A Homemade Life

Hey all! Next one on the list was A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from my Kitchen Table, by Molly Wizenberg. She's the creator of the blog Orangette, which is also a major part of the book- so if you're familiar with the blog, you'll see where this is going.

I love subtitles, because so often, you know exactly what you're getting. I mean, how great is it to know just what to expect? Of course, it can't tell you everything, but still, they're pretty great.

Ahem. All that to say that even if you're not familiar with Wizenberg's blog (as I wasn't), the subtitle sums up the book pretty well- it is literally an entire book of life stories and the recipies that went with specific life experiences or phases. She's not a cook (though she could be) and she IS a writer, so this was a pretty easy, interesting read. I loved how affectionate she was about food and how, for her, it was a way to relate to things in the world. Her stories and memories were happy, sad, vulnerable, and relatable- from her dad's death to meeting her husband... it's all in there. I could identify with her, and I wanted to try all of her recipes- now that's what marks the success of a food writer, yeah? I absolutely, unequivocally, LOVED this book.

Now, the bad news. I can't try one darn thing she writes about. BUMMER. I'm 97% sure I'm super allergic to dairy (sigh) and I'm phasing it out completely, which is the only way to know for sure, yaddayaddayadda. Most of what she makes is slathered in butter or cream or something delicious that is now strictly off limits... (double sigh), so I can't even tell you if any of it is good or not. But I CAN tell you that when she described her salad with pistachios and chocolate, chocolate cupcakes with mittersweet glaze, her buttermilk vanilla bean cake with glazed oranges and creme fraiche, her French style yogurt cake with lemon (sensing a pattern here? I was attracted to her desserts...), espresso-walnut toffee, her dad's French toast, Dutch baby pancakes with lemon and sugar, her own ranch dressing, and best of all, her wedding cake... well, I had to keep myself from drooling. Maybe you aren't quite there yet, but oh, you will be...

So will someone please, please, PLEASE try these for me? I want to live vicariously through you. Anyone an Orangette follower? Would you buy this book for the recipes or for the stories?