Well, I had a very spiritual book picked out for this week, and I definitely plan to write about it soon. But . . . have you heard the saying “When the student is ready, the teacher appears”? (I think that’s a koan, but I’m not sure.) So there I was at the library a few days ago, looking at the new books display at the top of the stairs as I always do, and here was this one. I love books about chefs. (Although I found Blood, Bones and Butter to be supremely put-down-able.) The organic part doesn’t interest me all that much, I’m not too sorry to say, but I was intrigued by the author because we used to live right outside Washington D.C. and I’d heard of her restaurant there. Not that we ever went–it’s pretty pricey. But I thought it might be fun to read at least some of it. Well, I was hooked right away. It says that she has a “with” author, so I guess Nora herself can’t take all the credit for the beautiful vivid writing, but it’s really a great read.
Food
My Abstainer Tendencies Get Me into Trouble
If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that I’m a huge fan of Gretchen Rubin. I’ve read her three books on happiness and habits numerous times, and I hear my voice in my head as I do so. One of her key insights, especially relevant when it comes to healthy eating habits, is the divide between what she calls “moderators” and “abstainers.” (She and her sister have started doing a weekly podcast called “Happier with Gretchen Rubin,” and I was tickled that today’s episode includes a segment about whether or not to keep ice cream in the freezer which centers around this very divide.) I am mostly an abstainer, just like the listener who called in with the ice cream question, which means that I do better at controlling bad habits when I just abstain entirely, or almost entirely, from them. I do find it possible to eat just one chocolate truffle. And my little “eat only one dessert a week” mantra also works pretty well. BUT . . . if I overstep those bounds very much at all then I plunge into trouble. I can’t break the rules just a little bit; I break them a lot.
Unconscious Consumption
Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More than We Think by Brian Wansink, Ph.D., Bantam Books, 2006, new editions available along with new resources. Check out Dr. Wansink’s website at mindlesseating.org. You can even get a free refrigerator magnet!
I can’t believe that I haven’t written about this book before now. There are later editions, but I made sure to use the cover image from the version I have because I love the use of the pitchfork and shovel as eating implements. Once you read this book (read this book!) you will never again think that we eat only because we’re hungry.
Life Lessons from a Chef
Are you a fan of the PBS TV show “A Chef’s Life“? Lots of people are. The star of the series is Vivian Howard, a young woman who is immensely talented in the kitchen but who is also immensely talented in front of the camera. (That’s not actually a picture of her. I’m very wary of posting pictures of celebrities without permission.) I’m sure that part of her popularity comes from her willingness to be filmed in the midst of various crises, where she often does not maintain her cool. She also often says something that I say: “What was I thinking?” She’ll come up with a menu for some big event and then realize that she has put herself and her long-suffering staff on the spot, trying to make and plate some menu item that is completely impractical given the situation. It all seems completely genuine and unstaged, and I believe that it is. I am typically very sympathetic to the fixes she lands herself in, and she doesn’t have the option that I have of deciding at some point to cut an item or two. If it’s on the menu or the program, she has to do it, no matter what.
Don’t Make Food into an Idol or an Addiction
I just finished lunch a little while ago. a totally scrumptious bowlful of lentil-and-vegetable-and sausage salad with my homemade creamy Italian dressing. I enjoyed every bite. And now, if I’m wise, I’ll consider myself to be off the eating bandwagon until dinner, at which time there will be another good meal, perhaps some spinach lasagna with whole-wheat pasta. Or we might go out, it being Friday night and all.
A First-Person Account of a Dreadful Disease
Cheating Destiny: Living with Diabetes, America’s Biggest Epidemic by James S. Hirsch, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006.
I had been reminded of this book when I got some rather unsettling news about my blood sugar back at the beginning of this year, but I couldn’t remember the title and my Google searches under “diabetes memoir” were unsuccessful. As I’ve been consciously monitoring my blood sugar levels over the past few weeks I’ve been reminded of it again, and for some reason this time I was able to track it down. Hirsch is a journalist and author. He is also a type 1 diabetic and already had been planning to write a book about the disease when his 3-year-old son was diagnosed with the same condition. (Or disease. There’s some controversy as to what label diabetes should have.)
A Happy Perspective on Food
Just finished a fascinating book mostly about food and our relationship to it. Frank Bruni, who was the restaurant critic for the New York Times from 2004-2009, spent most of his life battling his weight. He grew up in an Italian-American family that put great emphasis on having mounds of food available at any and all times. If there wasn’t enough food on the table to make it sag, then there wasn’t enough. As Bruni moved into young adulthood he tried amphetamines, forced vomiting, and other extremely unhealthy measures to control his weight. After college he became a journalist, and at one point he was following George W. Bush on his campaign trail. He calculated that there were eight meals served daily to the press corps in an effort to keep them (literally) fat and happy so that they’d report positively on the candidate.
How to start a restaurant and live to tell about it.
Delancey : A Man, A Woman, A Restaurant, A Marriage by Molly Wizenberg, Simons & Schuster, 2014.I try to remind myself periodically that every single business, whether part of a chain or not, large or small, scruffy or classy, is the product of someone’s vision and hard work. There’s a couple in our church who recently opened a franchised consignment women’s clothing store, and it was quite a process, from obtaining a location to getting a small business loan. (For instance, the man had quit his job so that he could concentrate on opening the business, but the bank wouldn’t give him a loan unless he had a job. But his job was going to be the business. I think he had to go back to work to get the loan so that he could then quit. Or something like that. It was incredibly complicated.) Once the store actually opened the real work began. It seems completely impossible to me; I guess I’m just not all that entrepreneurial.
An Easier Version of Julia Child’s Beef Burgundy
I hope to add a better picture the next time I make this. It’s a great family dinner, but it also works very well for company, especially if you want to have a make-ahead meal. I made this for an after-church Sunday lunch and it was great.