Guest Post with Erica Bauermeister Author of The School of Essential Ingredients

I'm very honored to welcome Erica Bauermeister, author of The School of Essential Ingredients for a special Guest Post here today at Redlady's Reading Room.

Last month, I shared my rave review of this wonderful book which you can read here. I have been talking about this book a lot and it is high on the list of my most favorite books that I've read this year.


As I mentioned in my review, reading The School of Essential Ingredients is like finding the perfect recipe to escape the mundane day to day fast food pace of life and cooking that many of us subscribe to. It will allow you to vicariously savor the varied ingredients in the dishes that the class create and it may even inspire you to create some of your own. If you haven't yet read this magical book, I highly encourage you to pick up a copy.


I want to thank Erica for taking the time to write a special guest post for the readers here at Redlady's Reading Room. Erica has given us an added bonus by including a very special fondue recipe taken from the book. She adds her own magical touch to the details, so please read on...

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On Fondue and Magic
by Erica Bauermeister, author of The School of Essential Ingredients

People often ask me where they can find a restaurant or a cooking class like Lillian’s in The School of Essential Ingredients – a place where needs that you didn’t even know you had are met, where you realize that life can be beautiful or sad, but in any case is meant to be lived. My response is that Lillian’s is fictional, but that magical restaurants exist. Sometimes you just stumble across them.

Which leads me to fondue. In The School of Essential Ingredients, fondue is a way for Lillian’s cooking class to celebrate Valentine’s Day, so it was with a feeling of serendipity that I found myself on Valentine’s Day weekend this year in New York City with my 21-year-old daughter, trying to track down a fondue restaurant in the East Village that a friend had told her we HAD to find. It was called The Bourgeois Pig.

We decided to locate it while we were out exploring in the afternoon, just so we would know where to go that evening. We walked right by the address – no restaurant. We asked at a shop two doors down; the clerk had never heard of the place. We asked people on the street. Nothing. Finally, while getting our lunch order at a (fabulous) porchetta sandwich shop we mentioned it. Oh yes, they had heard about it. They pointed across the street to a blank building facade, its windows closed with wooden shutters. We went and found “The Bourgeois Pig” painted in small, curling letters on the door frame.

We came back at 7 pm to find magic – Paris in another century. The shutters open, candle-light flickering inside the windows. A man with a delicious resemblance to Johnny Depp standing at the door, dressed in cape and cravat, letting people in two at a time. We entered to find dim lighting, red flocked wallpaper, the tables pressed up against each other like lovers. The fondue was lush and warm and into it we dipped an incredible array of crusty bread and grapes, apple slices and roasted rosemary potatoes. The wine was cold; we talked about everything and nothing for hours; a (real) frenchman sitting at the bar sent my daughter a glass of champagne. Oh my.

Readers have been asking for recipes – so here is Helen’s fondue, with some variations as suggested by a magical evening in New York City.

~Helen’s fondue~

garlic clove, cut in half

1 1/2 cup white wine

2-3 T kirsch

1/2 lb Emmenthaler

1/2 lb Gruyere

1-2 T cornstarch

a pinch of nutmeg

Rub fondue pot with garlic clove. Add white wine and kirsch and heat. Grate cheese and put in plastic bag with cornstarch; shake until cornstarch covers cheese. Add cheese slowly to pot, stirring in a figure-8 motion. Add a small pinch of nutmeg at the end...

What shall you dip in your fondue? Try:

crusty french bread, cut in cubes

grapes

apple slices

roasted rosemary potatoes (cut new red potatoes in chunks, brush with olive oil, toss with a bit of salt and pepper and rosemary, then roast in a 375 degree oven until as soft as you like them – figure 30-45 minutes).

If you’d like to learn more about The School of Essential Ingredients, you can check out http://www.ericabauermeister.com/. Other recipes are being sprinkled throughout the internet and will eventually be compiled on my website...

Review:The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister

The School of Essential Ingredients captures the moments of connection between food and life in the lives of the eight students that take part in an 8 month cooking class. The class is taught by Lillian, the owner of the restaurant where the class is held. The lessons that they learn release sensations and feelings that allow the students to connect to their inner selves. They learn about love and life and how food connects to the various meanings of love. Each chapter focuses on a student and their life and process of learning through the cooking classes.

This is a book that touches the depth of your heart and soul, if you let it. Just as the students in Lillian's cooking class must learn and grow and allow the lessons to seep through, so do we as readers. It is easy to open your heart and mind while reading this story that sparks the senses so easily that you can envision in your mind the smell of lavender, the taste of dark chocolate melting on your tongue or the feel of the knife slicing an heirloom tomato.

Erica Bauermeister has a gift of writing beautiful prose that is lyrical and sensual. She is able to use words in a manner to describe the simple beauty of food, life and relationships. She captures the essence of life and connects it so perfectly to food. Through the story, Lillian leads the students to connect to what is essential and to the importance of showing your love for others through choosing and preparing the food you serve them. It has made me want to connect more to the food that nourishes us and apply some of the lessons that Lillian has taught through her cooking classes.

Reading The School of Essential Ingredients is like finding the perfect recipe to escape the mundane day to day fast food pace of life and cooking that many of us subscribe to. It will allow you to vicariously savor the varied ingredients in the dishes that the class create and it may even inspire you to create some of your own.

The School of Essential Ingredients is definitely going to be on the list of my most favorite books that I've read this year. It is the kind of book that I can imagine reading over again. I didn't want the book to end. I loved reading every morsel. I enjoy cooking, but this book took cooking to a different level and has challenged me to expand my own skills. I want to find a cooking class like Lillians. This is the first novel written by Erica Bauermeister and I look forward to her next work. I can envision a sequel to The School of Essential Ingredients and certainly hope that the author is considering this.

For more information, check out the the author Erica Bauermeister's Website. There is an Excerpt, Discussion guide, Author Q& A and more.

Thank you to Matthew from Penguin Books.

Review: The Lost Art of Mixing by Erica Bauermeister

After I read  The School of Essential Ingredients , I envisioned a sequel and hoped that the author would write one.  (You can read my review HERE, it is one of my favorite books). The Lost Art of Mixing is a long awaited sequel which takes us back to Lillian's restaurant where we catch up with several of the same characters as well as a new cast of quirky characters. Lillian is struggling in a relationship with Tom, a widow who is still tied to the memories of his wife. Chloe, who is Lillian's assistant at the restaurant and lives with Isabelle who is dealing with the progression of her Alzheimers. Al, the accountant has a close friendship with Lillian and loves the power and tantalizing smells of her food. He is a lonely man in a lonely marriage to Louise who is struggling with her own issues. The story follows the characters as they are struggling to work through issues in their lives and they are all connected through the center link, Lillian. I enjoyed the book, the beautiful phrases and connections to food and emotions and how Bauermeister connects words and emotions to the food and cooking.  The writing is lyrical in these moments. I must admit that I so wanted to love this book as much as I loved The School of Essential Ingredients. I didn't find the character development as engaging or as interesting. I wanted to know more about Lillian and found her character a bit disconnected and flat. There were tender and funny scenes that brought out the characters although there was not enough depth and connection for me as a reader. The ending was a bit abrupt and it makes me wonder if there will be a follow up book. Bauermeister is a talented writer, her writing flows and there is beauty in her lyrical words and phrases that I appreciate. 

Disclosure: Thank you to Putnam books who sent me an e-galley copy through Netgalley for review.

Tuesday Intros~ The Lost Art of Mixing by Erica Bauermeister

Every Tuesday Diane @ Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph where we share the first paragraph or two of a book we are reading or thinking about reading soon.  Feel free to grab the image and participate. 

The Lost Art of Mixing by Erica Bauermeister

My Tuesday Intro Pick is The Lost Art of Mixing by Erica Bauermeister. I read and loved Erica's first book The School of Essential Ingredients, (read my review here) so I knew that I had to read  the sequel.  It's actually one of my favorite books and I featured it in my new blog header at the top of my blog. You can see the book featured on my favorites bookshelf, right in the middle! I am reading an e-galley on my kindle and it's already pulled me in. Since I am on spring break this week, I expect to finish it quickly. Although this may be the kind of book that I don't want to end quickly. 

Here are the first two paragraphs from an excerpt posted on the authors website, go here to read the rest of the excerpt. 

THE LOST ART of MIXING

PROLOGUE

Lillian stood at the restaurant kitchen counter, considering the empty expanse in front of her. It was a Monday morning at the end of December and the restaurant held the calm that occurred only after the onslaught of holiday feasts, the culmination of a culinary season that began in the fall. In those months of ever shorter days, sometimes the only ingredients Lillian’s customers could be bothered to take from their own kitchen cabinets were boxes of macaroni and cheese, bread for toast, and the restaurant provided both memory and inspiration—golden half-globes of squash awash in butter, a lamb shank braised with the patience it would take to get through winter. After the exhilaration that was summer in the Pacific Northwest, autumn was like the sigh of an adolescent who realizes he must indeed grow up. It was Lillian’s job to remind the people who sat at her tables that being an adult, the passing of a season or a year, was about more than just being older.

Still, Lillian thought, sometimes it was nice to be in the hush of an empty kitchen, without the heat of the ovens, the extra bodies of prep cooks and,dishwashers and bussers and servers. This was what fed her—this moment of stillness, the long, cool stretch of the counters and the give of the thick rubber mat beneath her feet.

What do you think? Would you keep on reading 

or move on to something else?

The Sunday Salon: My First Salon Post

I've been reading the Sunday Salon posts on other blogs and have enjoyed the variety and style of each individual post. I've decided to join this vast group of bloggers and become one of the Salonist's. Books and reading have always been a passion for me. I believe that my love of books was inspired by my first grade teacher. I had moved mid-year and was a new student in the class. She taught us how to read and I fondly recall learning to read with Dick & Jane books. She had a reading contest for the class and whoever read the most books would get to have lunch at Mrs. Ishay's house. That was very exciting, we all went home for lunch in those days and nothing like this would likely happen these days. Guess who won?! I was bound and determined to win that contest and I did. I don't remember how many books I read but I do remember that I got to have lunch with Mrs. Ishay and another teacher. She bought McDonald's for lunch which was only the golden arches in carryout and a real treat. I am definitely showing my age, this was the latter part of the 1960's. I recall how wonderful it was to read all of those wonderful books ,win the contest and spend a wonderful lunch with my teacher. I learned that books can take you to so many different places through the turn of a page and how much I loved to read.

I also have fond memories of library time in elementary school as well and recall our wonderful librarian who read amazing stories to us in her accented English. One particular book, I recall fondly was Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel. This is a favorite 1970's children's classic story and is a re-creation of an ancient Chinese folktale in which children learn about the danger of having such an honorable name as:

Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-

chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo

I recall repeating that name in chanting rhythm in a read aloud story time. It was such a fun story to read and be part of. I took the book out of the library to share with my son who enjoyed reading it with me but he just did not have the same experience or cherished memories as I do.

My love of reading continued as I grew older and I have fond memories of spending time at the library in the summers. I wrote about this in a recent Booking Through Thursday post about Library Week, and shared some pictures of my favorite library I went to when I was younger. I continued to read a lot and in high school English class I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith which remains one of my favorite books today.

I continued to read in early adulthood and into college and my interests always changed. I always had bookshelves full of books and many books loaned out from the libraries. I married and my husband also loved books which made it especially nice as we always enjoy searching out a new bookstore and browsing for hours there. We would often find a bookstore along the way in our travels and would always stop in and visit whether it was in Rockport, Massachusetts or Paris, France. We would always seem to find a bookstore or library to visit.

When I was in my late 20's I needed to have surgery to have my tonsils out. I had to take some time off from work and knew that I would need to be prepared with books by my side as I recovered. A coworker and avid reader highly suggested a mystery series that she enjoyed and I decided to read them. She suggested the Alphabet series by Sue Grafton which I thoroughly enjoyed reading while I recovered at home. I have read them all and even wrote a fan letter to Sue Grafton and have been on her mailing list ever since. I have a collection of goodies that she used to send out in the mail promoting her books, now it is only a postcard. She also send out a yearly Christmas photo card from Kinsey and Sue. Through being on her mailing list, I was also able to purchase Kinsey and Me: A Collection of Short Stories by Sue Grafton a signed, First edition, rare copy as only 300 were printed in 1991. This is considered a very scarce book and was designed by Sue and her husband and was never in stores, sold only by mail order to Grafton fans. The book is maroon cloth backed, in a maroon cloth slipcase, gilt-stamped leather spine label with marbled end pages and is one of the most beautiful books that I own. It is also the most valuable books as a few copies are currently listed at Abebooks between $800-$2000. I don't read as many mysteries as I once did but I do still read all of the books in this series.

When we had our son, I started collecting books early for him and received many special books as gifts. I have saved some of the early ones as we have such special memories reading them together. My son is now 10 and loves to read and collect books as much as his father and I do. He especially enjoys finding old, vintage books at the library book sales we go to together and has acquired an interesting collection of his own. He is fascinated by the old, musty books and their histories filled with thoughts and ideas scribbled with fountain pens. This picture is one of the books that he has which was published in 1902. He wanted me to share that this book has a personal inscription, "To Charlie, From Uncle George" written with a fountain pen in fancy writing with perfect handwriting.

I started a neighborhood book club several years ago and that has opened my world to reading more books that I normally wouldn't choose to read. I have enjoyed dissecting a book and sharing thoughts and opinions with others and hashing it out when we have differences of opinions. I've also learned something interesting about being in a book club and being able to discuss a book with others. The benefit for me has been to hear others thoughts and opinions and different viewpoints as it opens my mind to different perspectives. Even when I may not care for a book I come away with a different attitude about the book after discussing it. Also, we always have delicious appetizers,wines and dessert to enjoy. This is a must in our book club...good books, good wine, good food, good friends...who could ask for more?!

I wanted to share a few highlights from the past week here. I was thrilled to have Erica Bauermeister, author of The School of Essential Ingredients (and one of my favorite books that I've read this year) write a very special guest post about Fondue and Magic. I read and reviewed Summer on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber, the 5th book in the wonderful Blossom Street Series. I also wrote a review of the third book in my son's favorite Wimpy Kid Series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney. I also have a giveaway ending tonight, April 5th at Midnight EST for a copy of Deep Dish by Mary Kay Andrews, to enter, go here for details.

I need to stop rambling here but I wanted to share some more personal thoughts about my life and books with those who regularly read my blog. I don't always share much personal information as I get a bit nervous about sharing pictures on the Internet, especially of my son, and other personal details.

To read more Sunday Salon Posts, go here.

Review & Giveaway: Joy for Beginners by Erica Bauermeister

About the book:

A group of seven women gather for an intimate, outdoor dinner in Seattle to celebrate their friend Kate’s recovery from cancer.  Wineglass in hand, Kate agrees to a pact: to start her new lease on life, she’ll go white-water rafting down the Grand Canyon, a journey which frankly terrifies her. But if she goes, each of them must also do one thing in the next year that is new or difficult or scary – and Kate gets to choose their challenges.

My Thoughts:

Joy for Beginners is about friendship and finding joy in life even when you step out of your comfort zone..by choice or chance. This is a novel about a group of women who band together to help Sara who has twins, they call it a baby-holding circle. Doesn't that sound great for a new mom, especially with twins? They develop a friendship and connection through this experience. They then switch gears as  the circle of life changes to helping one of the women, Kate, who is diagnosed with breast cancer. This is where the book begins, the women are having a celebration party as Kate  learns that she is cancer free. Kate's daughter has encouraged her  to consider taking the challenge of a white water rafting trip which terrifies Kate. The women encourage Kate to take this adventure and in Kate's acceptance she asks each one of the women to allow her to choose a challenge for them to take on as well.

From here, the story is told in chapters with alternating perspectives of each woman. They each describe the adventure they experience that Kate has chosen for them as well as Kate's own adventure. There is some interaction between the women in each chapter which are each loosely connected. They don't flow together but are more segmented into short stories. The strength of each individual is able to shine through as they grow and change through their experiences and face their challenges. 

I absolutely adored Erica Bauermeister's novel School of Essential Ingredients when I read it a few years ago (you can read my review here). I was excited to read Joy for Beginners which is a rich novel with strong characters and storytelling.  For me, I just didn't connect to the women as I had expected to. If you like books about women's friendship, developing characters and strong writing told in each characters voice, this is a book you'll want to pick up.

Check out Erica Bauermeister's website and you can also find her on Facebook. You can read an excerpt of the novel here and there is a Reading Guide as well. 

Thanks to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for my advanced review copy. Check out the other stops on the book tour,  HERE.

*GIVEAWAY DETAILS*

I have one copy of Joy for Beginners by Erica Bauermeister to give away to one lucky reader. 

For 1 Entry: All you have to do is leave a comment about this review and what you found interesting about JOY FOR BEGINNERS. Make sure to include your email address (no email, no entry)

For a 2nd Entry (Separate Comment):  Follow my blog, you can follow through Google Friend Connect to the left in my side column. If you already do, thank you, and please  make sure to let me know in your comment so I can pass the entry on to you as well. Make sure to include your email address (no email, no entry).

For a 3rd Entry (Separate Comment): Spread the word about this giveaway and Retweet, retweet button below my name at the end of this post. Make sure to include your email address (no email, no entry).

*Open to US/Canada only.

Enter by July 8, 2011

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share what books that we found in our mailboxes last week. I didn't post a Mailbox last Monday as I didn't receive any books. It was a much needed break actually as my TBR shelves are overflowing with books to be read.
This week was different and I received some wonderful books.

• Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson (Won from Alyce At Home with Books)


• The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister (From Penguin Books)


• Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland (Paperbackswap)


• Goddesses of Kitchen Avenue by Barbara Samuels (from my friend Mary Ann)