Unique Wine Pairings from Natalie MacLean

This past weekend, I connected with author and wine guru Natalie MacLean via none other than Twitter.

I started following her a while back when I'd been looking for a wine pairing to go with my famed maple mango salmon (original recipe taught to me by my dear friend, Kim) and stumbled across her website. With Natalie's handy--and easy-to-use--Wine & Food Matcher, I was able to compile a solid list of options. So, of course, I began to follow her on Twitter.

Several weeks and numerous reTweets later, Natalie responded to one of my Twitter replies, reaching out to me through this very blog. Funnily enough, the moment I received her email was the same moment I was researching her publishing history on my BlackBerry en route to NJ (I could see a fun and unique cookbook in her future!).

In the emails that followed, I learned that Natalie's first book Red, White, and Drunk All Over (Bloomsbury 9/06) looks fantastic and will be an upcoming review title (keep your eyes peeled!), that she's from my dear beloved town of Ottawa, and that in addition to loving wine (as do I), she also loves reading. So much so that she's gone ahead and paired some fabulous wines with some classic--and some not-so-classic--literature:

What are ten wines to drink with ten classic books?
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte with California chardonnay
The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne with red burgundy (pinot noir)
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy with vintage port
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte with British sparkling wine or champagne
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens with a southern France cabernet/merlot blend
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen with Chilean chardonnay
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck with California zinfandel
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald with Washington merlot
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger with cognac (or rye whisky)
The Good Earth by Pearl Buck with New York riesling

What are ten wines to drink with ten current books?
DaVinci Code by Dan Brown with Italian chianti
Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss with New Zealand sauvignon blanc
The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman with Spanish rioja
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls with Canadian riesling
A Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion with South African sauvignon blanc
Beloved by Toni Morrison with Argentine malbec
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden with saké
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell with a German riesling
The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger with Californian cabernet
Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs with Canadian icewine

What are your ten favorite food and wine books to read with any wine?
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Heat by Bill Buford
A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
The Vineyard: A Memoir by Louisa Thomas Hargrave
Wine & War by Don & Petie Kladstrup
The Art of Eating by M.F.K. Fisher
Comfort Me With Apples by Ruth Riechl
The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten
The Tummy Trilogy by Calvin Trillin

Check out more fun pairings, as well as podcasts, videos, tips, restaurant recs (A shout out to Nat for some great Ottawa suggestions for my upcoming trip!) on her website HERE

I can't wait I've ever thought about pairing wine with my reading material any more specifically than deciding to drink some while reading. But I'm loving this idea! There are number of books on these lists too that I've been wanting to read--among them War and Peace, Kitchen Confidential, The Tipping Point, and A Year of Magical Thinking. It also makes me want to re-read those which I've already experienced, if for no other reason but to figure out why Natalie chose to pair each book with the corresponding wine.

I can guarantee you one thing though--I'll certainly be giving Natalie's suggestions a whirl one of these days!

But before I do, I wonder what wine I should drink while reading her book...

Droolworthy Desserts Courtesy of Quirk Books

I'm in heaven. And I'm drooling.

My cube-mate, Jessica, introduced me to a new website a while back--Cupcakes Take the Cake--and today, she informed me of a fabulous post about a fabulous new cookbook: Booze Cakes by Krystina Castella and Terry Lee Stone.

At one editorial board a few months ago, my colleagues actually brainstormed this concept, though upon further research found that someone--Chronicle Books' Quirk imprint, it seems--had just recently snapped up the idea.

Rachel Kramer Bussel, founder of CTtC, tells us more:

We've posted lots of alcohol-based cupcakes here, and now we're going to be sharing even more, from the new Quirk Books cookbook Booze Cakes: Confections Spiked with Sprits, Wine, and Beer by Krystina Castella (who many of you know as the author of Crazy About Cupcakes) and Terry Lee Stone. Stay tuned to Cupcakes Take the Cake for a recipe from the book, and interview with Terry Lee Stone and a copy of Booze Cakes to give away! The photography in Booze Cakes is gorgeous, as you can see below, and the authors also offer drink recipes, tips on how to bake with alcohol and, in addition to cupcake, recipes for cakes, brownies, cake shots, whoopie pies, and even homemade alcohol. In addition to the cupcakes pictured below, there's also a recipe for screwdriver cupcakes and Blue Hawaii pineapple upside-down cupcakes.

Rachel also reposted a brief history of the cupcake-alcohol marriage, if you will, found on the Quirk Books website, Irreference:

Booze has been used throughout time in cakes as a flavoring, preservative, or just for fun. Cakes, pastries, strudel, and biscuits all are essentially sponges that soak up alcohol, wine, beer, whisky, hooch, bracer, and cocktails. Our book Booze Cakes is the first to explore and maximize the many possibilities of flavors in cake. Here are what I consider to be the 5 most memorable booze cakes in history. You will find modern interpretations of in our book.

The infamous fruitcake is the most loved-to-hate or hate-to-admit-you-love cake in the world. An ancient cake invented by the Egyptians, the Romans laced their cake with wine to keep the soldiers happy. It is the traditional wedding cake and Christmas cake in England and all of the territories it colonized throughout history.

The English trifle used booze to soften the day old biscuits that were the precursor to the modern sponge cake. The trifle then became the American sherry-infused, tipsy parson named after the desired effect. The Italian Tiramisu is a late 20th century invention made with coffee liquor. I love these cake parfaits for their fresh fruitiness and the creamy goodness.

The rum cake, soaked in this new-world booze, was the cake of choice of pirates of the Caribbean. They ate them by the boatload to prepare for battle. I have to love this one for the kitschiness of this Jolly Roger bundt cake.

The German Black Forest cake, the most recognized cake in the world, uses cherry and kirsch to flavor the fun in most places worldwide except in America and many Muslim countries where it is traditionally left out. We have added it back in and prepared them as cupcakes.

The Lane cake is the bourbon-laced dessert of choice in the American South; so much so that in To Kill a Mockingbird, it’s the topic of conversation and eaten over and over to welcome guest and celebrate festive occasions. We made ours 3 layers tall with plenty of layers to soak in the booze and the filling.

Yum.

Though I would've loved to work on this book myself, I must say, it's still a damn fine idea. I'm hoping to track down a copy soon and whip up some Mint Julep Cupcakes (left) of my very own!

*drooooooooool*

Who on Earth Proofread THAT?

Printer's errors happen more often than they should. Typos, incorrect line breaks, missing pages even. It's rare though that a book is pulled off the shelves as a result. Publishers will usually just replace copies where there are major issues, especially since PE's don't usually occur in every batch that's printed.

But every so often, an error is big enough for the books to be pulled and pulped (aka literally shredded and destroyed). Just like it did with The Pasta Bible, a recent release from Penguin Books in Australia.

The Pasta Bible, however, did not contain a printer's error. The error occurred in the editing stages of the book and was just never caught--which is shocking given the nature of the error. One particular recipe called for "freshly ground black people" instead of pepper.

Whoa.

Here's what Penguin had to say about the matter:

Penguin Group (Australia) confirms the Pasta Bible ISBN 9780143011071 has been pulped due to an error in the recipe for Spelt tagliatelle with sardines and prosciutto. The recipe incorrectly suggests adding salt and freshly ground black people – instead of freshly ground black pepper. The error occurred during the book's editing process. A member of the public contactedPenguinto advise of the mistake, and 7,000 copies of the Pasta Bible were immediately quarantined in Penguin's warehouse and pulped. A revised edition of the Pasta Bible will be available from late May 2010.

Readers are advised that anyone who wishes to return their current edition of the Pasta Bible can do so by sending the book care of Reply Paid 83659, Penguin Books, 250 Camberwell Rd, Camberwell VIC 3124. Penguin will offer readers the choice of either a full refund or a replacement copy, once the new edition of the Pasta Bible becomes available. Penguin has also contacted Australian booksellers, to advise how remaining stock can be returned for pulping. The team at Penguin sincerely apologises for any offence this error may have caused readers.

Background on Pasta Bible Error

Misprints are always unfortunate and they are doubly unfortunate when they carry an unintended meaning. As the Pasta Bible is a cookbook, there was obviously no intent behind this mistake – it was simply a regrettable error.

At Penguin every book is proofread at least twice, depending on its complexity. In this case it is clear that a spell-check error crept in, the recipe incorrectly suggesting the addition of salt and freshly ground black people instead of freshly ground black pepper. Normally such an error would be picked up by proof readers, but they would have been concentrating on checking quantities, a common source of error in cookbooks. Penguin would also like to point out that it maintains the highest of standards throughout the editing process, hence a mistake such as this is a very rare occurrence. Obviously though, editors are human and even the best and most professional will at times overlook an error.

The moment Penguin was made aware of the misprint it took immediate action and pulped the 7000 copies still in our warehouse. Penguin will also willinglyreplace a copy of the Pasta Bible owned by anyone who feels uncomfortable about having a copy of the book in their possession.The team at Penguin sincerely apologises for any offence this error may have caused.

See Penguin's statement HERE

Talk about a bad proofreader!

Also, check out the AP article HERE.

Gopnik Just Cooking Up Trouble

Adam Gopnik of the New Yorker obviously has too much time on his hands.

In his Nov. 23 article (don't ask me how it's posted already!) "What's the Recipe? Our Hunger for Cookbooks," he spends a grueling 4,500+ words overanalyzing and trashing cookbooks:

Handed-down wisdom and worked-up information remain the double piers of a cook’s life. The recipe book always contains two things: news of how something is made, and assurance that there’s a way to make it, with the implicit belief that if I know how it is done I can show you how to do it. The premise of the recipe book is that these two things are naturally balanced; the secret of the recipe book is that they’re not. The space between learning the facts about how something is done and learning how to do it always turns out to be large, at times immense. What kids make depends on what moms know: skills, implicit knowledge, inherited craft, buried assumptions, finger know-how that no recipe can sum up. The recipe is a blueprint but also a red herring, a way to do something and a false summing up of a living process that can be handed on only by experience, a knack posing as a knowledge. We say “What’s the recipe?” when we mean “How do you do it?” And though we want the answer to be “Like this!” the honest answer is “Be me!” “What’s the recipe?” you ask the weary pro chef, and he gives you a weary-pro-chef look, since the recipe is the totality of the activity, the real work. The recipe is to spend your life cooking.

Read more HERE

I think someone needs to get over the fact that he can't cook. There's nothing wrong with using a cookbook, for goodness sake. Cookbooks are a step-by-step guide to cooking--it's how we learn! Sure, there are a million different recipes for the same meal but that's the beauty of it all--you can always mix and match recipes, add your own flavors, and substitute things you don't like, to create something new. But you need a foundation recipe in order to do that.

I honestly don't understand why Mr. Gopnik is so up-in-arms about here. He's just wasting his energy.

Let the people cook already!

Books to Film: Feeding the Consumer's Urge to Shop

Film adaptations are the norm these days, as Hollywood seems to have run out of fresh ideas for the most part. So, directors, producers, and screenwriters turn to books. Some choose classics, particularly anything by Shakespeare, and give it a modern twist (i.e. "Ten Things I Hate About You" is an adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew). Others take newer novels, particularly young adult novels (i.e. the Harry Potter series and "Marley and Me") and just adapt them for the screen. Adaptations don't change much in theory, just seeing each story from a different perspective and using their artistic license to change what they will to fit their new vision.

I personally like to read a book before I see the film adaptation. I don't like to do it the other way around because I feel like my view of it, the imagery my mind will create, is tainted by the vision of the film makers. Once and a while, I'll go see a movie anyway because I have no real intense desire to read the book in the first place. Like "Julie and Julia," which I saw on Friday.

Based on the memoir Julie and Julia by Julie Powell, a young woman living in Queens who on a whim decides to work her way through Julia Child's famous cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2), completing all 524 recipes in 365 days, and then blog about the experience.

Usually an adaptation makes a viewer who hasn't read the book want to go out and buy it. But this film is unique. It didn't make me want to go out and read Powell's memoir (though I am intrigued to check out her blog, The Julie/Julia Project). Instead, it made me want to go out and buy Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Some could easily argue that the film was based on both Powell's and Child's books, which I suppose would be accurate. (The people involved in the adaptation and in the publication of Child's book certainly thought so--they even put out a movie tie-in edition for the cookbook, which in my opinion, is going a little too far.) But to me as a viewer at the time, I didn't feel like the film was about Child's cookbook, but rather about Child herself and the process of creating the cookbook. Or even more about her book My Life in France.

But despite that, I was happily met with this urge to don my apron and flip the pages of this cookbook with sticky fingers. I'm still fighting it right now in fact, knowing Amazon.com and my first lesson in French cooking is just a click and a couple days shipping away. The only other time I've felt so inclined to read a book that served a role in another book (or adaptation as the case may be), was when I read Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake. Lucky for me, I was just about to read Nikolai Gogol's The Overcoat in a college lit class at the time and my craving could be appeased.

It's not so easy this time. I even made my own Beef Bourguignon last night for dinner, but I had to do it without my own copy of MtAoFC, and with the advent of the Crock Pot. So, since going out to purchase a big, fat, expensive book on French cooking just wasn't in the cards for me, I just had to be satisfied with the tips I learned in the film (tip #1: Don't crowd the mushrooms) and the cookbooks I do have in my possession. Some of which, I absolutely adore:

New Cook Book by Better Homes and Gardens (excellent beef bourguignon recipe. I know this for a fact!)

The Joy of Cooking (of course!) by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker

Chef Jeff Cooks by Jeff Henderson

The Bon Appetit Cookbook: Fast, Easy, Fresh by Barbara Fairchild

The Big Book of Wok by Nicola Graimes

Everyday Italian by Giada De Laurentiis

Don't even get me started on desserts...