Readers: if you live near or around the Baltimore area, come hear me read from my book and watch me attempt a cooking demonstration (scary!) this weekend at The Baltimore Book Festival. I’m slated for 4 o’clock on Saturday at the Food For Thought Stage. Come say hi, taste some of the food I’m cooking, and let me sign your books. I’ll even answer questions. It’ll be fun and potentially hilarious–can I be sued if I burn their kitchen down? See you there!
Hi Friends,
I’ve had a very restful (and eventful) two weeks. That’s me, above, eating a Dungeness Crab on Eliza Island in the Pacific Northwest (one of the best meals of my life, but more on that next week). After a week there kayaking, playing cards and, of course, crabbing, I journeyed with Craig to Cape Cod where we enjoyed high-speed boat tubing (I chickened out), merciless games of Mafia and fantastic meals of ribs, corn, and clam chowder. I returned with 130 pictures on my camera and crashed my computer yesterday trying to edit them all at once in Photoshop (I’m pretty dumb.)
Was I really able to turn my back on my site for two weeks, without monitoring or reading your comments or worrying about how the next day’s post would fare? As my web guy Justin will tell you (adamantly, I’d guess): NO!!!!
I tried, I really did. But I love this blog and I loved the guest posts! Didn’t you? Allow me to pause for a second and thank thank thank all my guest posters: I’m so honored to have had such talented writers writing on my blog. Thank you thank you thank you for your fantastic posts which I read, secretly, on my iPhone while surrounded by glorious nature. What does nature have on Phoebe Damrosch? Or The Science of Fressing? Nothing, I tell you, nothing!
Now that I’m back, my life’s about to change dramatically. The big news (and only the most fervent of you must have discovered it) is that I will no longer be hosting the FN Dish (here’s my farewell video) ; instead, I’m working on a brand new project for Food Network online. What is it? When will it launch? Who else is working on it? I’m sorry, but these are secrets that I can’t yet reveal, but I will say that the new show is much, much, much more in the spirit of this blog–it’s funny, slightly edgy, and food-obsessed. I think you’re going to love it.
I’m going to miss working with my FN Dish team: especially Matthew and Rachael, who I traveled the country with (to Vegas and beyond) and really enjoyed knowing as friends. But we’ll stay in touch (maybe Matthew will do us another guest post?) and I encourage everyone to keep watching The FN Dish, especially since my replacement, Bruce Seidel, is a really awesome guy.
So what else is in store for The Amateur Gourmet? My book comes out in paperback on September 30th. Check out the nifty new paperback cover:
I’ll be doing a reading (and a cooking demonstration! Yikes!) at the Baltimore Book Festival at the end of the month so more on that soon. And my trip to Baltimore fits in perfectly with this month’s banner theme (clear your cache and re-load the site): crabs! Having had Dungeness crabs at the start of the month in the Pacific Northwest, I’ll be able to compare them to blue crabs in Baltimore at the end of the month (though crab season might be over….) Will I finally settle the Great Crab Debate? Stay tuned… (and Baltimorites: where’s the best place to get crab in Baltimore?)
Hope you all had very restful and rejuvenating Labor Day weekends and that your last days of summer are happy ones. Thanks for your patience while I was gone… can’t wait to get blogging again.
Until next week…..
Forever yours,
The Amateur Gourmet
I’ll be signing books today (Tuesday, 12/11) at the Best Cellars store on the Upper East Side (1291 Lexington Ave. at 87th Street) from 5 – 7 PM and then on Friday at the Upper West Side store (2246 Broadway between 80th & 81st) at the same time. There’ll be wine, food, and me–so come say hi! An autographed book makes a great holiday present.
A huge thanks to everyone who showed up to my Boca book signing on Sunday. It was a treat to see my whole family there, all our family friends, and–to my delight–a few Florida readers who came out just from the tiny post I did right before the event. It was great to meet you all!
I’m doing a reading at the Boca Raton Barnes & Noble (click for info) this Sunday, the 18th, at 2 PM. Come on out and meet my entire family as they kvell and cheer and say, “He may not be our son the lawyer, but he’s our son the author and that’s good enough for us.”
I made an absolute effort, when writing my book, not to rehash any old material from the blog. I wanted each chapter to feature an entirely new story, a new experience that would excite loyal readers who’ve been reading me from the beginning as well as new readers who’d discover me in the book store. What you may not know, however, is that as I wrote the book, I would post pictures that correlated to specific chapters without revealing their ultimate destination. For example, when I did the post Farmer’s Market Bounty in August 2005 you didn’t know that this red and yellow tomato salad would figure prominently on pg. 34, did you?
What follows, then, are links and pictures and recipes that should supplement the book for anyone who’s finished reading it and is looking for more. If you haven’t read the book yet, I’d advise not clicking ahead–you may ruin some surprises. Instead, I’d click here and order yourself a copy. You’ll love it! Everyone else, prepare to be supplemented.
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Just a reminder that I’m reading tonight, October 10th, on the 2nd floor of The Strand. I’ll be sharing a stage with Susan Shapiro, Grace Schulman, and Christine Kenneally. Please come on out, should be a fun time for all.
Hey–the good people at Serious Eats are giving away five copies of my book this weekend. Just click here and share your worst culinary disaster to win. Good luck!
