Clearly Wordle, video games and the other vestiges of the pandemic have not ruined summer reading lists. Bookstores,
This is probably why I loved reading The $64 Tomato. So yes, it is definitely about tomatoes and their loopy history, but as one critic says, the author introduces us to organic gardening as an extreme sport. His exhaustive investigations of tools and materials – especially the ones he thought would be inexpensive solutions such as the stirrup hoe (we discover that Jethro Tull is not just a rock band) were just hilarious. As were the adventures of Superchuck, a groundhog who should have his own Pixar feature. The author’s two children are refreshingly and unapologetically unsympathetic to his passion. His wife, a doctor, probably knows more about the pathogens in the soil than he does. It’s all wonderful to read.
William Alexander is the most engaging writer in that he weaves incredibly picturesque humor in with some very profound
For me, it started off with the gift of a year of the Master Class series from the Italy Insider. After rooting around the various video classes offered by said masters of their particular universes (and deciding I was never going to become a drummer or a stand-up comic) I landed on the Master Class of Apollonia Poilâne. Let’s just say I stopped counting after I watched her videos more than fifteen times. The famous loaf became my obsession (it was in the first throes of the
But, like the family of our writer hero, his plea fell on deaf ears. Nothing would impede my search for just the right combination of starter, flours, water and salt. And, although I had neither the dedication nor the travels of William Alexander, reading through this book has been a source of wonder, laughter and of course renewed interest in pursuing the Perfect Loaf. Fortunately, his epilogue gives us all the information we need to follow his pilgrimage. My husband is praying for Deliverance.
After owning one of the best cooking stores in the US for 47 years, Nancy Pollard writes a blog about food in all its aspects – recipes, film, books, travel, superior sources and food related issues.
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I swear some people are truly just gifted with plants. My step mother had a garden with tomatoes amongst other things. And I had a roommate who grew them in the tiny front patch of our town house (I'm sure our neighbors loved it). I promise you that both of them stuck them in the ground, staked them and visited them once a day to do whatever and that was it. I am fortunate to have not killed two plants in the house and the salvia on the stoop is hanging on.
Hello Jennifer, I too have a lot of sage and have used this surprising recipe from St Hildegard Von Bingen as a nibble with summer drinks:
https://lacuisineus.com/juicy-post-summer-hors-doeuvres-horses-doovers-a-contest/
Nancy
Ah, The $64 Tomato sounds like a bro-in-law gift...he actually is quite a good gardener and has a great kitchen garden. It helps that he is in California, I think. I personally am champing at the bit waiting for my copy of Dione Lucas' cookbook mentioned last week. When I was living in London in the 70s, I met a woman who was studying at Le Cordon Bleu (Rosemary Hume and Muriel Downs at the time), and I have their version of Le Cordon Bleu Cookery. It changed everything about cooking for me, junior high Home Ec and the Girl Scout cooking badge notwithstanding. One of my favorite corners of La Cuisine was the book section. I even have the Chamberlain's Flavor of France (a gift from Nancy and Richard Gilmore when your shop was brand new).