I didn't put it down until I had at least looked at every single wine on the list. It's Gary first list of favorite and recommended wines, and it's chock full of enthusiasm, energy, and genuinely great recommendations.
Here are some ways this book can be useful for you:
Exploring wine if you've never really tried wine before and have no idea where to start.
Choosing great wines for specific occasions from Gary's very cleverly organized and insightful lists for any event.
Finding the best wine for that flavor profile you really like (best dry Reisling, best "fruit bomb" red, etc.).
Learning how you can become better at recognizing what you like about wine and what wines you're passionate about (hint: drink more wine!).
Understanding that wine can be fun, and that it doesn't have to be serious or snobby.
What I really love about this book is the genuine authenticity that just reverberates from everything that Gary has to say. Each individual wine write-up is like getting to read an episode of Wine Library TV, chock full of enthusiasm, honesty, and insightful wine wisdom. The only thing I would change about the book is that, for a truly ignorant wine novice like myself, it's hard to tell which wines are white or red, etc., which is important for me since I have a hard time really enjoying reds and wanted to go through and pick out all of the wines that I knew I would want to try right off of the bat. A quick cheat sheet or wine primer at the beginning of the book (Petite Sirah is red, Reislings are white, etc.) would have been really helpful for me.
Overall, the book is well written, very straightforward in Gary's typical style, and I think it has potential to really help the everyday wine enthusiast reach a level of immersion in the wine world that many of us don't think we can reach. It can be expensive to start out in wine and buy a bottle of everything, especially if you're back at square one when the wine isn't a quality example of the genre you're trying to explore. This book makes jumping into every corner of the wine world a real possibility for every wine drinker, and that is something really worth sharing. Keep a copy handy for your own trips to the liquor store, and give a copy to a wine-loving (or wine-curious) friend!
I am a budding foodie and reluctant food blogger. I've only recently joined Slashfood, and unlike many of my colleagues, I don't have any particular knowledge about the foodie world. I don't watch the Food Network (that would require me getting cable, and nyaaaah). I don't know much about fine cuisine. I wouldn't know a truffle from a button mushroom (or maybe I would, if somebody would buy me a truffle). And indeed, although I love food, love being in the kitchen and (trying) to feed my friends and family, the learning curve is daunting.
But I want to learn! And since I'm at least another year away from actually taking a cooking class, I've done what most writers do: I've hit the books. I thought I'd share them with you, while I'm educating myself on all things culinary.
Food is the new black. Or at least it seems that way, given the mass media interest in food and its preparations. It's not hard to compile a sizable reading list. I've culled mine mostly from suggestions on the food blogs, and here they are, in no particular order. The list isn't complete by any means, but it's a start.
Forget Obama versus Hillary, the debate heating up over at Apartment Therapy has to do with dish racks. Some people consider them another fun piece of kitchen gear, buying bamboo or ultra-modern stainless steel versions. Others can't stand them (including the Apartment Therapy bloggers), finding them a waste of space, a silly unitasker easily replaced by a dish towel.
I've got one, but honestly I never really thought about it. But, judging by the number of comments on the post, it's a real Coke/Pepsi divide. It reminded me of a cool book, Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things, by Donald Norman. Norman, a consultant to design firms, analyzes why people feel the way they feel about things like teapots and juicers. It's a good read for the kind of design junkie who has genuine emotions about things like dish racks (or vintage toasters, or enameled cookware, or the "perfect" coffee thermos etc.).
You create a stunning tablescape a la Sandra Lee in the dining room. You set out a well-stocked bar in the hallway between the dining room and the living room. You even put plates of delicious snacks on the coffee table in the living room. Your dinner party is out there, and yet...
Every one of your guests ends up standing around the kitchen while you are still waiting for the last course to come out of the oven, holding their plates, clutching their cocktails, having the time of their lives. In the kitchen.
A book entitled The Warmest Room in the House might have the answer. It studies the evolution of the kitchen over decades through to the 20th century. The book is available from Amazon for $16.47.
Written by British chef and food writer Sophie Grigson, The First-time Cook is a wonderful way to introduce someone to the glories of the kitchen. While I don't personally own a copy of this book, I did spent some time flipping through it last Friday while I was at the Kitchen Arts and Letters bookstore. I really regretted the fact that I didn't have a friend or family member for whom to buy a copy as it is so easy to follow and beautifully laid out.
It doesn't just offer recipes, but also offers step-by-step instruction on how to shop for food and cooking equipment. It warns of possible pitfalls and errors and anticipates many of the mistakes that beginning home cooks make.
Unlike some of the awesome bloggers on Slashfood, I am embarrassed to admit that I am not a baker/pastry chef by any means. In fact, the entire process of baking boggles me - from the frustration of measuring to the aggravation of having to use 82 separate bowls (but why do I have to mix the milk and the egg in a separate bowl, can't I just immediately add them to the butter and sugar?), baking and I typically don't see, well...eye to eye (pun definitely intended).
Not believing me when I told her I couldn't bake, my mother, a baking whiz, got me a super-cool cookbook, Claire Crespo's Hey There, Cupcake, filled with almost too-adorable-to-eat cupcake recipes and decorating techniques. So, with a sudden streak of confidence, I poured through the book until I found a recipe that looked doable: the Eyeball Cupcakes. They're rich vanilla cake with a delectable buttercream icing.
Take a look at my unique step-by-step process in the gallery below (unique essentially because I do not own a mixer and I ran out of vanilla extract halfway through, forcing me to call my mom in a panic). Check it out.
The Classic Italian Cookbook was Marcella Hazan's very first cookbook, first published in 1973. Hazan was born in Italy and moved with to New York with her husband in the mid-fifties. She had never cooked when she lived in Italy, but quickly started preparing meals in order to create the flavors and dishes she knew and loved back home. That turned into a cooking school and a gig writing about food for the New York Times. Food historians credit her with bringing authentic Italian food to the United States.
I picked up my copy at a thrift store (I seem to get a lot of cookbooks that way) recently. It's just a small trade paperback, but there are variety of editions available. It is a fantastic book to have a reference if you want to explore Italian cooking (although she says straight out in the book that really there is no such think as a single Italian cuisine, instead there are a variety of regional cuisines).
Being that I have something of an obsession with eggs (an increasingly well documented one, at that) it is no wonder that my copy seems to open automatically to the Frittata section. I am now planning one with artichokes for a brunch this weekend. I can't wait!
Let's face it, friends. There isn't a website out there that doesn't have its homepage flooded with Thanksgiving recipes, how-tos, and entertaining tips - this one included. Every online food source is perfectly capable of telling you how to do EVERY. SINGLE. THING. you need to do for Thanksgiving, so why waste the time and money with a book, right?
Ah, but that's the thing. There's something beautiful about a book, even if the book itself is not beautiful. There's something about having a physical thing in your hands to read and look at, and have right there on the countertop next to you getting turkey juices and carrot peels all over it as you mark yet another year of roasting a turkey, making all the side dishes, and baking dessert. We're found nine books, Holiday Cookbooks, that range from basic 101-type manuals to coffee-table-style books that are still remarkably useful for planning, preparing, and cooking for Thanksgiving.
Shauna James Ahern, the powerhouse blogger behind the Gluten-Free Girl has written a book about her experience having celiac disease and the process of going gluten-free. The beautiful thing about this book is that she writes about embracing the world of foods that she can eat instead of focusing on the things her body can't handle.
I've only had a chance to flip through it in the bookstore, but I have my sights set on getting my own copy soon. However, for the last two weeks, super-star food bloggers from all over the country have had their hands on the book and have been writing about their own experiences going gluten-free for a day in a virtual book tour. They talk about the challenges they faced in altering their diets and nearly all expressed admiration for Shauna, her attitude towards food and the lovely book she has created. These posts makes me all the more interested in reading it from start to finish (as opposed to in bits, standing up in the aisle of Barnes and Noble).
Time magazine has a VERY cool slideshow up right now of famous chefs discussing the foods they'd like to eat as their last meals. Daniel Boulud would like to have whatever Alain Ducasse wanted to prepare for him. Mario Batali would like to go out in style with at least eight courses of Italian food. And Gary Danko would like something akin to a Greek or Roman banquet. All the photos and interviews are from the new book, My Last Supper, by Melanie Dunea.
There's an entire library of books out there to help busy parents cook for their families, who are faced not only with the problem of time, but also health. Some of them focus strictly on lunches, other on a whole days of foods from breakfast to school lunches, to snacks, and dinner. These are just a few I've come across that look helpful:
It's no secret that I am obsessed with Jonathan Gold. "Who the heck is Jonathan Gold?" some of you may be asking.
Don't worry, I'm not offended that you may not know. If you don't live to eat in Los Angeles, or maybe even New York, then you might not know him. Jonathan Gold is the current restaurant critic for the LA Weekly, and I will most certainly have you all know that I had a cybercrush on him waaaaay before he was even in the running for a Pulitzer Prize, let alone named the winner! Yes, yes, y'all, Mr Jonathan Gold is a Pulitzer prize-winning writer.
Some of the obsession has to do with what he writes about -- though he has dined around New York, he started in LA and makes his dining home here now. He also tends to focus his dining experiences on places that don't get written up by every other person on the planet.
However, the real reason I gush like I do about Mr. JGold is not his subject matter. It's his writing.
While I would never want to encourage you to take a step away from the kitchen, it is summer after all, Slashfoodies, and summer is all about being outside and enjoying the sunshine! Okay, so maybe you won't be slipping your svelte self into a swimsuit and hitting the beach for a little volleyball, but you may want to sit under the shade of your umbrella in the midst of your vegetable garden bursting with tomatoes...to read. At least, that's what I'd do. Oh heck. I'd probably still stay inside in the comfort of my air conditioning!
What better person to get reading recommendations from than a fantastic food writer herself, Ruth Reichl? Reichl has listed her favorite reads over on NPR's website, both hotfreshnow, and classics.
It's a lazy Saturday afternoon, and while I know I should run to the market and do all sorts of complicated cooking and baking that I never get to do during the regular work week, all I feel like doing is stepping out onto the back balcony, curling up in the shade on a chaise lounge and...reading.
I have a ton of books on my nightstand that I've started and have yet to finish. With the exception of Blink, all of them are about food, but the one I pick up almost every day is a children's book that I read at least a half dozen times when I was in elementary school: The Search for Delicious by Natalie Babbit. If you actually remember reading this book, then hooray! Otherwise, you may know the author's name because another book, Tuck Everlasting, was made into a movie.
This book, Slashfoodies, is such a fabulous book for all of us, even though it's a children's book. I read it every time I get all huffed and puffed over an argument about food. When I read reviews or even when I write them, when someone disagrees with me, or I disagree with him or her, I remember the message from this book. I won't give it away for anyone who hasn't read the book, but I will say that the search for delicious always ends right here.
So we're just going to choose a winner at random. All you have to do is let us know you're here with a comment on this post. No need to be witty. Rant. Rave. Make a suggestion. Just say "Hello." Whatever you're moved to say, say it!
You have until sundown today. Maybe later if we decide "sundown" in Hawaii.
If you're a Vayniac, you already know that Gary Vaynerchuk came out with a book called 101 Wines Guaranteed to Inspire, Delight, and Bring Thunder to Your World. Marisa announced the book here at Slashfood about a month and a half ago, and I just got my hands on a copy a few weeks ago.
I am a budding foodie and reluctant food blogger. I've only recently joined Slashfood, and unlike many of my colleagues, I don't have any particular knowledge about the foodie world. I don't watch the Food Network (that would require me getting cable, and nyaaaah). I don't know much about fine cuisine. I wouldn't know a truffle from a button mushroom (or maybe I would, if somebody would buy me a truffle). And indeed, although I love food, love being in the kitchen and (trying) to feed my friends and family, the learning curve is daunting. 
It never fails. 
Written by British chef and food writer Sophie Grigson, 
The Classic Italian Cookbook
Shauna James Ahern, the powerhouse blogger behind the 
This one is for our most beloved Slashfoodie. We're giving a gift to our favorite reader!
America's Most Hated Foods
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A good trick for saving summer herbs for future use
