Today is the last Thursday of the month, and that means I get to share a book and an author with you.
I always enjoy scanning my shelves, visiting old friends and their stories as I read the spines, and I love introducing them to you.
This week’s pick is by Rick Bragg, a Pulitzer Prize–winning writer known for his rich, funny, and heartfelt stories about growing up in the South.
But this time, he gives us a book with a twist—a cookbook mixed with family stories called The Best Cook in the World: Tales from My Momma’s Table.
The book’s 487 pages are packed with history, recipes, humor, and love. One of my favorite chapters describes how his grandfather moved his family, possessions, and livestock in the back of his Ford Model A truck to another house a few miles down the road. The recipe associated with that story sounds pretty good too.
Food and story, all served up together. What could be any better?
Have you written stories about food in the past? Did you include recipes? Does writing that type of story appeal to you? Tell us about it in the comments section below.
If you love to cook or are allergic to the kitchen, always remember, the only way to do this wrong is to not do it at all!
There are still a couple of open spots on the Writing the Waves cruise. If you haven’t done so already, check it out. It’s going to be great!
OH boy, is this opening a vault of ideas for me! I have already written about how my one-woman shoe for a family dinner backfired on me. Also in the wings is From Tomato Aspic to Mungo Potato Salad, a story of my dose of reality while trying to impress my new in-laws at an annual family picnic. Rick Bragg’s family, though from the South, has nothing on my family for artery-quivering recipes, such as Geri’s German Chocolate Cake, Mike’s Pot Roast, Rosy’s Tasty Apple Pudding. And there are still five more siblings, my mother’s, as well as my adopted… Read more »
I’m difficult to motivate as a cook, but I love collecting cookbooks. I think I need a copy of The best cook in the world! My mother was a wonderful cook and baker (not as common a combination as you might think). I have a framed copy of a recipe for cobbler that she wrote out years ago. The recipe came from another Air Force wife and it’s been in my family since I was very young. It’s my go-to for company dessert. Bragg’s story about ribs at midnight reminded me of a story one of my dad’s coworkers, Bill,… Read more »
Here is my contribution. Recipe for Remembering Papa. Ingredients: 1 cup of grief, raw and unfiltered 2 tablespoons of longing, stirred gently with memory A pinch of regret, like an over-steeped tea, bitter but necessary 3 heaping spoons of baritone echoing in the quiet moments 1 teaspoon of Papa’s laughter, warm as fresh-baked bread A handful of childhood stories sifted through time A splash of tears, both salty and sweet A drizzle of resilience, slow and steady A final garnish of love, enduring beyond loss Instructions: Start with grief. On the morning of his funeral, the air is thick with… Read more »
Dear one, you never cease to amaze me with your expression genius. I had my wonderful father, thank God through the first year and a half of my first child’s life, but cried often that he was not there to help me raise him and the four others. Often, I felt his guiding presence like a guardian angel directing me.
Thank you, MomJa.
I’ve read this story multiple times and it never fails to choke me up. A recipe worth following. Thank you, Etya.
You are welcome
I met my in-laws for the first time at Easter Dinner. Seeing a table full of pasta, I exclaimed without thinking, “Where is the ham?” My new brother-in-law looked at me. “We hand-made these raviolis.”
Too funny! My first Christmas ever was with our Italian friends. It was a feast and f seafood. Half f which I have not seen before.