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The Elements of Pizza

By Ken Forkish

Life has been busy the past several months so my book reviews have taken a back seat for a while.  I’m back and super excited about all the new upcoming cookbooks. Before I get going on the latest releases getting ready to be released let me back up and talk about Ken Forkish latest release “The Elements of Pizza.”

I was very excited to get his second book on Pizza. I enjoyed his first book Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast. I love the explanation of different pizza styles in this book. There are lots of ideas on dough adjustments and different toppings. I love the information and education in this book.  What this book is not is a quick pizza recipe.  You want to plan ahead if you try one of Ken’s recipes. But judging from my results from Ken’s first book,  I don’t think you will be disappointed with the results.

Note; I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.

IFBC 2016- Sacramento, CA

Summer is in full swing here in Seattle the sun is shining, the markets are full with amazing local fruits and vegetables, summer is also time to reconnect with all my blogger friends. Next week, I’m heading off to Sacramento for the International Food Bloggers Conference.   This will be my third IFBC, and the conference just keeps getting better and better.

I’m super excited to be kicking off the weekend events with tours of some the agricultural area of Sacramento.  Since working for a juice company I’m interested to see the process of growing and harvesting of Pears in CA.

The conference schedule is packed as always…a few sessions I have my eye on are:

Lifestyle Food
                             

We love the idea of healthy food, we know it’s good for us, but let’s be honest, who wants to eat food with no taste? Restaurants have done a poor job giving us healthy food that is bland and tastes like bad diet food. Well it all ends today, Lifestyle Chef Johnny Carino will take you through a lively presentation on healthy foods that are both great tasting and great for you. Johnny will share trends in the business that are breaking as we speak and redefining how and what we eat.

Farm to Glass with Gowans Cider 
                                  & Apples 

Session 2:               Blind Tasting hosted by the UC
                                 Davis Olive Center’s Dan Flynn and
                                 Sensory Scientist Hoby Wedler
                                 

Explore how aromas and flavors are accentuated by depriving an important sense when tasting: our eyesight. In this exciting session, you will be blindfolded and led through a series of exercises that will help you focus and fine-tune your perception and interpretation of flavor, aroma and texture. This session will be co-presented byHoby Wedler, a completely blind Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Davis, sensory scientist, and food and drink educator. Hoby’s work as a food and beverage educator landed him a place on Forbes 30 under 30 list in 2016 in the category of food and drink. The session will also be co-presented by Dan Flynn, director of the UC Davis Olive Center, who will demystify the controversy over olive oil quality with consumer tips for accessing better flavor, health and value.

Session 1 (Writing): TASTE - Putting Flavor into Words
                                   Ballroom AB

In this class, blogger and family therapist Kathy Ellis will lead you in an experience of the 6 tastes. You’ll play with words, learn tools to stimulate writing and how to use words to impart feelings/emotions/thoughts, and when it’s best to be simply instructive

Session 1:                 Learning About Corporate and
                                   Professional Blogging
                                   Ballroom ABC

Many bloggers may never reach or don’t even seek stardom in the blogging world, but still want to blog as a means of income generation or to reach new audiences. Join seasoned bloggers, Garrett McCord (Vanilla Garlic),Stephanie Stiavetti (Fearless Fresh) and Sean Timberlake(Hedonia & Punk Domestics) for a deep look at the pros and cons of freelance blogging.

As always, the food is amazing, speakers are exciting but most of all meeting new and old friends make this conference worth the trip.  I’ll be updating from Sacramento next week so stay tuned. P.S. If you see me at the conference please say “Hi”!

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Curious what I’ve been up to in my new job? Check out the latest blog post on what I’ve been working on. While your at it please subscribe to our newsletter for updates to our blog.  http://www.nwnaturals.com/Blog/

Eating in the Middle

By Andie Mitchell

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ANDIE MITCHELL is a writer, recipe developer, Yahoo! Health columnist, and lover of cake. Her popular blog, CanYouStayForDinner.com, and first book, It Was Me All Along, share the poignant story of her successful weight loss and continued passion for good food. She lives in New York City.

I picked this month’s selection based mainly on who Andie worked with to shoot her book.  I’ve spent the past couple years now volunteering at The Pantry cooking school here in Seattle.  Needless to say I was super excited to see The Pantry as the set for some of Andie’s pictures in the book.  How can you go wrong when you have The Pantry as the set and Aran Goyoaga shooting your pictures? The recipes are simple and approachable and I like that in a cookbook. I will definitely be trying some of Andie’s recipes starting with the Creamy Farro with White Beans and Kale. Which recipes will you be trying from Andie’s book?

Note; I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.

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Sweeter Off The Vine

By Yossy Arefi

This is the perfect cookbook to start off spring fruit season in Seattle.  The pictures make you want to scratch and sniff the page they look so good. I’m particularly excited this book is broken up by seasons.  As we are just starting into rhubarb season I can’t wait to try some of these recipes.  I got a little ahead of myself drooling over the strawberry section.  Very specifically, the strawberry ice cream sandwiches caught my eye and are so very tempting.  I will be happily baking my way through this book all fruit season long. I can’t wait to taste the sweet results.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

YOSSY AREFI is a food photographer, food stylist, former professional baker, and the creator of the award-winning blog Apt. 2B Baking Co. She also runs the Project Dessert column on Food52. Her work has been featured in T Magazine, Bon Appétit,Saveur, Modern Farmer, and Pure Green Magazine, among others.

 Note; I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.

The Homemade Kitchen

By Alana Chernila

I just realized that it’s been 3 months since I’ve updated my blog world.  It has been a crazy ride since New Year’s and my head is still spinning. There have been some very exciting things on the horizon that I couldn’t be happier about. I hope that you will continue to follow along for the ride. Great things are coming for 2016!!!

Another lovely thing I’ve been making in my kitchen lately is Alana Chernila preserved lemon hummus. I LOVE this recipe!!!  I was lucky enough to have some meyer lemons preserved from CA for this recipe.  If you don’t have any preserved lemons, I highly recommend that you preserve some for yourself.  It takes all of about 5 mins to do, and it really transforms this hummus to something special.

http://www.npr.org/2013/04/08/176577903/preserved-lemons-older-wiser-and-full-of-flavor

 I hope that you will try preserving your own lemons and this recipe for hummus yourself and see what I’m talking about.  This is the perfect way to welcome spring.

Note; I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.

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The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook

By Jessamyn Waldman Rodriguez

What a great pick to end a year of cookbooks for 2015. Hot Bread Kitchen has a great ethos of training immigrant women in professional baking skills. This enables them to share their culture, and use their skills for future food endeavors. Yahoo.com voted this their cookbook of the year for great reason.  I love that Rodriguez chooses regional breads that we are not accustom to seeing in traditional bakeries.  For this reason, I’m very excited to try some of the flat breads, empanadas, and enriched bread from the book.   If you’re looking to branch out and try some new regional recipes, run and pick up a copy.  

 Note; I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.