Bel Canto

In this novel by Ann Patchett, we are at first drawn into an elaborate birthday party in an unnamed South American country for a high-profile Japanese business man, Mr. Hosokawa.  The party was thrown as an attempt to woo Mr. Hosokawa into opening a factory in their country, but Mr. Hosokawa's only interest in attending was because they hired the talented opera singer Roxanne Cross to sing for him.  The party was going well, they had American Bourbon and were served great foods like "shite asparagus in hollandaise, a fish course of turbot with crispy sweet onions, tiny chops, only three or four bites apiece, in a cranberry demiglaze."  That is until terrorist snuck in a took everyone hostage.

The terrorists sought the nation's president, who was not in attendance.  So instead, they decided they must hold everyone else until they figured out what to do.  After a while and some meetings with a negotiater, the terrorists release the women, with the exception of Roxanne Cross, and a few men.  The rest that were deemed important enough to stay, were kept in the house.  While the timeline is unclear, we know they are held hostage for several months.  During these months, it is Roxanne's singing that soothes them.  Friendships and in some cases, love develop within the house.  However, they all know that eventually it will end.

I will not spoil the ending for you because I think the story is a good one and you should read it.  But if you pick this book for a book club, please make sure everyone finishes it before you meet.  I do not think the story can really be broken down and discussed until it is all revealed.  And if you do choose this book for a book club choice, I think it would be fun to serve food as if you were also confined to the house they are all in.  After a while in the house, the terrorists/hostages have to learn to cook for themselves.  The prepared food stops coming and instead they receive boxes of raw meat.  While you could form your menu around that idea (they also talk about cooking rabbit, which I have never done) or choose the path from the beginning of the story of an elaborate dinner party, I think it would easiest to stick with the prepared hostage food.

Part of the reason I like the idea of sticking with the prepared hostage food menu is because I think the first time the hostages receive the food is an important part of the story.  The interpreter for Mr. Hosokawa learns that it will soon be his role to interpreter for everyone and no longer just his employer.  And considering his story arc, I believe this is an important realization.  Also, sticking with hostage food would allow you to prepare the food in advance and would mainly be assembling prior to the meeting.

In the novel they talk about sandwiches and wrapped slices of cake.  This is a very easy task for a book club.  You can make full sandwiches and then cut them into triangles for bite sized sandwiches.  Some suggestions are:
Grilled Cheese - Shake it up by swapping out American cheese for your favorite.  You can then add a veggie, fruit, or meat to this.  Our lovely host Madeline made us Gruyere and green apple grilled cheeses and they were absolutely delicious, and it was the first time I had it.
Hummus & Veggies - I think this works best as a wrap.  Spread the hummus over the wrap and then add vegetable spears, think carrots, peppers, cucumbers, etc.  This also would be great with cream cheese instead of hummus, however, that would also be less healthy.  Simply wrap it up, slice and serve.
Tuna Salad - Not just the boring tuna and mayo combo.  Add something to it!  Depending on what I have in my fridge, I've added carrots, onion, celery, pickles and olives (all chopped up) to my tuna salad.  I would put it on wheat bread with some baby spinach.
Cold cuts - This one simply choose your favorite at your local deli counter.  My favorite is Boars Head buffalo chicken with pepperjack cheese, topped with honey mustard. 

For the wrapped cake, it may be more time consuming to bake a full cake, slice it and then wrap each piece individually.  But if you're up for, you can do that.  Simply choose your favorite cake and go to town.  My other suggestions would be:
Cupcakes - Don't fill the wrappers as much as normally would, so the frosting doesn't build up too high.  You can wrap them up if you'd like, but technically, they are in wrappers ;-)
Cookies - Bake (or buy) your favorite cookies.  Then portion out little goodie bags for all the members. 
Fruit Salad - Make a fruit salad and divide it into small servings.  You can wrap each of those servings and serve with a plastic fork.

For drinks, I would keep it simple.  For non-alcoholic beverages, canned sodas and bottled waters would fit the theme perfectly.  For the adult drinks, you can serve cans of beer and boxed wine, with paper cups.  If you don't want to go with the boxed wine, I would choose a Chilean or Argentinean wine since the novel takes place in South America, although after a few glasses, your guests may not care as much...

This book is a quick, good read and makes for a great book club pick.  To make even better, pair it up with a themed menu and good drinks.  Enjoy!

The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry

"The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World's Most Famous Cooking School" is a great memoir written by Kathleen Finn. I read this book and then immediately chose it for my book club selection, so all my girlfriends would read it too. I chose this book even though I knew not all of the book club ladies are as passionate about food as I am - to 'get' this book, you don't have to be. On top of the excellent writing, this book is inspiritional, funny and has a great love story to boot.

Kathleen Finn was a journalist, who then fell into a job in as a software executive working in London. Despite being very good at what she did, her position was eliminated and she was let go by the company. Faced with the task of finding another job, she decided instead, she would pursue her passion. She cashed in her savings and moved to Paris to attend Le Cordon Bleu. Without speaking French (outside of basic terms) or having any culinary training, Ms. Finn made her dream come true. Deciding to enroll in the degree program, she embarked on her food journey, that would take her about three years to complete. During these years, you learn a bit about her childhood, for example, why living in Paris had been her dream, a lot about food & French cooking, and about her love life. Also examined in the book is the role of friends in your life, especially when sometimes you are "competing" against them. There is one scene in the book where they are cooking duck (if I recall correctly), one class member burns their duck badly and needs another one. However, there are none left, except one of their friends has an extra. Instead of giving her friend in need the extra duck, she quietly ignores her, since she wants to be the top student in the class. When I read this book, I, sadly, could relate to having friends that are competitive, even when there is no need to be. It's stories like those that make this book so relatable, although I am still stuck at my job that I happen to be good at and not living my dream.

Aside from the great story, part of the reason I enjoyed this book so much is (obviously) the food. I read this book shortly after taking Techiniques in Fine Cooking 1, at the Institute of Culinary Education. The course I took taught me all the basics of French Cooking, so reading this re-inforced all of those lessons, and since I had known them, it made me feel pretty good about my cooking techniques. On top of the great techinique tips thrown in there, Ms. Finn goes above and beyond and includes recipes as well. In fact, she's so great, she included a whole section for book clubs, which can also be found here. Her inclusion of this section made this blog very easy to write and hosting book club a joy. The hardest part was deciding which of her recipes to make! After much debating, I ended up making the Golden Onion and Roasted Tomato Quiche and the Provencal Spread*. My good friend Madeline brought us some apples, a baguette, and cheese so we mastered Ms. Finn's cheese tray. And all of my other friends were kind enough to bring along some delicious French wines, to play with the theme in the book. All in all, it was a great book and made for a deliciously great book club.

All my onions in my saute pan:

My finished quiche:

A slice of the quiche (not as pretty as I would have liked, but oh well):

*Both of her recipes linked are from her old website since I could not find them on her new website, which is here.

The Help

The novel written by Kathryn Stockett, The Help is set in 1960's Jackson, Mississippi and explores the very common practice of black women being maids in white households. The story is narrated by three different characters, as described below:

Aibleen - a middle-aged black maid who recently lost her only son. She has raised 17 white children in her life, and becomes very devoted to her most recent white child. She raises these children as if they are her own, even though they eventually reach a certain age where they realize she is "the help" and break her heart.

Minny - Aibleen's best friend, she is a short, fat and sassy black woman. She is known to be the best cook in Jackson, but has yet to learn the ability to bite her tongue. After losing her job and her reputation is ruined, she eventually finds a new one when a new woman in town has not heard of her.

Skeeter - a young white woman who recently graduated from Ole Miss, but instead of a ring on her finger, she has an English degree. She doesn't quite fit in with anyone who should be in her friend group and has dreams of becoming a writer. Urged on by a female editor in NY, she begins to document the stories of maids that are working in Jackson.

These three intertwining stories come together and the reader sees how much "the help" play an important role in the 1960's Jackson. Through Skeeter's research and interviewing the maids, we learn that some are appreciated and loved, while others are made to use a separate bathroom in the garage. We also get a good sense of the racial tension, when we read about the fear the maids have of being found out, and even the risks Skeeter goes to maintain the confidentiality of the interviews and the maids. And all while exploring a dark section of our nation's racial history, Kathryn Stockett manages to keep the book laugh out loud funny.

Now for the fun part... what to serve for a themed book club meeting! This book was chosen by Moira and she hosted the meeting for it. It was her great idea to make all the food served at the meeting themed with the book. She served us some fried chicken tenders, mac & cheese, and even enlisted my help to make a chocolate pie (once you read the book, you will understand the importance)! Here are the recipes, as well as some other menu ideas you may want to look into:

Fried Chicken Tenders - these were quite possibly the best homemade chicken tenders I have had. Instead of using a whole chicken and butchering it, Moira opted to use boneless, skinless chicken breast that she cut in strips. This recipe calls for self-rising flour, which if you can't find or don't have can be substituted with all-purpose flour by adding baking powder and salt to it (1 c. self-rising flour = 1 c. all-purpose flour + 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder + 1/2 tsp. salt). The recipe can be found here.

Mac & Cheese - this dish is made in a slow cooker and sits for 3 hours to become absolutely creamy and cheesy. Great for bigger groups, as the recipe yields 12 servings! Also, because it's in the slow cooker, it's a nice set & forget it dish, allowing you to concentrate on other menu or drink items. Recipe can be found here.

Fried Pork Chops - Minny gives lessons to her newest "white lady," in hopes of teaching her how to cook. One of the things she teaches her is fried pork chops, and it's crazy to me that someone wouldn't be able to learn this! Another Paula Deen recipe, here's a simple way to do fried pork chops.

Biscuits - what southern meal would be complete without a nice, warm biscuit? You can take the easy route and just buy the ones you pop out of a can and toss in the oven. If you don't have time to make them, it is a great shortcut, that tastes delicious. If you prefer to make your own, here's a classic biscuit recipe.

Caramel Cake - in the book, Minny is known for her caramel cake and has gotten jobs off of her skill. Here's a recipe to try to see if you can compete with the cake that was the best in The Help's Jackson, Mississippi.

Chocolate Pie - the chocolate pie Minny bakes, comes to play an important role in the story. This is the recipe I used and it came out delicious. I think Minny would be proud!

Some other ideas are: fried okra, deviled eggs, butter beans, and a peach cobbler. Have fun with it!

Now, as far as drinks go, most of the drinks mentioned in the book are non-alcoholic. They are Tang, Tab and iced tea. If you're meeting is alcohol-free, go with those. Personally, our meetings are never alcohol free. So here's some fun ways to play up the theme.

Wine - When I think about the bridge club woman in the book, I think they would be drinking white wine spritzers. I also seem them enjoying a fruity, sweet Riesling. Either way, I would choose white wine, as I can't see red wine (normally served at room temperature) being a drink of choice in the hot weather of Jackson.

Sweet tea vodka - Firefly is a popular one, but there are others out there. This is vodka that has been infused with sweet tea. You can drink it on the rocks if you like, but I usually mix it with some lemonade and then water to dilute it a bit.

Tab - Tab is a diet cola drink made by Coca-Cola. If you can find some, and want to make it alcoholic, mix it as you would Diet Coke.

Scotch - The woman in Jackson were not drinking scotch, but the men were. In fact, on one of Skeeter's dates she is turned off by the amount of Scotch her date drinks. If you can handle it, pick up some of your favorite brand and dive in. Personally, my favorite is Macallan 15, but I wouldn't drink that for book club.

These are just a few suggestions and I would love to hear any other ideas you have. Hope you enjoy the book, food & drink!

New Idea!

I along with baking and cooking, I also love to read. You may have noticed, I have had a link for "what I'm reading" up for a while, which usually had a 1-2 sentence summary and a link to purchase the book. For the past year I have been a member of a book club, that consists of about 8 of my good girl friends. Our meetings are held once a month, and at them we talk about the book, eat, & drink wine.

It wasn't until I was planning last month's meeting at my apartment, that the idea to combine my food, drink and reading love hit me. Perhaps it was because I chose a book about a woman attending culinary school and she is awesome and happened to insert a "menu guide for book club" at the end, but I felt like there should be something, somewhere that brings books to life through food & drink. And that is what I hope to do. I will start off by first reviewing some of our previous books, giving a quick summary/review of the book and then offer menu ideas. Our book club has done book-themed meetings before, so I will start off with those. I will label/tag all of these posts "book club" so they are easy to access. Also, now on the side instead of the "what I'm reading" link, you will find clicking on the book will take you to my post about it. Enjoy!