'Comfort me with apples' Ruth Reichl

''Love, Adventure and a Passion for Cooking''

''But I had finally found my true calling, and I was not prepared to turn it down. 'You were born to be a restaurant critic', said the editor who gave me the job, and I felt that she was right. Food was my major passion; I had been feeding people since I was small. I had been a cook, a waitress, a kitchen manager. I had even written a cookbook. Now I understood that all along I had been training myself to be a restaurant critic.''

Dalsza czesc fascynujacej opowiesci o zyciu Ruth Reichl

Pisalam juz o 'Tender at the bone'  zawierajacej dziecinstwo i wczesna mlodosc autorki. 'Comfort me with apples' to poczatki kariery Ruth: jako krytyka kulinarnego, jako pisarki. Jestesmy swiadkami jej romansu z Colman'em Andrews'em , rozpadu pierwszego malzenstwa (nie przez Colmana!) i rozkwitu drugiego. Razem z Ruth spotykamy fascynujacych ludzi: Orsona Welles'a (tylko przelotnie:)), legendarna M.F.K Fisher, przyszlego krola amerykanskich kielbasek Bruce'a Aidells'a i zafascynowana jedzeniem wlascicielke slynnej Chez Panisse Alice Waters. Jestesmy razem z Ruth i Wolfgangiem Puck'iem (zajmujacym sie miedzy innymi kulinarna oprawa gali oskarowej) przy otwarciu jego slynnej restauracji 'Chinois' w 1983r. Zwiedzamy i smakujemy Chiny i Tajlandie.       I, niestety, swiadkujemy utrate malutkiej, adoptowanej coreczki autorki - na rzecz biologicznych rodzicow, ktorzy po wielu miesiacach postanowili jednak zajac sie swoim dzieckiem...

Ksiazka zdecydowanie warta przeczytania!

I jeszcze tylko kilka fragmentow. 

Tak na zachete :):):)))))))))))))))

''We did go to Boyer the next day, where we drank antique Roederer champagne from 1911. 'I hope I'm this vibrant when I'm sixty-seven', said Colman. There was a kind of magic to champagne that old, a wine bottled before automobiles or airplanes or either of the major wars. A wine bottled before women had the vote. Watching the liquid come sparkling into my glass, I thought of all the years it had been waiting in that dark bottle, what a different world it was emerging into. I was drinking history; I liked the taste.''

 '' 'Have you never had aceto balsamico?' asked Darrell. I kept still, but Colman shook his head. Darrell leaned back. 'It is produced in only one town in Italy', he said, 'Modena. The process is similar to sherry: As the vinegar ages it is moved from one barrel to another. Each barrel is made of different variety of wood, and each imparts a different flavor. For great balsamico, the process takes an entire lifetime, the vinegar becoming more concentrated as it progresses through subsequent barrels of red oak, chestnut, mulberry, and juniper. Every true Modenese family has barrels in the basement, and it is said that when the Americans arrived at the end of the war, each family fled with its barrel of finished balsamic. They simply could not imagine life without it.''

''Colman picked up the nearest platter and pointed to a small, soft, almost transparent filet with brownish ridges running down the flesh. 'Anybody know what this is?' he asked. 'An espardenya,' said Mark. 'Right,' said Colman. 'But do you know what that is?' 'I'll take a wild guess and assume it's fish,' he replied. From Colman's face I knew that Mark was wrong, but I couldn't imagine what else the filet might be. I just took a bite. It was supple and slightly sweet. 'It's good,' I said. Bradley reached for the platter. 'It's a slug,' said Colman. Bradley quickly redirected his hand to the grilled shrimp.''  

:):):):):):):)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))