My friend Jill O'Connor knows a thing or two or three about baking, desserts and sweet treats. As a pastry chef, she knows the why and how, and she brings her professional expertise into the home kitchen. She's also a mom, a newspaper food columnist and a cookbook author, all of which add generous dollops of down-to-earth perspective to the recipes ...
Cookbook Reviews
Chile-Spiked Chocolate Pots: Luscious Easy Dessert from The Chile Pepper Bible
I fell in love with chiles and the heat they bring to the kitchen and the table during my time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand. Chile peppers may have originated botanically in my particular portion of the world, but here in the American South, we never did take to them much in terms of everyday cooking. Exceptions abound, particularly in ...
Sunday Suppers: Cynthia Graubart’s Cookbook Shows the Way
Do you have good memories of regular family meals, gathered around the table, but find it difficult to make that happen nowadays? For many of us, it's a scene we'd love to see, but the logistics, the preparations, the decisions and the details sink the idea before we even get started. That's why Cynthia Graubart wrote her latest cookbook: Sunday ...
“Cake: I Love You!” Is One Brilliant, Beautiful, Must-Have Cookbook
If you love sweet treats, beautiful irresistible desserts, simple home-made goodies, and elegant expressions of the professional pastry chef's genius, you will love Jill O'Connor and her latest cookbook. Entitled Cake, I Love You: Decadent, Delectable, and Do-Able Recipes, this bright, delight-filled book is a whimsical valentine to the pleasures ...
Delicious Chicken Wings, Taiwanese-Style, from Cathy Erway’s “The Food of Taiwan”
Here is a recipe from my friend Cathy Erway, for fantastically delicious chicken wings. They are san bei ji wings, or three-cup chicken wings, the three referring to the trio of ingredients involved: fabulous: Soy Sauce; Toasted Sesame Oil, and Rice Wine. Fresh basil leaves go in as the dish finishes cooking in a wok, a deep skillet, or a large ...
“Victuals” by Ronni Lundy ( say “Vittles”!): A Rich and Beautiful Cookbook
This handsome, eloquent, meditative and luminous cookbook came from the hands, heart, and mind of my friend Ronni Lundy. She wrote her heart out telling stories and making observations on her home region, the Mountain South. Much mocked, misunderstood, maligned, and marginalized over time, the complex and beautiful Southern Appalachian region ...
“Cooking With Coconut”: A Delicious New Cookbook
I've been in love with coconut since childhood, thanks to the blessing of having a Southern grandmother who loved to cook, and occasional access to candy bars as very special treats. My grandmother's coconut cake was magnificent, and I still make it often, thankful that my sister Linda took time to sit with Grandmother and ask her how to make it. I ...
President Obama’s ‘bun cha’ Supper with Anthony Bourdain: Photos and a Recipe
I love this photograph of President Obama enjoying bun cha for supper with Anthony Bourdain, world-renowned chef, author, and host of delicious food and travel television programs, on his first night in Vietnam. Their supper will be featured in Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown down the road. Can't wait to tune in for the details. I missed this ...
Springtime Supper at Nong’s Thai Kitchen
I'm in Washington DC this week, tagging along on my husband's business trip. He's attending an enormous international conference of scientists, focused on gene therapy, and while he's listening and taking notes in big rooms, I've set up my office in our beautiful hotel room by day, and enjoyed visiting with friends over wonderful food in the ...
Best Cookbooks of 2015: Nancie’s List!
I love cookbooks and could not begin to count how many I have in my kitchen and office, on my bedside table --- even a few in the pantry. Despite this abundance, I take pleasure in finding new ones, and wish I had more time to read them and cook from them each week. The year 2015 brought an exceptional number of new cookbooks and food books into ...
Meet Me in “Nong’s Thai Kitchen” – DC-Area Cookbook Event at Thai Basil
My friend Nongkran Daks is a chef and restaurateur whose cooking and culinary classes at her restaurant Thai Basil have won her dedicated fans, accolades, and great success in the Washington DC area for almost 20 years. Born in Southern Thailand, Nong began cooking to help in the family's catering business when she was all of 8 years old; she made ...
Virginia Willis Lets the Light Shine In with “Lighten Up, Y’all: Classic Southern Recipes Made Healthy and Wholesome”
Any time my friend Virginia Willis writes a cookbook (or a blog post, or shares her recipes in magazines and newspapers, or appears on my TV screen, or at a festival, or on a panel, or at a podium), I know the world and I are in for a glorious treat. Virginia's comprehensive knowledge of all things culinary, from professional and home cooking to ...
Happy Pi-Day! 3-14-15 via Ronni Lundy’s Sorghum Pecan Pie
What a lucky week for me: I was pondering which pie to make in honor and celebration of National Pi Day 2015, and the answer arrived in my mail box. I received a review copy of the brand new book by my friend Ronni Lundy, entitled Sorghum's Savor. Published by University of Florida Press, this book lets Ronni share the story of this heirloom ...
Thankful for “The Banh Mi Handbook”: Useful and Inspiring All Year Long
When The Banh Mi Handbook came out this summer, I couldn't wait to go buy a copy for my kitchen. Was it the cool and compelling subtite: "Recipes for Crazy-Delicious Vietnamese Sandwiches"? Partly? Was it the cool cover, the handsome design, the abundance of recipes I want to make (Caramel Sauce Pulled Pork; Sriracha Aioli; Thai Fried Omelet; Banh ...
Pimento Cheese Crisps: “Pimento Cheese, The Cookbook” by Perre Coleman Magness
Just in time for holiday feasting, snacking, sharing, and celebrating, this smart, inviting new cookbook by my friend Perre Coleman Magness will be getting a workout all holiday season long. That will continue through the year, because it's not just for holiday occasions, but what a boon to have it here now. I've been enjoying ...
“Gluten-Free Girl Every Day” Delivers All-Day-Long Deliciousness to One and All
I've been cooking from a wonderful cookbook which I purchased last year, not because I needed it in terms of my health or my family's, but because 1) I'm interested in baking and in home cooking, 2) My dear friend Trisha and her husband Don have celiac and have been eating gluten free for many years, 3) It is written by my wonderful, brilliant ...
Black History Month Cookbook Round-Up: A Feast for Cooks and Readers
Throughout February, I've been celebrating Black History Month on my Facebook page, with daily postings of cookbooks written by African American authors. I got the idea from my friend Nicole Taylor, who is always cooking up something fine: Check her out at Food Culturist , My Black Journey, @foodculturist, Facebook page, and ...
Back in the USSR with #LetsLunch: Kotleti, Kasha, and Remembrance of Things Past
When I read that this month's #LetsLunch theme would be the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Russian city of Sochi, I rejoiced. Rather than facing a time of pondering and wondering how I would focus my post, I had the perfect answer right on the bedside reading table. Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing had ...
Lunar New Year: Welcoming Spring and the Year of the Horse
Lunar New Year celebrations begin officially this coming Friday evening, when the new moon shows up in the wintry night sky. Unlikely as it may seem to those of us grew up associating the arrival of springtime with daffodils, tulips and the packing away of gloves, scarves and snow boots, this huge Asian cultural celebration welcomes spring. It's a ...
Dinner with “The Lee Bros. Charleston Kitchen”
Ever since I first heard about the Lee Bros. Boiled Peanuts Catalogue in which Matt and Ted Lee offer an abundance of Southern ingredients and foods both by mail order and online, I have been a big fan of Matt and Ted Lee. (About that catalog: It's simply wonderful. I adore it even though I live right here in the South. They actually ...
Rebecca Lang: Around the Southern Table and Sweet Potato Casserole
Holiday season is in full swing in my world, and while the food and cooking are not the only focus, they have always brought me great joy. For me, getting in the kitchen to cook and serve big holiday meals has always been a pleasure and a worthwhile gratifying form of work. Not everybody feels this way, and thank heavens for that! Those of us who ...
“Under the Tuscan Sun Dinner” at Fearrington House with Francis and Edward Mayes
"Under the Tuscan Sun Dinner" at Fearrington House with Francis and Edward Mayes Autumn nudges me toward reflection, and tonight I'm remembering a recent evening full of delights. The time was sunset, two weeks ago today; the setting, the lovely Fearrington House Restaurant, an extraordinary restaurant, inn, and residential community ...
Stir-Fried Cucumber and Pork with Golden Garlic #WokWednesdays
Stir-Fried Cucumber and Pork with Golden Garlic It's been a few Wednesday's since I got around to getting myself organized to join the Wok Wednesdays circle. Missed it, both the connections with fellow cooks and food-lovers, and the tasty and satisfying results that grace (Grace!) our table each time I stir-fry along with all y'all. I am ...
Fearrington House “Under the Tuscan Sun Dinner” with Francis and Edward Mayes
Autumn nudges me toward reflection, and tonight I'm remembering a recent evening full of delights. The time was sunset, two weeks ago today; the setting, the lovely Fearrington House Restaurant, an extraordinary restaurant, inn, and residential community located just a few miles south of Chapel Hill. The occasion was irresistible for me: ...
#Let’sLunch! Sandra Gutierrez’s Chili-Cheese Biscuits with Avocado Butter
When I heard that #LetsLunch ‘s May theme would be cross-cultural culinary creations, I beamed with delight, knowing exactly where to look. My dear friend Sandra Gutierrez’s excellent and powerful new cookbook compares and contrasts Southern and Latin American cuisines. With her deep roots in North Carolina as well as in Latin America, and her ...
Chef Stephanie Tyson’s Sweet Potato Biscuits from “Well, Shut My Mouth!”
I love biscuits, and sweet potatoes, and cooks, and stories, so how could I not fall in love with Well, Shut My Mouth! The Sweet Potatoes Restaurant Cookbook"? Written by Stephanie L. Tyson, chef of Winston-Salem's celebrated "Sweet Potatoes Restaurant", the book is a treasury of inviting recipes, with culinary chops and inspiration flowing from ...
The Newlywed Cookbook: Better-Than-Boxed Chocolate Cake for the Sweetest Man
This chocolate cake is completely delicious, and not the least formal, which I’ve learned, from the staunchly loyal, old-fashioned cake lovers in my family, is a very good thing. When my friend Sarah Copeland, author of the wonderful blog Edible Living, told me that she was writing a cookbook, I made room on my kitchen shelf right away. Sarah's ...
Nancie’s Holiday Gift List: Cookbooks from the 2011 Bumper Crop
www.indiebound.org Here is my list of wonderful, marvelous, varied, worthy, fascinating, beautiful, interesting, practical, fanciful, thoughtful, moving, funny, poignant, truthful, inspiring, delicious, fine, and worthy cookbooks and food-centric books that are on my list for 2011. It's a long, no, make that generous and thorough list. There is no ...
Vegan Miso Soup with Tofu and Vegetables, Korean-Style
What's filled with vibrant vegetables, savory seasonings, healthful herbs and classic Asian flavors? This Vegan Miso Soup with Tofu and Vegetables, Korean-Style. You'll love it as a vegan main course or as part of a rice or grain-centered meal. Vegan Soup from Big Vegan by Robin Asbell When my good friend Robin Asbell asked me to be part of ...