bostonzest

Category: Books

  • Gravenstein as Our Local Apple-a-Day

    This is another occasional post on the local apples we are including in our afternoon fruit plate snack. The Gravenstein is part of the Orange Pippin family and has a decided tart side to its personality that Penny loves!

     IMG_3785 copy

    Here it is cut up for snacking. Ed says it reminds him of Sauvignon Blanc with that wine grape's snappy tart bite. Penny finds it a great balance of snap and sweet.

    Oddly enough, when this apple arrived from the kitchen to our snack table, Amy Traverso was on the television, in an apple orchard, tasting apples. So we had to include our rave review of her The Apple Lover's Cookbook in this post. The woman knows her apples and can tell you exactly how to use each one.

    Related Posts:

    The Apple Lover's CookBook by Amy Traverso

    How About a Different Apple-a-Day While Local Apples Are In Season?

    Fruit Plates Are Our Favorite Afternoon Snacks

    What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

    Details:

    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

  • Where Would You Find This Swag? Let’s Play Attention to Detail!

    IMG_4399 copy

    Let's play Attention to Detail! We give you a close-up clue and you have to figure out where you've seen it around Boston. So where have you seen this swag on a building?

    Here are some hints:

    • It was built in 1911.
    • The original building permits list it as a five-story, nine-family tenement house with one store.
    • It is on a corner building in a less traveled part of the Beacon Hill neighborhood.
    • The street name on one side fits a theme that runs throughout the neighborhood.
    • The other street was named for a person.

    Ready? Click through or scroll down past this great book about Boston for the answer.

     

     

    (more…)

  • Where Would You Find This Swag? Let’s Play Attention to Detail!

    IMG_4399 copy

    Let's play Attention to Detail! We give you a close-up clue and you have to figure out where you've seen it around Boston. So where have you seen this swag on a building?

    Here are some hints:

    • It was built in 1911.
    • The original building permits list it as a five-story, nine-family tenement house with one store.
    • It is on a corner building in a less traveled part of the Beacon Hill neighborhood.
    • The street name on one side fits a theme that runs throughout the neighborhood.
    • The other street was named for a person.

    Ready? Click through or scroll down past this great book about Boston for the answer.

     

     

    (more…)

  • More Cookbooks that Are Great to Read Beyond the Recipes!

    Last week we posted Reading Cookbooks Can Be Simply for Pleasure. Here are a few more books that fall into that category.

    IMG_7708 copy

    Try These!

    Here are few great reads to recommend if you would like to begin reading cookbooks for pleasure. “A Mediterranean Feast” by food historian Clifford Wright will give you great background on foods you may think you know. “Marcella Says…” by Marcella Hazan is like taking an informal cooking class with the great master. 

      

    Diana Kennedy’s “The Art of Mexican Cooking” was my first exposure to authentic Mexican cuisine. “Hot Sour Salty Sweet” by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid told me the stories of Southeast Asia recipe-by-recipe.

      

    “The New Portuguese Table” by David Leite gave me updated insights to a food culture I only knew from a Rhode Island Portuguese immigrant population, while “Dishing up Maine” by Brooke Dojny taught me more about the culinary roots of an often visited state.

      

    “Pok Pok” by chef Andy Ricker is in my ebook collection. That makes it handy when I visit a Thai restaurant and want to remember details of some tidbit he taught me about this cuisine in its pages.

     

    If you love food culture, add a few cookbooks to your reading list. They are relaxing and educational. Audition before you buy and add to your collection by borrowing, either in physical or ebook format. And don’t forget Boston’s great used bookstores and library book sales. I check out the cookbook section every time I visit one.

    What's on your Food Lover's shopping list?

    Details:

    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino (Adapted for BostonZest from one of our Fresh & Local newspaper columns.)

  • More Cookbooks that Are Great to Read Beyond the Recipes!

    Last week we posted Reading Cookbooks Can Be Simply for Pleasure. Here are a few more books that fall into that category.

    IMG_7708 copy

    Try These!

    Here are few great reads to recommend if you would like to begin reading cookbooks for pleasure. “A Mediterranean Feast” by food historian Clifford Wright will give you great background on foods you may think you know. “Marcella Says…” by Marcella Hazan is like taking an informal cooking class with the great master. 

      

    Diana Kennedy’s “The Art of Mexican Cooking” was my first exposure to authentic Mexican cuisine. “Hot Sour Salty Sweet” by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid told me the stories of Southeast Asia recipe-by-recipe.

      

    “The New Portuguese Table” by David Leite gave me updated insights to a food culture I only knew from a Rhode Island Portuguese immigrant population, while “Dishing up Maine” by Brooke Dojny taught me more about the culinary roots of an often visited state.

      

    “Pok Pok” by chef Andy Ricker is in my ebook collection. That makes it handy when I visit a Thai restaurant and want to remember details of some tidbit he taught me about this cuisine in its pages.

     

    If you love food culture, add a few cookbooks to your reading list. They are relaxing and educational. Audition before you buy and add to your collection by borrowing, either in physical or ebook format. And don’t forget Boston’s great used bookstores and library book sales. I check out the cookbook section every time I visit one.

    What's on your Food Lover's shopping list?

    Details:

    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino (Adapted for BostonZest from one of our Fresh & Local newspaper columns.)

  • Reading Cookbooks Can Be Simply for Pleasure

    One of the great pleasures in writing about food is reading a lot of cookbooks. I’m not talking about choosing a recipe and cooking from a book, but rather sitting in a comfy armchair and letting a great writer and storyteller take me to another place, another time, or another culture through their love of the food.

    Unspecified

    I also read cookbooks to learn more about a particular food, technique, or cuisine. Many of these are stored in my Kindle Fire ebook reader. They offer the perfect alternative reading material when waiting for an appointment or putting in miles on the treadmill on a stormy day. Often essays open chapters or sidebars and tell a story about a recipe’s origin, ingredients, or the person who taught the writer to make the dish.

    CHE_5944 (1)

    Acquiring Great Cookbooks

    My first choice for acquiring a cookbook is the Boston Public Library (BPL). Buying cookbooks is expensive and storing them requires more space than I have. Therefore I audition potential purchases.

    Many times I enjoy the BPL copy and use it to inspire a piece of writing or make notes for future reference. I can borrow it again if I need it.

    However some books are so addicting that I will refer to them often, and so popular that I may have to wait to have the library copy longer or borrow it again.

    516z-k8iql-_sx413_bo1204203200_

    These go onto my wishlist. A recent example is, “My Kitchen in Rome: Recipes and Notes on Italian Cooking” by Rachel Roddy. After reading a few rave reviews by colleagues I respect, I borrowed the ebook from the library. ( I have since purchased the Kindle version)

    I read and reread this book in a weekend. Roddy took me to her neighborhood in the Testaccio quarter of Rome and introduced me to the neighbors, vendors, streets, sights, sounds, and aromas she discovered. She tempted me to make the food she learned to make and to enjoy the culture.

    It went on my wish list. At that time, the ebook price was not much less than the hardcover price. When the price finally dropped, I added it to my Kindle collection.

    More of my favorite cookbooks like this one will be in upcoming posts.

    What's on your Food Lover's shopping list?

      

    Details:

    Words: Penny Cherubino
    Photos: ©2012-2017 Penny Cherubino  

    (Adapted for BostonZest from one of her Fresh & Local newspaper columns.)

    Related articles
    Bun Thit Nuong: A Fresh, Cool Summer Dish from Vietnam
    March 19th Is Zeppole Day!

  • Reading Cookbooks Can Be Simply for Pleasure

    One of the great pleasures in writing about food is reading a lot of cookbooks. I’m not talking about choosing a recipe and cooking from a book, but rather sitting in a comfy armchair and letting a great writer and storyteller take me to another place, another time, or another culture through their love of the food.

    Unspecified

    I also read cookbooks to learn more about a particular food, technique, or cuisine. Many of these are stored in my Kindle Fire ebook reader. They offer the perfect alternative reading material when waiting for an appointment or putting in miles on the treadmill on a stormy day. Often essays open chapters or sidebars and tell a story about a recipe’s origin, ingredients, or the person who taught the writer to make the dish.

    CHE_5944 (1)

    Acquiring Great Cookbooks

    My first choice for acquiring a cookbook is the Boston Public Library (BPL). Buying cookbooks is expensive and storing them requires more space than I have. Therefore I audition potential purchases.

    Many times I enjoy the BPL copy and use it to inspire a piece of writing or make notes for future reference. I can borrow it again if I need it.

    However some books are so addicting that I will refer to them often, and so popular that I may have to wait to have the library copy longer or borrow it again.

    516z-k8iql-_sx413_bo1204203200_

    These go onto my wishlist. A recent example is, “My Kitchen in Rome: Recipes and Notes on Italian Cooking” by Rachel Roddy. After reading a few rave reviews by colleagues I respect, I borrowed the ebook from the library. ( I have since purchased the Kindle version)

    I read and reread this book in a weekend. Roddy took me to her neighborhood in the Testaccio quarter of Rome and introduced me to the neighbors, vendors, streets, sights, sounds, and aromas she discovered. She tempted me to make the food she learned to make and to enjoy the culture.

    It went on my wish list. At that time, the ebook price was not much less than the hardcover price. When the price finally dropped, I added it to my Kindle collection.

    More of my favorite cookbooks like this one will be in upcoming posts.

    What's on your Food Lover's shopping list?

      

    Details:

    Words: Penny Cherubino
    Photos: ©2012-2017 Penny Cherubino  

    (Adapted for BostonZest from one of her Fresh & Local newspaper columns.)

    Related articles
    Bun Thit Nuong: A Fresh, Cool Summer Dish from Vietnam
    March 19th Is Zeppole Day!

  • A Food History Reading List for Black History Month

    Food Writer Toni Tipton-Martin came to my attention when she won a 2016 James Beard award for her book The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks.

    Jemima code

    In writing about this book for the James Beard Foundation, Maggie Borden praised it as a, “… masterful exploration of the contributions of African-American women to our nation's culinary landscape. Pages after pages of reproduced archival materials and recipes upend the historical stereotype of black women in the kitchen as illiterate ‘Aunt Jemimas,’ proving how instrumental these oft-ignored chefs were to our dinners and diets.”

    Toni Tipton-Martin said about her research, "I eventually owned nearly 300 African American cookbooks …" dating back to 1827. Her work set me on my own search for food writing and cookbooks that would help me better understand the African American contribution to our shared food culture.

    Screen Shot 2017-02-21 at Tuesday, February 21, 20172.45.57 PM

    Building Houses Out of Chicken Legs

    Building Houses Out of Chicken Legs by Psyche A. Williams-Forson examines the roles that chicken, both as the bird and the food, has played in the lives of black women from the past to the present. For some women, chicken led to economic freedom and independence.

    This one is not a cookbook but is a fascinating read and, in some ways, connects the others on this list with one food, chicken. This connection with the food lore of the past came to my attention in a contemporary cookbook, Red Rooster by Marcus Samuelsson.

    Red-rooster-cover[1]

    The Red Rooster Cookbook: The Story of Food and Hustle in Harlem

    Samuelsson’s cookbook is about far more than recipes, just as his Harlem restaurant Red Rooster is as much about community as it is about food. Each section begins with an essay about some aspect of the multi-dimensional mission that Red Rooster represents to him and his team.

    Chicken plays a starring role in his restaurant and his book as he tells of his two year obsession with creating the perfect fried chicken dish that would be worthy of the Harlem chicken tradition.

    In an interesting connection to the The Jemima Code, the basement supper club is named Ginny’s after a woman from Harlem who worked for his partner’s family. He wants it to be a place where all the Ginnys would feel welcome.

    Jessica harris

    Jessica Harris

    My first education on foods and foodways of the African Diaspora came from a class that I took with Doctor Jessica Harris. She has authored twelve books on the topic. For the purpose of this list, I would suggest you read two of her books. “Iron Pots and Wooden Spoons: Africa's Gifts to New World Cooking" and “The Welcome Table: African American Heritage Cooking” comprise a well-researched collection of recipes.

    EDNA LEWIS

    Edna Lewis

    No list on this topic would be complete without a book by chef and food writer Edna Lewis. Her New York Times obituary recalled an earlier interview in which she said, "As a child in Virginia, I thought all food tasted delicious. After growing up, I didn't think food tasted the same, so it has been my lifelong effort to try and recapture those good flavors of the past." With this in mind, I suggest you read her book, “The Taste of Country Cooking.”

    Unspecified

    While this column was introduced as a reading list, it is also a cooking list, and I hope you will try some of the recipes and/or menus you come across. All of these books are available from the Boston Public Library.

    As a bonus for this online version of this Fresh & Local newspaper column, we have not only linked to the books on Amazon, but also to each author's page, making this a more extensive reading list in case you already know the specific books we selected to feature here.

    What's on your Food Lover's shopping list?

    Details:

    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino adapted for BostonZest from one of our Fresh & Local newspaper columns
    Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

    Related articles
    Back When Harvard's Weld Boathouse Was Drafted as a Navy Training Facility…
    Welcome Luke's Lobster to Boston

  • A Food History Reading List for Black History Month

    Food Writer Toni Tipton-Martin came to my attention when she won a 2016 James Beard award for her book The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks.

    Jemima code

    In writing about this book for the James Beard Foundation, Maggie Borden praised it as a, “… masterful exploration of the contributions of African-American women to our nation's culinary landscape. Pages after pages of reproduced archival materials and recipes upend the historical stereotype of black women in the kitchen as illiterate ‘Aunt Jemimas,’ proving how instrumental these oft-ignored chefs were to our dinners and diets.”

    Toni Tipton-Martin said about her research, "I eventually owned nearly 300 African American cookbooks …" dating back to 1827. Her work set me on my own search for food writing and cookbooks that would help me better understand the African American contribution to our shared food culture.

    Screen Shot 2017-02-21 at Tuesday, February 21, 20172.45.57 PM

    Building Houses Out of Chicken Legs

    Building Houses Out of Chicken Legs by Psyche A. Williams-Forson examines the roles that chicken, both as the bird and the food, has played in the lives of black women from the past to the present. For some women, chicken led to economic freedom and independence.

    This one is not a cookbook but is a fascinating read and, in some ways, connects the others on this list with one food, chicken. This connection with the food lore of the past came to my attention in a contemporary cookbook, Red Rooster by Marcus Samuelsson.

    Red-rooster-cover[1]

    The Red Rooster Cookbook: The Story of Food and Hustle in Harlem

    Samuelsson’s cookbook is about far more than recipes, just as his Harlem restaurant Red Rooster is as much about community as it is about food. Each section begins with an essay about some aspect of the multi-dimensional mission that Red Rooster represents to him and his team.

    Chicken plays a starring role in his restaurant and his book as he tells of his two year obsession with creating the perfect fried chicken dish that would be worthy of the Harlem chicken tradition.

    In an interesting connection to the The Jemima Code, the basement supper club is named Ginny’s after a woman from Harlem who worked for his partner’s family. He wants it to be a place where all the Ginnys would feel welcome.

    Jessica harris

    Jessica Harris

    My first education on foods and foodways of the African Diaspora came from a class that I took with Doctor Jessica Harris. She has authored twelve books on the topic. For the purpose of this list, I would suggest you read two of her books. “Iron Pots and Wooden Spoons: Africa's Gifts to New World Cooking" and “The Welcome Table: African American Heritage Cooking” comprise a well-researched collection of recipes.

    EDNA LEWIS

    Edna Lewis

    No list on this topic would be complete without a book by chef and food writer Edna Lewis. Her New York Times obituary recalled an earlier interview in which she said, "As a child in Virginia, I thought all food tasted delicious. After growing up, I didn't think food tasted the same, so it has been my lifelong effort to try and recapture those good flavors of the past." With this in mind, I suggest you read her book, “The Taste of Country Cooking.”

    Unspecified

    While this column was introduced as a reading list, it is also a cooking list, and I hope you will try some of the recipes and/or menus you come across. All of these books are available from the Boston Public Library.

    As a bonus for this online version of this Fresh & Local newspaper column, we have not only linked to the books on Amazon, but also to each author's page, making this a more extensive reading list in case you already know the specific books we selected to feature here.

    What's on your Food Lover's shopping list?

    Details:

    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino adapted for BostonZest from one of our Fresh & Local newspaper columns
    Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

    Related articles
    Back When Harvard's Weld Boathouse Was Drafted as a Navy Training Facility…
    Welcome Luke's Lobster to Boston

  • Escape Your Cooking Rut with Inspiration from Mark Bittman’s Kitchen Matrix

    Mark Bittman's Kitchen Matrix is a wonderful addition to your cookbook collection whether you are an experienced cook or a just beginning to build your skills in the kitchen.

    Sm Kitchen Matrix cover copy

    Let's face it, we all find ourselves making and serving our family and guests the same list of favorites. It can be even more of a problem for new cooks who may be afraid to venture beyond the recipes they have made that were big hits. 

    IMG_9528 - Version 22016-03-22bittman-kitchen-matrix© 2014 Penny Cherubino

    Summer is coming and you may have a basic gazpacho recipe you've been making for years. Or you could be hoping to surprise those around your table by coming up with a new twist on this chilled soup. Kitchen Matrix comes to the rescue with a chapter on gazpacho 12 ways!

    You'll find other sections that cover chicken wings, soups, asparagus, stir fries, and other ways we look at food and feeding our friends and family.

    The Publisher Says…

    Related articles
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