Love and Saffron--Kim Fay

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I was so delighted when I learned that my friend Kim Fay had a new book coming out, as I was a huge fan of her Edgar nominated novel, THE MAP OF LOST MEMORIES. 

Well, LOVE AND SAFFRON not only did not disappoint, I can already say that it will be one of my favorite books of the year. More than that, it's a book that I will read and reread, and give to people I hold dear. It's a book above all about friendship, but there's food and cooking and romance, too--all the best of things, whether in life or in books.

Here is Kim to tell us how it came about!

LOVE & COMFORT

by Kim Fay

As any true reader knows, sinking into a novel always provides an element of comfort. Some fiction (Happy All the Time, The House at Pooh Corner) is made for keeping the soul warm. Some, like mysteries, hearten by ensuring justice is served. Even difficult books soothe when they teach us something new and make the world a smaller place.

Writing, on the other hand. When was the last time you heard a writer say, “Oh, I write to comfort myself.” Um, never! “Ugh,” we moan, “I had to force myself to write today.” We meet up with our writing friends online to do The Pomodoro Technique—a method of jump-starting ourselves into bursts of writing. We have an official name for our struggle: writer’s block.

At worst, it’s hard and frustrating. At best, it’s satisfying and exhilarating. But comforting?

Personally, I journaled for comfort (not to mention self-indulgence) and wrote fiction to accomplish. That is, until March 2020. A month that will live in infamy—I do not say this lightly.

On March 16, the mayor of Los Angeles announced the following:

                         SAFER AT HOME ORDER FOR CONTROL OF COVID-19

Temporary Prohibition of Events and Gatherings of 10 Persons or More

Closure of Non-Essential Businesses and Areas

The order would go into effect at 11:59 pm on March 19. Thus began that early era of washing our groceries, airing out our mail, hour-long lines at Trader Joes, hoarding pasta, making homemade masks out of bandannas and hair ties, and for me, a headlong tumble into a place I had not visited since childhood. A place where my writing was not a destination but a journey.

Baby Kim on Camano Island with the inspirations for the characters Imogen (her great-aunt Irene) and Francis (her great-uncle Frank).

While the world frantically hunted for toilet paper and Clorox wipes, I woke up each morning in a kind of trance, writing fictional letters back and forth between two women in the early 1960s. Every sentence I crafted was infused with a piece of my life that I loved and gave me joy: favorite dishes, childhood weekends at Camano Island, my decades-long correspondence with the essayist Janet Brown, my friendship with the pioneering food writer Barbara Hansen.

                    Pioneering L.A. food writer Barbara Hansen was the inspiration for the character Joan.

The pandemic worsened, politics shred the country, and the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd stirred civil uprisings. I paid attention. I took action. But I also sheltered in my writing in certainties I knew I could count on: family, friendship, love. Even though the book was set in another era, as I wrote about events like the Kennedy assassination, I thought about the only thing I believed could save us in times of strife: human connection.

My only goal as I wrote was to create a gift for Janet and Barbara. A small book that could be read in a single afternoon, providing escape and entertainment and, yes, comfort. Three months later, Love & Saffron was done. I sent it to Barbara and Janet. They loved it, and that was that. Mission accomplished.

But a mention of the book to another friend led me to send it to my agent. Her response: Where in the heck had this come from? She’d been patiently working with me on two different books for the past few years. She knew I was a writer who took a very looooooooooooong time to write (and revise, and revise) a book. Yet here was Love & Saffron, seemingly out of the blue. I say seemingly, because I know now that some stories can simmer inside us unnoticed for years until they are ready for the world.

 In December of 2020, my agent sold Love & Saffron to Putnam, and now, just under two years since I started writing it, it is out in the world. Love & Saffron saved me during those first months of the pandemic. It also changed me. I never want to write to accomplish again. I only want to write to bring comfort and pleasure to myself and to readers who know that while we must be present in this world, at the same time we need to find moments to retreat and nourish our souls.

 Love & Saffron is a story of shared meals, enriching correspondence, and two women whose friendship bridges generations and geography. Featured on Katie Couric Media, it is a witty and tender story, following budding food writer Joan Bergstrom and established magazine columnist Imogen Fortier in 1960s America as they discover that food really does connect us all, and that friendship and laughter are the best medicine.

 Independent booksellers around the country chose Love & Saffron as their #1 Indie Next Pick for February, and bestselling authors are raving about it. Tembi Locke (From Scratch) calls it “a memorable and lovely story of friendship,” and Heather Webber (Midnight at the Blackbird Café) describes it as “delightful recipe of food, friendship, love, and acceptance.” Love & Saffron “reveals how a love of food can open doors into culture, history, homes, and love,” shares Ann Hood (The Knitting Circle), and Louise Miller (The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living) says, “You’ll want to share it with everyone you call friend.”

Kim Fay’s first novel, The Map of Lost Memories, was an Edgar Award Finalist for Best First Novel, and her food memoir, Communion: A Culinary Journey Through Vietnam, was a World Gourmand Cookbook Award winner. www.kimfaybooks.com

DEBS:  Isn't the buzz for this book fabulous?? And I couldn't agree more! I'm wondering if #84 Charing Cross Road might have served as inspiration... Kim will be stopping in to visit, so add your questions too!

  

Cooking with Love @lucyburdette

LUCY BURDETTE: Do you remember reading  Laurie Colwin’s classic memoir Home Cooking, A Writer in the Kitchen? I'm rereading it now--she was a foodie before the term even existed. She made cooking sound so easy and so fun. For a while, she volunteered cooking lunch for over a hundred ladies at her church. Her mother’s recipe for spaghetti casserole has always stuck in my mind.

Our MCC church in Key West, pastored by my character and also the real Reverend Steve Torrence, conducts a similar program called Cooking with Love every Saturday. John and I have donated money to this cause, and in one case I donated a percent of sales from a book signing. I also spent some time making sandwiches there for the homeless some years ago. (There is a scene in the first Key West mystery, An Appetite for Murder, taking place right at this event.)

Once a month for the past two months, I've acted as sous chef for a Saturday cooking event. My friend (and also character) Eric is the lead chef. How does someone cook for 150 people--inexpensively? In a small kitchen without any fancy equipment? 

Everything is enormous and heavy, from the pans to the ovens...

As the experienced member of the team, Eric chooses the menu and shops--a chicken and stuffing casserole, green peas, and frozen strawberries for dessert the first time, and a curried chicken salad the second. John and I (among a group of others) go the day before to help with chopping and opening cans. Saturday mornings bright and early the lunch is assembled, while other workers pack food bags to go out with the lunches.

At 10:30, the food is lined up and more volunteers rotate through with biodegradable containers to pack lunch for 150. Then volunteers swoop in to deliver the lunches and the food bags to the people on their route—mostly lower income senior citizens.

Natch, Hayley Snow will help her friend Eric with Cooking with Love in the next book. Why? I have no idea yet, but I hope it will come to me...

Cheree, our big boss

Let me assure you that if I harbored any dreams of becoming a professional chef, they are gone... it's not as easy and romantic as Laurie Colwin made it sound LOL!

Have you ever made dinner for 150 people? Any super-simple recipes to share?

Margaret Turkevich, you are the winner of Sherry Harris's A GUN ALSO RISES! Please send a note to her at sherryharrisauthor at gmail dot com.

Post-Valentine's Blueberry French Toast

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Just to make certain no one has post-Valentine's Day blues, here's a little pick me up for your Sunday morning. I think I promised recently to share my French toast recipe, and this seemed like the perfect time. And no thinking about either of the evil "C" words--calories or carbs--for another day!

(A small disclaimer--the photo is not mine. My French toast never looks quite this pretty, but this has given me ideas!!)

I first ran across this recipe--or something similar, since the original clipping has long since disappeared--in a copy of Gourmet Magazine. It must have been in the 80s or early 90s, when Laurie Colwin was still with us and writing her regular column. I never missed an issue in those days.

So, with a couple of decades of slapdash adjusting, I think we can call this:

DEB'S FRENCH TOAST

About 5 slices of good grainy bread, cut in half. The bread can be a little stale. It will hold up better in the batter, and it's a great way to use up a good loaf.

Lay the half slices out evenly in a dish. I use a Pyrex 9 x 13 baking dish.

In another bowl (I use a big jug) beat five eggs with a fork until foamy. 

Add a cup of milk, half a cup of cream or half-and-half (if you must, but it's better with cream, and remember, we are not COUNTING) and half a cup of fresh orange juice.

Then, put in a big splash--at least a couple of tablespoons, of really good orange liqueur. You can use Gran Marnier. I prefer one called Creole Shrubb, which is a little less sweet and has a bit of spiciness to it. 

Mix the ingredients well and pour over the bread slices. Let sit for a few minutes so that the bread can soak up the batter, and make sure all the slices are well covered.

Meanwhile, heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and a couple of tablespoons of good unsalted butter in a large non-stick skillet. When the oil/butter mixture is foaming, add as many bread slices as the skillet will hold. Brown on one side, turn, and brown the other. Have a warmed plate ready for the first batch as you will need to do a second, adding a little more oil and butter as needed.

Add the second batch of golden toast to the warmed plate. Turn down the heat under the skillet and toss in a couple of handfuls of fresh, washed blueberries (or more.) Cook gently, stirring, until the blueberries begin to break down and release their juice. Pour the hot blueberries over the toast. Serve with warmed real maple syrup.

Crisp bacon makes this an absolutely scrumptious feast.

And after this you will undoubtedly need to take a nap...

This is my idea of the perfect Sunday brunch, served with a big pot of tea and the Sunday paper. REDs and readers, what's yours??

Keep Calm and Read On

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: This photograph is of intrepid readers at a recently bombed Holland House, in Kensington, London, England, during World War II. It may or may not have been staged for British propaganda purposes, but the spirit of the British during the war — as well as the tenacity of readers even (perhaps especially) in hard times is unmistakable.

I love this photo, for so many reasons, but probably most because reading is what's helped me through so many challenging times. And books aren't illegal, immoral, or fattening! (Although often best enjoyed with a glass of wine or a cookie, in my opinion....)

For me, it's not just reading during these times, but rereading — comfort reading, in other words. Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, anything by Alice Hoffman, anything by Laurie Colwin, early Ken Follett.... And so-called children's books — by Philip Pullman, J.R.R. Tolkein, C.S. Lewis, T.H. White, Frances Hodgeson Burnett, and Louisa May Alcott — are standbys as well.

I'm assuming if you're reading this blog, books are important to you as well. What books to you turn to in times of crisis? What do you consider "comfort reading"? What books do you read again and again?

Please share in the comments section — we'd love to know!

Photograph reprinted with permission of English Heritage.

LAURIE COLWIN'S GINGERBREAD

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Autumn has officially arrived in North Texas. Last night we had our first fire; tonight our first frost. And as that chilly arctic air dips down, my thoughts turn, as usual this time of year, to gingerbread.

Specifically, the late novelist and food writer Laurie Colwin's gingerbread.  It has been suggested that Laurie was the first blogger--her columns, which she wrote for Gourmet Magazine from the mid-eighties until her untimely death from heart failure in 1992, were so chatty and friendly and casual. When you read them, you always felt like you were sitting at her kitchen table. I have both collections of Laurie's essays, Home Cooking and More Home Cooking, and both books have gingerbread recipes. I prefer the one from the second book, More Home Cooking.

Cooks are such magpies--Laurie borrowed this recipe from a British Penguin book, The Farmhouse Kitchen, by Mary Norwak, so I'm following the tradition by passing it on.

Laurie was a great fan of Steen's Cane Syrup, but I've used ordinary molasses.  Now I think I'm inspired to hunt for Steen's. Laurie was also very insistent that the powdered ginger be fresh, and I agree, so if your ginger has been sitting in the cupboard, buy a new jar just for this.

Laurie Colwin's Old-Fashioned Gingerbread

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. and line the bottom of a buttered 8-inch round tin (2 inches deep) with parchment paper.

2. Melt 1/2 half cup cane syrup or black treacle with 6 tablespoons butter.

3. Beat 1 egg with 4 tablespoons buttermilk.

4. Sift together 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 2 heaping teaspoons ground ginger, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar, and a pinch of salt. Mix in 3/4 cup dried currants or raisins.

5. Add the egg mixture, then add the syrup mixture, and mix well.

6. Bake 10 minutes in the 375 degree oven turn the heat down to 325 F., and bake for 35 to 40 minutes more. A few crumbs stick to a tester when the cake is done.

I've added my own notes (along with a few bits of smeared gingerbread batter) in the page margins in pencil, the true sign of a well-loved recipe : Add more buttermilk. Check temps carefully. Cook less than recommended. 

This cake is lovely all on its own, but a tiny bit of fresh unsalted butter or a dab of whipped cream when the bread is warm from the oven makes it divine.

And nothing, I guarantee, will make your house smell more welcoming on a crisp autumn day.