Hey guys. I'm having trouble finding the start that seems right. I've tried, then deleted the attempt, then tried again, then got a drink, put in a load of laundry, and tried again. And deleted again. So let's take a deep breath and jump in.
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There. Much easier. My cookbook, Seven Spoons: My Favourite Recipes for Any and Every Day, comes out slightly-less-than two months from now. Specifically on April 21, 2015, which happens to be my birthday and nine days before the tenth anniversary of this site. The publishers, Ten Speed Press in the US and Appetite by Random House here at home, didn't know the significance of the date when they chose it, and the coincidence feels like kismet.
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Today I was going to tell you about how I came to write a book in the first place, but then I thought it might be nicer to work in reverse. Start with the book itself, and go backwards from there. Maybe I'll split it up into a few posts — one with how this all happened, and another on how I actually wrote the book and organized my work, if that sounds good to you. Then we can keep the conversation going.
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As I said what feels ages ago, the cookbook was an opportunity to gather up the favourite recipes of my family and our friends, and finally nail down some of those go-to dishes that have thus far been without any recipe at all. I ended up at over 100 of them — I think the count is 114 — with more than 80 photos to match. I shot the photography in my home, around the region where I live, and up north in Muskoka, on days spread out over the year I took to write. So you'll see how the light changes with the seasons, and get an idea of how those plates looked on our table. (If you'd like, I can cover my approach to the photography in one of those posts I'll get on planning.)
I aimed to make a book that would be as useful on special occasions as it was in the day-to-day, whether craving a crackling plate of fried chicken burnished with gochuchang-laced honey, or some invigorating quick-pickled vegetables and herbed labneh bundled up in collard greens, or an icy sip in the form of a Paloma with chaat masala salt. There are recipes from my childhood (including a primer on dal), and Sean's too — I am thrilled about how the Walnut Cherry Butter Tart Pie turned out, based on his maternal grandmother's recipe — as well as dishes we have come to call our own in recent years (baked colcannon, corn gazpacho, and sausage rolls with nuoc cham). While it does have vegetarian, vegan, whole-grain, gluten-free, and many other diet- and allergen- friendly recipes, the book has no fidelity to one set way of eating. It does have an overarching commitment to eating in season, and as locally as possible, with whole foods the usual. The collection is varied, suiting the way I eat, and hopefully you do too.
The book is simply organized to follow a day's worth of meals. It has Breakfast, Lunch, Soups, Snacks and Starters, then Suppers, Vegetables and Sides, followed by Treats, Sweets and Sips, and a chapter of Staples.
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In Seven Spoons the book, just like on this site, the stories of those dishes are included too. That said, a few had to be trimmed, even after we added pages to cram in as much as possible. I wanted to include those somewhere, and here seemed a good place.
On the Pickled Strawberries (pictured above with chicken liver pâté as part of a ploughman's lunch): The first time I had pickled strawberries was in New York City, in a restaurant at the edge of Central Park. The place was packed, filled with people and noise, and a fierce windstorm was kicking up outside. Still, the strawberries pulled attention. Luminously scarlet, lacquered in juice, they were berries from Oz, daintily presented on top of succulent slices of fresh mozzarella. The supple cheek of sharp fruit against the cool, creamy blandness was startling. Refreshing and silky, each soured morsel had me wanting another.
On the Bostocks (I love bostocks): Nikole introduced me to bostocks. We were once waiting to cross at a busy corner in Toronto — Yonge at Roxborough Street East, if you happen to know the neighborhood — when she asked a question I couldn’t quite hear over the cars. It sounded like, "Have you ever had a bus stop?" Not understanding, I don't think I replied either way. She then led a block further down Yonge Street, to Patachou Patisserie (sadly, now shuttered).
In the front window, between apple turnovers and showy cinnamon swirls, was a cluster of plain, brown, icing sugar-dusted pucks labeled bostocks.
Those squat pastries proved remarkable at first bite.
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The book is available for pre-order, for those interested. As a special thanks, anyone who orders early gets a bundle of recipes right away, starting today. (Those who have already ordered get one, too!) There are five recipes from the book, including the North-Indian style baked eggs that some folks asked about, along with two exclusive to the package. These brownies are one of those recipes, with a super easy, fudge caramel glaze that takes them to fully over the top, rather than just slightly so. Click this link to claim your PDF; simply enter your information and follow the instructions. Then you're off to the races. Or the kitchen, as it were.
I'll sign off for now. I'm working with both my publishers to plan events around the book's launch — so if you'd like a visit do let me know! We'll also take the locations of pre-orders into account, so that kindness will be represented. Once confirmed, those dates and information will be added to the NEWS section on top menu bar.
Well then. This feels like a lot, yet feels really great. Thank you for reading this far, and for so long.
xo and happy days.