AppetizerFest will be an afternoon of consuming delicious tidbits and assigning marks based on various criteria. It's really just another excuse to have a laugh with friends and partake in some culinary jousting. One of our friends thought this would be the perfect time to introduce a woman he had recently began seeing romantically. Can you imagine what ran through her mind with fifteen other people pulling out score sheets and mulling over every detail of an appetizer? It's one thing to know you're amongst friends who are completely full of it but poor Ms M must have been wondering what she had got herself into. While everyone was chewing and mulling, pens poised to assign a mark, I leaned over and said quietly "We are so full of it it's not even funny" which made her laugh. The very lovely Ms M is still around and will be in on the fun for this year's competition.
Mrs Miniver's Daughter recently wrote about discovering a copy of A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg and a craving for Bouchon au Thon was heartily underway. I made a batch on Wednesday in regular muffin tins as called for but I'm thinking that baked in those miniature tins they would make a lovely bite-sized appetizer. Would they be boring without some sort of dipping sauce? These are basically tuna, egg and Gruyere cheese so if you have any suggestions for something zingy to accompany them please feel free to share!
This reading venture sprang from submitting a 'request to purchase' form at my library. A Homemade Life intrigued me as I like to read about cooking way more than actually doing it. I thought that because of its massive appeal on many book blogs, others in my community would want to find out about it. The plan was to take this book home for a quick peek and then let the customers have their turn. I had plans to read something else anyway, or so I thought. My 'peek' at the book turned out to be seventy-four pages long, there was no turning back. Molly Wizenberg is just the sort of young lady you would want for a friend. Well, actually you feel like you are her friend because reading A Homemade Life is like she has lent you her diary for the weekend. A less than spectacular first kiss and a relationship that ended with her crying on a bench are events in a girl's life that are quite often swept under the carpet. The honesty with which these snapshots of her life are written endear Molly to the reader and lets face it, who of us hasn't been there? Molly won't have us feeling sorry for her though because she's in France, a country which has stolen her heart. Living with a host family while attending college she's living her dream. She wrote that she had a sort of understanding with her parents that she wasn't going to stick around home, it was always encouraged. I liked that. It's the same sort of understanding we have with The Heiress, to get out there and see the world, no regrets or should haves. This is only one example of the many times I found myself agreeing completely with the way Molly and her family view life. This Friday, I found myself at the car dealership for an oil change when beginning the chapter describing Burg's (nickname for her Dad) terminal illness. Blinking back tears, I found that taking frequent breaks to stare at the exhaust systems mounted on the wall and the photo featuring the sales employee of the month were necessary to halt a full out wail. Hats off to Ms Wizenberg though for giving us a wonderful recipe or two at the end of each chapter to put us on an even keel, allowing us time to breathe before dipping once more into her life. Meeting the man who would become her husband is a story that will have you believing in fate if you don't already. If that first meeting with Brandon were written by some other woman, it would have been easy to label the author a tart (pun not intended) with the rapidity with which she declared her lust for this man. But knowing her as you do through this book, you just end up adoring her honest heart. These two were meant to be together and they wasted no time in admitting it. A Homemade Life is part diary, literary travel, family saga, love story, three tissue heartache and recipe book all rolled into one. Molly Wizenberg, if you're listening...please continue writing. You have a way with more than just mixing bowls! As you can tell, I absolutely loved this book. I've already made two recipes and pre-ordered a copy of the trade paperback coming out next week for my very own. The French-Style Yogurt Cake with Lemon has been a real hit this weekend, in fact, R has just poured coffee and we're about to polish off the last two pieces. A full report on the baking of that luscious cake accompanied by a photo will follow in a couple of days. Bon Appetit!
