jersey.

In order for kids to grow up and have a healthy relationship with food, we should be making the process of where food comes from more transparent and less mysterious. As a child, I was an extremely picky eater, and rarely ate vegetables. But food was always something my parents just placed in front of me, never sharing how they made it, where it came from, or involving me in the process. As I grew into adulthood and had to learn to cook for myself, I was tired of my regular bland palate and began educating myself and experimenting with different flavors, textures, and foods. Parents who lament about their kids being picky eaters should start bringing them into the kitchen and garden to broaden their palate and expand their curiosity for a variety of foods.

The fruits and vegetables in Edible Colors are presented in photographs taken against a stark white background to allow for their colors to be the star.  This will undoubtedly make you want to take a trip to the farmers market to hunt down some of the fruits and veggies you may have never seen before. I know I am anxious to seek out a purple bell pepper, a black Spanish radish, and a Buddha's Hand citron after reading this.

Parents looking to expand their children's palate should look no further than Edible Colors.


Edible Colors by Jennifer Vogel Bass
Published: November 4, 2014
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Pages: 32
Genre: Nonfiction Picture Book
Audience: Primary
Disclosure: Library Copy
 
If you buy this book or any book through Amazon, it is my hope that you also regularly patronize independent bookstores, which are important centerpieces of thriving communities. While I am an Amazon Affiliate, that by no means implies that I only buy my books through their website. Please make sure you are still helping small, independent bookstores thrive in your community. To locate an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound. 

Why I haven't talked about food in a while

For a blog about food, books, and travel, I've certainly been neglecting everything but the books lately. The reason I don't always talk about travel is because I don't always get to travel as much as I'd like. But food is another story...

I have suffered from IBS a majority of my life. It started when I was in 7th grade and has manifested itself in different ways over the years. I haven't had it so severe though that it has impacted my day to day life... until recently. My lowest point was this past June when I was on vacation with my husband and some dear friends in Northern California, a culinary wonderland, and I barely ate the whole time because I felt so horrible. That was the moment I knew something had to change -- and I started with changing my doctors. I decided I was tired of going to doctors who would only prescribe some medication or, to appease me, test me for something, tell me the results were negative, and then never follow-up. I decided to go to a place where doctors are in-the-know because research is happening all the time: a university health system.

My new gastroenterologist put me in touch with a nutritionist and for the past 8 weeks I have been on a low FODMAP diet. FODMAPs are different types of sugars that are not absorbed well in the small intestine and for people with IBS, this is what causes so many of our unfortunate gastrointestinal symptoms. I have to admit that when I first heard about this diet I was dubious. I had been living with this disorder for so long and dealing with my fear of being in an inopportune place when an attack came that I just assumed that this was my lot in life. While no means a cure, I have discovered that I now am understanding my body better than I ever have. I am finally understanding which foods trigger my symptoms and how I can better manage what I eat so I don't have to worry about whether or not I can go somewhere after dinner for fear of having an attack.

I am so grateful to my doctor and nutritionist at the University of Michigan and I highly recommend giving this diet a try if you suffer from IBS -- though I wouldn't suggest going it alone. Being under the care and guidance of a nutritionist has helped educate me on how this process works. And the process is ever-evolving, which is why I am so happy that I now have a doctor who cares enough to follow up with me rather than just testing me for something, telling me nothing's wrong, and then never attempting to seek further answers. So for those of you out there who are suffering from any kind of health ailment and the doctors aren't giving you answers, I say to you: find a doctor who will keep fighting right along with you. It makes a world of difference.

Book event: Kathleen Flinn talks about Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good at Nicola's Books

Kathleen Flinn is the bestselling author of The Sharper Your Knife the Less You Cry as well as The Kitchen Counter Cooking School. This week her newest memoir, Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good: A Memoir of Food and Love from an American Midwest Family, hit shelves. Since Flinn is from Michigan, she did an event at Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor on Wednesday and regaled attendees with stories from her life as a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu in Paris as well as her family history and how her love of food and storytelling came about.

What I loved so deeply about Flinn's newest memoir, is that it really speaks to this idea of food being a catalyst for storytelling. I envision using this book as a mentor text with my students to get them thinking about telling their own family stories. They could bring in a family recipe and not just talk about the dish, but also the story behind it, because truly, all family recipes have a story. And each chapter of this book is Flinn doing just that: taking family recipe and sharing its story with great panache, love, and humor. If I can transfer that love and humor somehow to my students' writing, I envision a classroom full of students with open hearts and watering mouths. 

Author, chef, and maker of balloon animals, Kathleen Flinn shares a lovely, intimate evening at Nicola's Books

Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good: A Memoir of Food and Love from an American Midwest Family by Kathleen Flinn
Published: August 18, 2014
Publisher: Viking
Pages: 267
Genre: Memoir
Audience: Adults
Disclosure: Review copy provided by publisher

My Culinary Achilles Heel

I am a sucker for a runny egg yolk. Not only do I love over-easy eggs for breakfast, but there aren't many savory main dishes that can't be improved by the inclusion of a runny egg. Salads, burgers, pizza... you name it. If a dish includes fried or poached egg on top, I'm most likely ordering it.

There's just something so sensual about taking a perfectly cooked egg, poking it with your fork or knife, and watching that golden liquid ooze out onto your plate.

It's the same kind of pleasure one gets from taking that first crack at the sugared crust of creme brulee.

What kinds of things are you a sucker for on a restaurant menu?

Food Trucks! by Mark Todd

Food trucks have become the new, hip way to eat on the go, and in this collection of poems, Mark Todd explores some of the different types of cuisines and themes most commonly found in food trucks. Everything from barbeque to clam chowder, Todd manages to create both delightful poems and endearing illustrations. Given that food trucks in real-life often have personalities all their own, why not create a book a picture book with illustrations of anthropomorphized food trucks? Seems legit. And despite how strange it sounds in premise, it somehow works.

Included among the poems and illustrations are real-life food truck facts peppered throughout the book. Just a word of warning: this book will make you hungry so don't read it if it's been many hours since your last meal. 


Food Trucks! by Mark Todd 
Published: June 3, 2014
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Pages: 32
Genre: Picture Book/Poetry
Audience: Primary/Middle Grade
Disclosure: Library Copy

If you buy this book or any book through Amazon, it is my hope that you also regularly patronize independent bookstores, which are important centerpieces of thriving communities. While I am an Amazon Affiliate, that by no means implies that I only buy my books through their website. Please make sure you are still helping small, independent bookstores thrive in your community. To locate an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound.  

Carla's Comfort Foods: Favorite Dishes from Around the World by Caral Hall

Having read so many cookbooks in my life, at this point, it's difficult to find ones with new and different perspectives. Which is why I was so excited to read Carla's Comfort Foods: Favorite Dishes from Around the World. The premise of this book is that all cultures have their own versions of comfort foods and if you look at the base recipes, many are similar. In the southern U.S. we have grits, in Italy, it's polenta. In Spain they have paella; in Latin America it's arroz con pollo.

So rather than the typical cookbook layout of appetizers, main dishes, desserts, etc. Carla's Comfort Foods is laid out by different types of dishes (tomato soups, creamy soups, slaws, pickles, rice, potatoes, seafood, etc.) and each individual dish is labeled with the culture that dish came from at the top of the page. Hall also includes a handy-dandy chart at the beginning of the book to help readers see what herbs and spices are most prevalent in each type of cuisine.

Something else Carla Hall does in this cookbook that home cooks will appreciate is she adjusts ingredients for the home cook. Despite the fact that these are dishes from other cultures, Hall wants to make shopping for ingredients as painless as possible, so she has made sure to swap out hard to find ingredients with those that are easier to find in regular grocery stores. Some may criticize this move as inauthentic and a cop out, but I see it as Hall catering to her audience and knowing that she wants her cookbook to be used, not put on the bookshelf and never opened again.

I've only tried one recipe from this book so far but I will definitely be trying more. I made an Indian rice dish that was so full of spice and flavor that I will be adding it to my rotation of favorite side dishes. I've included the recipe below.

I want to thank Carla Hall for thinking outside the box and creating a new and unique cookbook concept. After reading through the wonderful recipes in Carla's Comfort Foods, I will definitely check out anything else she publishes in the future.


Chitrana Peanut-Coconut Rice

Serves 8

2 cups basmati rice, rinsed
Kosher salt
1/4 cup roasted, salted peanuts
2 tablespoons white sesame seeds
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (I used olive oil)
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon crushed chile flakes
2 tablespoons flaked unsweetened coconut
1 tablespoon light or dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons torn fresh basil leaves

Bring a large saucepan of water a boil. Add the rice along with 1 & 1/2 teaspoons salt. Boil, like pasta, until tender, about ten minutes. Drain thoroughly and spread out on a large baking sheet to cool and dry (I didn't follow this step to the letter. Instead, I cooked the rice in the rice cooker and didn't drain it because all the liquid had been cooked out).

Meanwhile, grind the peanuts and sesame seeds together in the spice grinder. Transfer to small skillet and toast over medium heat until fragrant (about three minutes), stirring frequently. Transfer to a plate to cool.

In a large dutch oven, melt the butter over medium-low heat and add the garlic. Cook and stir until fragrant, about one minute. Add the mustard seeds and chile flakes and cook for thirty seconds. Then stir in coconut, brown sugar, turmeric, lemon zest, peanut-sesame blend, and rice. Continue stirring until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is heated through. Fold in the basil and lemon juice and serve immediately.


Carla's Comfort Foods: Favorite Dishes from Around the World by Carla Hall
Published: April 1, 2014
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 240
Genre: Cookery
Audience: Adults
Disclosure: Library Copy
 
If you buy this book or any book through Amazon, it is my hope that you also regularly patronize independent bookstores, which are important centerpieces of thriving communities. While I am an Amazon Affiliate, that by no means implies that I only buy my books through their website. Please make sure you are still helping small, independent bookstores thrive in your community. To locate an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound.  

Coqueta San Francisco & Bottega Napa Valley

My husband and I just returned from a trip to Northern California with some friends of ours and experienced two amazing meals while we were there, both at restaurants owned by Michael Chiarello.

Coqueta is a Spanish tapas restaurant located in San Francisco and Bottega is an upscale Italian eatery in Napa Valley.

While both meals were memorable, the service and food at Bottega were nothing short of amazing; it is a whole dining experience, not just a place for great food. The waitstaff are some of the most knowledgeable and attentive I have ever experienced. And the food? Indescribable. The ricotta

Enjoying our meal at Bottega. You MUST order the ricotta gnocchi!

gnocchi are little pillows of heaven, just as my friend described and has been talking about for the past three years since her first visit to Bottega. She worried that as much as she and her husband have been talking this place up for the past three years that it wouldn't live up to their near mythic descriptions. Turns out it was BETTER than they had described.

Our waiter at Bottega, Scotty, was one of the best waiters I have ever had at a restaurant. He didn't just wait on us, but entertained and educated us at the same time. It felt like we were having dinner with a really great friend who loved food rather than someone waiting on us at a restaurant. I even learned something new from him that night: if you're baking with chocolate and you can smell it, you've already lost a majority of the flavor since it is such a volatile ingredient. Which is why, when you order the chocolate lava cake at Bottega, it comes out to you wrapped in parchment paper, and the server makes a show of unwrapping it and wafting the chocolate scent right to your nose. It is quite a sight to behold.



I don't, however, want to leave out Coqueta from this conversation, which was also an unforgettable dining experience. One of the friends we were traveling with has two severe food allergies that make it almost impossible to eat out. However, the chef, manager, and waitstaff at

Tapas at Coqueta

Coqueta were extremely attentive and vigilant about making sure she would be safe eating there -- even providing her with a personalized menu that the chef went over and crossed out items that would not be safe for her to eat. I could go over every single thing we ordered and tell you how absolutely amazing they all were, but this would be really long blog post. Rather that describe every dish, I'll just say that if you're in Northern California and you're looking for a memorable dining experience, you can't go wrong with either one of these two options. Not only will the food impress and wow you, but you will be well taken care of. The staff at both of these restaurants are passionate about food and want to share that passion with their customers. You get the sense that the people working for Michael Chiarello are not working on fall-back careers. Food IS their career and that is refreshing to see.

Playing with vegetarian/vegan dishes

I am not a vegetarian or vegan, but I have recently become obsessed with making more vegetable-centric dishes. I see it as a challenge. Last week I made two vegetarian dishes that I definitely plan on keeping in my arsenal. I don't have recipes for them per se, I just improvised and threw a bunch of stuff together, as I always seem to do lately in the kitchen.

Curried farro with red pepper, green onion, dried cranberries, and pecans

I love the variety of tastes and textures going on in this dish. Bascially, the dish is what the title says. You can cook the farro in water or broth, then add a sprinkle of curry powder and cumin. Mix in the red pepper, green onions, dried cranberries, and pecans. Serve room temperature or cold.


Grilled romaine with pecorino and red pepper dressing alongside kale and lemon spaghetti

Who says meatless dishes can't be meaty? Any time you grill a vegetable, that smokiness will often give it a meaty quality. I cut the romaine head in half longways in order to get even more char on it and then drizzled the red pepper dressing over it and shaved some pecorino over top. To make the red pepper dressing I used Ajeeka, a raw red pepper and garlic sauce, and just mixed that with extra virgin olive oil. It's very simple but probably my favorite salad dressing. 

Mayim's Vegan Table by Mayim Bialik

I have been tackling many vegan cookbooks as of late, not because I want to become a full-time vegan, but because I am looking for more ways to add plant-based main dishes into my diet. Out of all the vegan cookbooks I've read and tried, I have to say that Mayim's Vegan Table is my favorite thus far. Bialik and Dr. Jay Gordon spend a lot of time in the introduction talking about the vegan lifestyle and dispelling some of the myths that go along with it. Unlike previous vegan cookbooks I've read, Bialik and Gordon don't gloss over and/or dismiss the fact that making the decision to become vegan is a difficult one. They are candid and straightforward about what a difficult and time-consuming decision this can be in those first few months. So the fact that they were real about it rather than trying to sweep the elephant in the room under the rug, to mix my metaphors here, was refreshing to say the least.

But more important than their candidness was whether their recipes could stand up to my scrutiny. I've always said if this were a straight up food blog I would call it "The Finicky Foodie" because, while I love good food and trying new things, I'm still a picky eater at heart. Well I'm here to say that the recipes in Mayim's Vegan Table are quite good and definitely worth a try. I've had a few misses, but on the whole, most of the recipes I tried not only turned out successful, but were ones that I'll make again.

One such recipe is Bialik's Quinoa Burgers. I'm here to tell you that I really dislike anything that tries to be something it's not. And while this recipe has burger in  the name, it's really more of a quinoa patty. You can eat it like a burger with a bun and all the fixins, but it's not really going to fool anyone into believing it's an actual burger. The difference between this burger and those frozen fake meat burgers at the grocery store is that with ingredients like potato and quinoa, this isn't trying to be a meat substitute. It's a sturdier version of a potato pancake more than a burger, truth be told. And that's when vegan recipes are more successful and delicious in my mind: when they celebrate what they are rather than what they're not. So with that said, I don't recommend the mac and "cheese" recipe. It mimicked the creamy texture of something along the lines of Velveeta shells and cheese, but the taste was much too earthy and sour to feel like you were eating an acceptable substitute to real mac and cheese.

quinoa "burgers"

I also gave one of Bialik's desserts a try, her chocolate fudge cake that used silken tofu for the frosting. The cupcakes were good at first, but the longer they sat (and I'm talking hours here, not days), the stranger the texture became. A few people who tried the cake even commented on the fact that it dried out your mouth after a few minutes. It was also shinier and had a much bigger crumble than a traditional cake. And while it was pretty good hot out of the oven, I have to say, the quality of the taste and texture deteriorated after a few hours, so I'm not going to recommend this chocolate cake recipe to anyone any time soon.

These vegan chocolate cupcakes are good out of the oven, but the texture gets less appealing the longer they set

I will, however, highly recommend the quinoa burgers, and will post the recipe right now:

Quinoa "Burgers" 

Serves: 4

1 large russet potato, peeled and diced
1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon tried oregano
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 350. Place the potato in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to boil and then simmer for 12 minutes or until tender. Drain.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine quinoa and 3 cups of water and bring to boil. Lower the heat to low and simmer, covered, until all the water is absorbed, about 10-15 minutes.
3. In a large bowl, mix the cooked potato and quinoa with all the remaining ingredients except the oil. Shape into four 3-inch diameter patties.
4. In a 10-inch skillet, heat the oil over high heat. Place each patty in the oil and fry until browned on both sides, about 2 minutes. Remove the patties and place them in an oven-safe dish. Pat the patties with a paper towel to remove excess oil.
5. Bake for 10 minutes.


Mayim's Vegan Table by Mayim Bialik with Dr. Jay Gordon
Published: February 11, 2014
Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books
Pages: 256
Genre: Cookery
Audience: Adults
Disclosure: Purchased Copy

Slurping Turtle Ann Arbor

Last night my husband and I drove to downtown Ann Arbor, as we often do on Friday nights, and decided to give a brand new restaurant a try. And when I say brand new, I mean brand new. It only just opened on April 21st in what used to be the Borders flagship store. The restaurant is called Slurping Turtle, a unique, memorable name for a unique, memorable restaurant.

Chef and owner Takashi Yagihashi who has competed on shows like Iron Chef America and Top Chef, opened the original Slurping Turtle in Chicago but decided to expand his concept to Michigan. The menu consists of Asian tapas, ramen, and sushi. Just like the communal tables at Slurping Turtle, the menu is designed to be shared, as evidenced by their gigantic bowls of ramen that easily serve two. My husband and I decided to order a few tapas and then shared a bowl of ramen and I was more than satisfied with the amount of food we had. Of course, that might also have something to do with the fact that we ordered THREE desserts as well. But with a dessert menu like this, it was really hard to choose just one:

Well, I'm not so sure about the Iron Chef Egg Shooter, but everything else sounds delicious. ;) 

All of the dishes we ordered at Slurping Turtle are ones that I will crave until the next time we eat there. The pork belly bao were soft and pillowy and had just the right amount of sweet and sour. The homemade ramen noodles were perfectly al-dente. And then there was the desserts. We ordered the macarons, black sesame ice cream, and the green tea cream puffs. All three of them were delicious, but my favorite were the green tea cream puffs. More than anything else, those cream puffs are what I will be craving until  our next visit.

Left to right: Slurping Turtle, green tea cream puff, roasted chicken shoyu ramen, my husband slurping said ramen, black sesame ice cream, macarons (kafir lime, sesame chocolate, and raspberry-wasabi), and bao (shrimp, chicken, and pork belly)

Slurping Turtle isn't quite up to full speed yet: they currently only have a dinner service and they have yet to procure their liquor license, but even operating at less than 100%, the food and service were wonderful. I would go back in a heartbeat, and most likely will over and over again. If  they continue with their wonderful food and great service, most likely Slurping Turtle will be added to my list of favorite restaurants in Ann Arbor.

A special delivery

This past weekend some friends of ours were returning home from a trip to Chicago and since we live on their way home, they were nice enough to special deliver dinner for us (keep in mind that we live in Southeastern Michigan, about 4 hours from Chicago):

Xoco and Sprinkles Cupcakes

The sandwich drowning in a spicy tomato broth is called "Torta Ahogada" but I prefer to call it "Torta Oh-My-God-A." It has pork carnitas, pickled onions, and black beans, but the magic of the sandwich is dunking it that spicy tomato broth.

Now those are great friends -- not only ones who are willing to deliver you dinner and dessert from four hours away, but who understand the mantra "Will travel for food."They didn't think it was the least bit crazy to deliver us dinner from four hours away. In fact, they suggested it. I guess that's why we're going to San Francisco with them in June - so we can eat our way from one end of the city to the other!