My Kitchen Year
136 Recipes That Saved My Life: A Cookbook
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4.0 • 38 Ratings
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The beloved food critic and author of Tender at the Bone explores her path to healing through 136 delectable recipes.
“No one writes as warmly and engagingly about the all-important intersection of food, life, love, and loss. This book is a lyrical and deeply intimate journey told through recipes, as only Ruth can do.”—Alice Waters
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Los Angeles Times, NPR, Men’s Journal, BookPage, Booklist, Publishers Weekly
In the fall of 2009, the food world was rocked when Gourmet magazine was abruptly shuttered by its parent company. No one was more stunned by this unexpected turn of events than its beloved editor in chief, Ruth Reichl, who suddenly faced an uncertain professional future. As she struggled to process what had seemed unthinkable, Reichl turned to the one place that had always provided sanctuary: the kitchen.
My Kitchen Year follows the change of seasons—and Reichl’s emotions—as she slowly heals through the simple pleasures of cooking. Each dish Reichl prepares for herself—and for her family and friends—represents a life’s passion for food: a blistering ma po tofu that shakes Reichl out of the blues; a decadent grilled cheese sandwich that accompanies a rare sighting in the woods around her home; a rhubarb sundae that signals the arrival of spring.
Part cookbook, part memoir, part paean to the household gods, My Kitchen Yearreveals a refreshingly vulnerable side of the world’s most famous food editor as she shares treasured recipes to be returned to again and again and again.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Fans of Gourmet already know that Ruth Reichl—the famed restaurant critic–in–disguise and magazine editor—is a terrific storyteller and a true connoisseur of good eating. Every page of My Kitchen Year is a treat. This memoir/cookbook interweaves stories about the demise of Gourmet with easy-to-follow recipes that brought Reichl comfort during that period of uncertainty and sadness. With its lovely photos and witty, inspiring notes, we anticipate looking through this book again and again to find the perfect recipe for every season and mood.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When the doors closed at Gourmet magazine in 2009, editor-in-chief Reichl comes to terms with her professional upheaval by plunging herself into her greatest pleasure cooking. Reichl gets reacquainted with her kitchen and the joy of cooking for herself and others. The year of healing and rediscovery journaled in this cookbook reveals the simple pleasures that the former New York Times restaurant critic and James Beard Award winner recaptures when she steps back into her home kitchen, where it all started. Her recipes, introduced by haiku-like images of smells, tastes, sounds, and cityscape, read like kitchen conversations and have an inviting, informal cook-along-with-Ruth tone. The recipes are arranged by season and include comforting dishes such as roasted tomato soup, corn pudding, fried chicken, grilled cheese with leeks, and hamburgers on potato buns. There's plenty of international fare: pastas, lemony hummus, Yanghuo-style dumplings, spicy Korean shrimp, and vegetable rice sticks. The dishes are clearly fun and uplifting for Reichl, and the unexpected shift from culinary guru to happy home cook chases her blues away. Reichl reminds readers that getting lost in a recipe can be excellent therapy.
