One of our recommended books is Kitchen Yarns by Ann Hood

KITCHEN YARNS

Notes on Life, Love, and Food


In this warm collection of personal essays and recipes, best-selling author Ann Hood nourishes both our bodies and our souls.

From her Italian American childhood through singlehood, raising and feeding a growing family, divorce, and a new marriage to food writer Michael Ruhlman, Ann Hood has long appreciated the power of a good meal. Growing up, she tasted love in her grandmother’s tomato sauce and dreamed of her mother’s special-occasion Fancy Lady Sandwiches. Later, the kitchen became the heart of Hood’s own home. She cooked pork roast to warm her first apartment, used two cups of dried basil for her first attempt at making pesto,

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In this warm collection of personal essays and recipes, best-selling author Ann Hood nourishes both our bodies and our souls.

From her Italian American childhood through singlehood, raising and feeding a growing family, divorce, and a new marriage to food writer Michael Ruhlman, Ann Hood has long appreciated the power of a good meal. Growing up, she tasted love in her grandmother’s tomato sauce and dreamed of her mother’s special-occasion Fancy Lady Sandwiches. Later, the kitchen became the heart of Hood’s own home. She cooked pork roast to warm her first apartment, used two cups of dried basil for her first attempt at making pesto, taught her children how to make their favorite potatoes, found hope in her daughter’s omelet after a divorce, and fell in love again—with both her husband and his foolproof chicken stock.

Hood tracks her lifelong journey in the kitchen with twenty-seven heartfelt essays, each accompanied by a recipe (or a few). In “Carbonara Quest,” searching for the perfect spaghetti helped her cope with lonely nights as a flight attendant. In the award-winning essay “The Golden Silver Palate,” she recounts the history of her fail-safe dinner party recipe for Chicken Marbella—and how it did fail her when she was falling in love. Hood’s simple, comforting recipes also include her mother’s famous meatballs, hearty Italian Beef Stew, classic Indiana Fried Chicken, the perfect grilled cheese, and a deliciously summery peach pie.

With Hood’s signature humor and tenderness, Kitchen Yarns spills tales of loss and starting from scratch, family love and feasts with friends, and how the perfect meal is one that tastes like home.

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  • WW Norton
  • Paperback
  • December 2019
  • 256 Pages
  • 9780393357530

Buy the Book

$15.95

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About Ann Hood

Ann Hood is the author of Kitchen Yarns, photo by Catherine SebastianAnn Hood is the author of eight previous books, including the best-selling memoir Comfort: A Journey Through Grief and best-selling novels The Book That Matters Most and The Knitting Circle. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

Author Website

Praise

Moving… Hood’s sharp essays emphasize food as emotional nourishment, bringing family and friends together—both to celebrate the joys and heal the wounds of life.” — Publishers Weekly

“Eminently readable, Kitchen Yarns, Ann Hood’s tender, witty, and funny voyage through a life of food, reminds us that the visceral taste memories of our past are essential benchmarks of our life, and that the stories of a family are always best felt and expressed through those dishes.” — Jacques Pépin, world-renowned chef and author of Heart & Soul in the Kitchen

“From the first page to the last, readers know they are in the hands of a master storyteller.… Full of humor and love, overflowing with heart and life, Kitchen Yarns is a beautiful read.” – Book Reporter

“At the end of Kitchen Yarns, you may empathize with Hood’s sadness, but you will not be disheartened. You will just want to rinse out the pan and start over.” – Betty J. Cotter, Providence Journal

“These tales of ingredients, recipes and meals will lift your spirits.” – Bethanne Patrick, Washington Post

“Hood connects food with memory in delicious ways.” – BBC

“In this cozy read, Hood shares recipes that shaped her… and the poignant life lessons about loss, love, and friendship she learned in the kitchen.” – Nora Horvath, Real Simple