Happy November!
My flowers are still blooming in Minnesota and we haven't had a freeze here yet, which is strange. My sweet dog, Titus, had a lumpectomy yesterday and we are waiting for the results. So I took him to school with me today as we had a grading day for the end of quarter one.
October was a great month and I took some time to do some blogger soul searching, wondering how I wanted to continue this blog, knowing it needed a change. So I decided I still wanted to feature the many amazing Minnesota authors I have met and whose books I enjoy. I then made a posting schedule and with a plan to move this blog towards short reviews, poetry, my own writing struggles and successes and more thematic posts. I hope you will like the change and see an increase in posting.
I would like to introduce you to this month's author, Beth Dooley. Beth Dooley is a foodie and so am I. I met Beth at the Twin Cities Book Fair where she was signing copies of her book at Milkweed Press, which is one of my favorite presses. I am super excited to read her book, In Winter's Kitchen. Growing Roots and Breaking Bread in the Northern Heartland. I think it is the perfect time of year to feature Beth and her book, which has just been released in paperback. I'm hoping to find some new recipes to use this winter in my kitchen and to put on my Thanksgiving Table.
This month you can expect a book review, an author interview, a giveaway and possibly a guest post.
Here is a synopsis from Goodreads:
In Winter's Kitchen
The explosive growth of the local food movement is hardly news: Michael Pollan’s books sell millions and the spread of farm-to-table restaurants is practically viral. But calls for a “food revolution” come most often from a region where the temperature rarely varies more than a few degrees. In the national conversation about developing a sustainable and equitable food tradition, the huge portion of our population who live where the soil freezes hard for months of the year feel like they're left out in the cold.
In Winter’s Kitchen reveals how a food movement with deep roots in the Heartland—our first food co-ops, most productive farmland, and the most storied agricultural scientists hail from the region—isn't only thriving, it's presenting solutions that could feed a country, rather than just a smattering of neighborhoods and restaurants. Using the story of one thanksgiving meal, Dooley discovers that a locally-sourced winter diet is more than a possibility: it can be delicious.
The Northern Heartland Kitchen
The Northern Heartland is governed by the seasons. The long and cold winter, bright and warm summer, and crisp and refreshing spring and fall shape our physical and emotional landscape. Shouldn’t the seasons and their harvests also shape the way we eat?
Dooley shows that far from being a sacrifice, eating in season and locally is a tribute to the year’s changing riches—encouraging an appreciation for the unmatched flavor of a juicy July tomato or a crisp October apple with garden salads, soups and stews, free-range meats and poultry, fish and game, farmstead cheeses, wholesome breads, pastries and fruit pies. The Northern Heartland Kitchen presents delicious recipes alongside the stories and compelling research that illustrate how eating well and eating locally are truly one and the same.
Beth Dooley was recently on the The Splendid Table podcast and you can listen here:
http://splendidtable.org/story/beth-dooley-on-the-joy-of-cooking-and-the-future-of-wheat
Find Beth, her books, delicious recipes and more on her website: http://www.bethdooleyskitchen.com/
Happy Reading!
