Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Cook the Books - A Foodie Book Club is Born

My new foodie friends Johanna of Food Junkie (in Athens, Greece) and Deb of Kahakai Kitchen (in Hawaii) and I (upstate New York) are proud to announce the birth of COOK THE BOOKS, a blog event where participants read a chosen foodcentric book (fiction and non-fiction) and then cook up something delicious inspired by their reading.

We all met on the Leftover Queen's Foodie Forum, where we are currently embroiled in some Royal Jousting with fennel, parsley and dairy products, and we discovered that we share not only a love of cooking but a love of reading too. And what better way to escape from the trials of a long, hard day than to read a good book about food! We decided to plan a bimonthly foodie book club and so COOK THE BOOKS was born.

Here's how it works:

1) Starting today, October 1st, COOK THE BOOKS readers are asked to read Lily Prior's "La Cucina: A Novel of Rapture", (NY: HarperCollins, 2000) . There are a number of inexpensive copies of this book available online if you would like to purchase your own copy or perhaps you may prefer to get a copy on loan from your local library.

2) After reading the book, cook up something delicious inspired by this novel and blog about it. If you don't have a blog, one of us three hosts above would be happy to post your entry as a guest blogger. Make sure to include a link to this COOK THE BOOKS announcement so others can find out about the details.

3) In the meantime, feel free to suggest other foodie readings for a future round of COOK THE BOOKS by leaving a comment after this post.

4) This round of COOK THE BOOKS will run from October 1, 2008 to December 15, 2008. Participants will then be asked to vote on the next Cook the Books reading selection and for the most mouthwatering COOK THE BOOKS entry. The winner will receive a fabulous badge to place proudly on their blog.

5) Ready, set, read!

10 comments:

Laura Paterson said...

In the diary!

Deb in Hawaii said...

I am so excited! Thanks for letting me be a part of hosting! Aloha, Deb

Alicia Foodycat said...

Placing my amazon order now...

Anonymous said...

Rachel I send it to Is My blog burning and they said they would put it on their site. I haven't checked yet, but it will be good!

Anonymous said...

Cooking and reading, two of my very favourite things! I've just reserved a copy of La Cucina at my local bookstore and will definately be participating.

Mel - The Kitchen Enquirer

Dee said...

certainly food for thought!

Arlene Delloro said...

Rachel, I know Schulyerville; I visit Saratoga Lake often. In fact, a good friend whom I met in an online quilt guild lives there as well. I live in Orange County, NY, about 2 1/2 hours south of you. Ifinished the book last night and now have to decide what to make. So many dishes, so little time.

Arlene Delloro said...

Rachel, I know Schulyerville; I visit Saratoga Lake often. In fact, a good friend whom I met in an online quilt guild lives there as well. I live in Orange County, NY, about 2 1/2 hours south of you. Ifinished the book last night and now have to decide what to make. So many dishes, so little time.

Judy said...

I just discovered this book on my shelf! I knew it sounded familiar. Guess I'd better get reading.

Unknown said...

I enjoyed the first challenge very much. Cooking, books and my beloved Sicily...a combination I could not resist!! I