This post would have been finished much earlier if I hadn’t been busy copying the scrumptious recipes that Molly Wizenberg, author of A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes From My Kitchen Table, included in her book. Now, I’m not one who needs recipes slipped inside culinary memoirs, but somehow, Wizenberg gets it just right.
She weaves a delectable story about her life and how food has played such an integral part in it. Blog readers may already be familiar with her work as the author of the very popular food blog found at www.orangette.blogspot.com. She isn’t a professionally trained chef, but she understands how to combine words in such a way that they are both mouthwatering and irresistible to the palate. I don’t like brussel sprouts or radishes but I can’t wait to try her recipes for them because she makes them sound utterly delicious.
Her story writing techniques are engaging, also. Reminiscing about her family and her beloved father’s influence in the kitchen comes across as charming and never self serving. The descriptions of the soup and other food that she prepared for her father as he lay dying in their family home are beautifully written and moving. Other recipes for simple foods connected to memories of family and friends are also included. Her words are fluid and descriptive and none of the recipes at the end of the chapters are afterthoughts, but, rather, are solidly connected to her life. They all fit together perfectly. She also does not resort to the profane type of prose many young writers employ these days and this only makes her refreshing and original voice more enjoyable.
The second half of the book highlights her budding romance with a young man who shares her passion for good food and the celebratory art of cooking. Their love story is interspersed with recipes and includes the one she baked for their wedding cake.
My one complaint is that I was not ready for the book to end. I wanted to keep reading on and on, so I hope this talented young writer continues to perfect her craft. If you enjoy reading the type of culinary memoirs written by Ruth Reichl, here is another author that you will also savor. Now, I must go and buy my radishes and brussel sprouts before I begin reading my new book.
