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Here’s just a collection of fun foodie-art!

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Wow, am I tired. Cooking Solstice dinner has done me in. I actually started cooking yesterday afternoon. Then spent all day today in the kitchen cooking too. At four with two pots on the stove and a pan in the oven I just couldn’t face making one more dish. I had ceased having fun hours ago, was tired and hungry and the vindaloo vegetables still before me. Bookman said, forget about ‘em! But — said I. No, said Bookman, we’ll make them later in the week, after all it’s not like there isn’t enough to eat already. Disappointed yet relieved at the same time, I acquiesced. The final dishes finished cooking, the dishes made earlier heated up, the table was set, the candle lit, the sparkling apple cider poured, and with The Four Seasons by Vivaldi playing, Bookman and I finally sat down to eat.

As soon as I began to eat I started to revive. Oh, that is good. This came out good too. I like this. Nom nom nom. I’m not sure I can say a day and a half of cooking was worth it. I can say I was absolutely bonkers to decide to make so many different dishes none of which I have ever made before. However, they all came out tasty and there is enough leftovers for quite some time.

I couldn’t have done it without Bookman’s help. Halfway through the Day of Endless Chopping, my hand

began aching and I could feel the tendonitis in my wrist thinking of flaring up. After that, all chopping was performed by Bookman. He didn’t mind. He had been hanging out on the fringes of the kitchen all day offering unsolicited “helpful” advice. I was, after all, in his domain. Early in the day he proffered the observation, you are very… deliberate. Um, thanks?

The entire meal came from Vegan Richa’s Indian Kitchen, a fantastic cookbook that will be getting a lot of use. Here are the various dishes:

• Aloo bonda – mashed potato fritters
• Tamarind date chutney
• Chana masala – chickpea curry (my favorite dish of what I made)
• Tofu pasanda – tofu in velvety pepita poppy seed sauce
• Vegetable Manchurian – veggie balls in Manchurian sauce (this was Bookman’s favorite of all the dishes)
• White basmati rice
• Puffy restaurant-style naan (these came out perfect!)

For dessert we had nariyal ladoo – fudgy coconut balls. These tasted really good, coconut cream and shredded coconut flavored with sugar and ground cardamom seeds. I don’t think I have ever had cardamom before. Grinding the seeds in the mortar was a sensory delight. They have a lovely citrusy scent (and flavor) that is also kind of earthy. The coconut balls themselves weren’t quite of a fudgy consistency. We don’t have a thermometer so we guessed on the cooking time and temperature and they came out a bit too thick and crumbly. But their enjoyment did not rely on a fudge-like texture. With a cup of coffee, these were delicious.

While we were eating dinner and I was shoveling chickpea curry into my mouth I commented to Bookman, I can’t wait to have this for dinner tomorrow night! He gave me a funny look and then started laughing. Do you realize what you just said? he asked? And then I started laughing too.

Now the table is cleared, the dishes washed, and the kitchen cleaned. We are sitting with full bellies, droopy eyelids and happy smiles on our faces. A perfect day.

Happy Solstice Everyone!

Filed under: Food, Personal Tagged: Winter Solstice

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It’s unseasonably warm in my part of the world at the moment, and here at Playing by the book we’re all longing for crisp days, with snow and ice and sparkle and the sort of mint-fresh air which gives you the magical ability to breathe out puffs of microscopic diamonds. Dreaming of a proper winter, we’ve really enjoyed stepping into the world of Icelandic author and illustrator Lani Yamamoto with her new book, Stína.

Stína appears to live alone in a cabin (you can easily imagine she is a good friend of a slightly grown-up Pippi Longstocking). She’s inventive, clever, capable and resourceful, able to solve her every day problems with flair and charm. But as winter sets in, she becomes a prisoner in her own home: Stína really hates the cold and finds it ever harder to leave the warmth of her bed, even though she’s curious about the white landscape and children playing – apparently unperturbed by the bitter cold – she can see through her window.

This is a delightful tale of unexpected friendship and of being brave and imaginative enough to try doing something you couldn’t believe you could do. It’s about being a person not defined either by stereotypes (Stína has her own tool box but also sews and knits) or your own expectations of yourself (Stína is afraid of the cold, but doesn’t let it stifle her curiosity) and it is uplifting, empowering and heart-warming.

Stína is also simply but beautifully produced. A cloth cover and black line drawings enhanced by a restricted, primarily blue and green palette give this stylish book a homespun and yet stylish feel. The positive, can-do attitude of Stína, the way she makes friends and the story’s quiet exploration of the benefits of being open and brave make this a book it’s a real delight to share.

Whilst Stína is very much a story book, one of the reasons it appeals so much to all of us at Playing by the book is that it is also part activity book. There are instructions for finger knitting (an activity Stína teachers her new friends), and a hot chocolate recipe. Taking our lead from our new favourite heroine we set about trying to invent the yummiest hot chocolate ever experienced in the Playing by the Book Household.

We drew up a list of potential ingredients:

Cocoa

Hot Chocolate powder

Milk

Double cream

Squirty cream

Sugar

Cinnamon

Chilli flakes

Cardamom

Cloves

Nutmeg

Mini marshmallows

A vanilla pod

Sprinkles

Broken up bars of milk chocolate and dark chocolate

Each person got to create their own recipe using whatever they liked from the list. Rigorous taste testing was then carried out, assessing our hot chocolates, not only for general yumminess but also for interesting ingredients and unusualness.

Essentially this was like a “potions” making activity, but entirely edible (or drinkable) and with lots of lip and finger licking.

My personal favorite turned out to be a recipe using a good dash of cream and a pinch of cinnamon, though J preferred the version she created where the hot chocolate was stirred with a vanilla pod and M liked her version with a tall tower of squirty cream and lots of spices.

A simple but very satisfying after school winter activity! Indulgent and imaginative, I can only encourage you to set up your own hot chocolate testing laboratory!

Whilst empirically researching hot chocolate we listened to:

Hot Chocolate by Recess Monkey

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! sung by Dean Martin

The Little Holly Tree by Ange Hardy. Just such a lovely wintry song.

Other activities which might work well alongside reading Stína include:

Recycling your old duvets – homeless shelters and animal sanctuaries may accept them, if they are in reasonable condition and machine washable.

Planning some snow games just in case it gets cold enough to bring what everyone one in this home really wants for Christmas. Games we love include painting snow with water tinted with food colouring or even tempura paint, making giant coloured ice marbles with balloons, or stocking up on maple syrup ready for making sugar snow.

Trying out ARM knitting. Stína does some finger knitting, but have you ever tried using your arms instead of knitting needles?

If you liked this post you might like these other posts by me:

Some things are worth waiting for: Snow by Samuel Usher

Is it snowing yet? 2 winter reads shimmering with hoarfrost

Snowflakes, Seedheads and CBeebies

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Disclosure: I was sent a free review copy of this book by the publisher.

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This month’s session with my bookgroup for 8-12 year olds was all about “Sweets, treats and feasts”. Here are the activities that were planned:

1. Looking at cookery books, both for adults and children, and each finding a recipe we liked the sound of to photocopy and take home.

Cookery books included:

Christmas foods by Jenny Vaughan and Penny Beauchamp

Heart on a plate by Emma Marsden

Cherry cake and ginger beer by Jane Brocket

Sweets and treats to give away by Diana & Rebecca Peacock

The vintage sweets book by Angel Adoree

Primrose Bakery Christmas by Martha Swift

30 Christmas things to cook and eat by Rebecca Gilpin

Scone with the wind : cakes & bakes with a literary twist by Miss Victoria Sponge [sic!]

Roald Dahl’s completely revolting recipes, illustrated by Quentin Blake

Cherry cake and Ginger beer is particularly worth pointing out as the focus of this cookery book are foods which feature in many children’s classics such as the Enid Blyton books, the Pippi Longstocking books and ‘What Katy Did’.

In a related vein, Scone with the wind features 72 literary inspired recipes, arranged by genre though this book’s primary focus is adult literature. If you’re ever after even more literary themed cookbooks, Goodreads has a list (thanks to @chaletfan for alerting me to this). One of the books on this list I would have liked to have included in my session is Fairy Tale Feasts by Jane Yolen but unfortunately it’s not easily available in the UK.

2. Finding a poem about food we liked and reading it to each other. The anthologies I had ready included:

Scrumdiddly compiled by Jennifer Curry, illustrated by Susie Jenkin-Pearce

Food rhymes compiled by John Foster, illustrated by Carol Thompson

The sun is a cupcake and other poems about food compiled by Brian Moses, with artwork by Kelly Waldek

Sling a jammy doughnut compiled by Joan Poulson, illustrated by Kelly Waldek

Lunch boxes don’t fly by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Korky Paul

Just for fun, here are two videos of poets reading poems about food:

Joseph Coelho – Halloween's crumble from CLPE on Vimeo.

3. Playing match the food with the book. Samples of food and books which include said foodstuffs were to be laid out on the table. By reading the blurb, and taking a look through the books (as well as using their general knowledge about any of the books they had already read) the kids were to be encouraged to match the food to the book using this handy printout:

Just in case you need some help matching the yummy things with the books here’s the key:

Turkish Delight – The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis
Marmalade – The Paddington Bear stories by Michael Bond
Marzipan – The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
Caramel wafers – The Tom Gates books by Liz Pichon
Bertie Bott’s Every Flavored Beans – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling
Peaches – James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Honey – the Winnie the Pooh stories by A. A. Milne
A lollipop – The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
Smarties – The Tracy Beaker books by Jacqueline Wilson
Vicious Viennese Whirls – Cakes in Space by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre
Mints – The Lockwood and Co stories by Jonathan Stroud
Pink wafers – Knitbone Pepper Ghost Dog by Claire Barker and Ross Collins
Broccoli – The Astounding Broccoli Boy by Frank Cottrell Boyce (What, you don’t think broccoli is a treat?!
Bourbon Biscuits – Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens
Chocolate Creams – Mistress Masham’s Repose by T.H. White
Whipple Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (I printed this wrapper to go around a chocolate bar)
Iced buns – The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow by Katherine Woodfine

If you wish to use the printout, you can download it here (pdf).

After completing the matching, the sweets and treates were to be “raffled off” to the kids – by pulling raffle tickets out of a box (no money exchanging hands), and taking home whatever sweet treat(s) matched their number. Yes, including the broccoli…..

4. Writing our own “ideal feast” in a circle, each adding words/phrases as went around, aiming to be descriptive and bold.

Very sadly for me, for the first time ever, no-one turned up to the book group (a drop in session) :-(. But all the treats were donated to the local foodback, and at least all the planning hasn’t gone to waste as I’m able to share it here with you!

For a completely different take on theming a children’s book group around chocolate and sweets, do take a look at this free Chatterbooks Activity Pack on the theme.

For your own delight and delectation, I heartily encourage you to check out The Little Library Cafe and The Piebrary both of whom regularly post book-inspired recipes on their blogs.

Lots of book friends helped me gather ideas for this session. Thanks go to each and every one of you, especially friends on twitter and in the Reading for Pleasure in Schools Facebook group. Additional food suggestions, which I didn’t make use of for my bookgroup but which might be useful for you, include:

Strawberry creams – Jane Elson’s A Room Full of Chocolate
Gobstopper – Boy by Roald Dahl
Scones – The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo
Raisins – Danny, the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
Doughnuts – Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl
Boiled Eggs – Five Go Off in a Caravan by Enid Blyton
Aniseed Balls – Milly Molly Mandy by Joyce Lankester Brisley
Gingerbread biscuits – The Pippi Longstocking stories by Astrid Lindgren

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"If you have no better offer, do come," 11.52 helps put flesh on the bones of Martial’s Rome (‘you know Stephanus’ baths are right next door…’) and presents the city poet in a neighbourly light. It’s also a favourite of modern foodies in search of an unpretentious sample menu from ancient daily life.

The post ‘If you have no better offer, do come’: Martial’s guide to Roman dinner parties appeared first on OUPblog.

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Should we eat animals? Vegetarians often say “No, because the meat industry harms animals greatly.” They point to the appalling conditions in which animals are raised in factory farms, and the manner in which they are killed. Meat-eaters often reply that this objection is ill-founded because animals owe their very existence to the meat industry.

The post Does the meat industry harm animals? appeared first on OUPblog.

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Food lovers with a soft spot for New York City gastronomy congregated to celebrate the upcoming book Savoring Gotham: A Food Lover's Companion to New York City, edited by Andrew F. Smith.

The post To Savor Gotham: book launch appeared first on OUPblog.

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Title: Feeding the Flying Fanellis and Other Poems from a Circus Chef Written by: Kate Hosford Illustrated by: Coesei Kawa Published by: Carolrhoda books 2015 Themes: food, circus, chefs, Genre: poetry Ages: 5-8 Source: review copy from the publisher Opening: In The circus Kitchen I’ve never turned a cartwheel, … Continue reading →

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Rose was just recollecting with great affection all the times when she would return to the house, exhausted after a full day, and know she could count on me to have a pantry full of tasty things to eat. “And you always had a nice hot bowl of stew waiting for me,” she murmured dreamily. “Awesome stew.”

Real-life friends reading this account will be understandably puzzled. But it’s true, every word.

All right, I may have omitted one teeny-tiny piece of context.

what my stew looked like

what I looked like when I made it

That’s right. When my children reminisce about their mother’s wonderful home-cooking, they’re talking about a computer game.

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Where does our food come from? A popular slogan tells us that our food comes from farms: “If you ate today, thank a farmer.” Supermarkets cater to the same idea, labelling every bag of produce with the name of an individual farm.

The post Food and agriculture: shifting landscapes for policy appeared first on OUPblog.

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This is such a fun little project that just can go on forever!
It's very simple: I log everything I eat by drawing it. It's a great way to check your daily food intake. And sometimes I even think: 'Hmmm do I really want to eat it? Is it pretty enough to draw? Does it fit my page?' I guess you could call it a sketchy diet!

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I illustrated this recipe during my online art class on drawing food.
It's now published on www.theydrawandcook.com

No I haven't lost my mind. You'll be surprised how much beets and cocoa love each other!

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... a selfie in the reflection of the espresso machine

A great way to practice quick drawings, and people-drawing skills. But sometimes it's also a quick scribble or a sloppy sketch of my breakfast:

When is your best time of the day?

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As you may have noticed, the tendrils of NYCC and Super Week are everywhere, including a variety of food specials from some fine eateries around the city. I attended a preview of these foodstuffs — which are available now through the 11th — last week and could only sample a few because diet, but here’s […]

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Post by Chloe

Lea Taloc has combined her passion for the kitchen and illustration to create beautiful works which often appear in food blogs and magazines. Through her art and graphic design techniques she is able to convey emotions and add visual embellishments to every day life. Lea Taloc’s work has a bright and airy feel to it which is refreshing and cheerful. 

If you would like to see more of Lea’s work, please visit her portfolio.

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Tom Hovey is a welsh illustrator who is currently based in Bristol. He is most known for his food illustrations featured on The Great British Bake off. His illustrations have appeared in such things as editorials, animation and apparel design. With clients such as The BCC, Red Bull and RSA to name a few.

See more from Toms portfolio at his website and blog. 

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Read fast, because I have the feeling I’ll be deleting this in a few days. It’s not usually the kind of thing I enjoy talking about in public. But I’m doing it for the same reason I posted about my experience of having horrible acne when I was in high school and college: I actually think I can help people. So here goes:

I have, at various times in my life, been merely overweight, then obese, then heavy, then down to slim and trim, then up a little to what I considered “sturdy,” rather than fat, then down a little, up … a lot of you can relate to the pattern.

And right now, coming off multiple months in a row of writing for sometimes 18 hours a day, not getting as much exercise as I usually love, and powering my books and screenplays with WAY too much sugar, I feel pretty gross. I still love myself and want to be nothing but kind to myself no matter what, but I know my “kindness” of feeding myself a whole bunch of chocolate to keep up my energy and creativity during this time of intense work has actually not been a kindness at all.

Sometimes information comes to you at just the right time. Or maybe it’s always out there, but you’re not ready for it until you are.

A week or so ago, a friend of mine sent me a link to an interview with Dr. Susan Peirce Thompson. She’s both a psychology professor and a formerly obese woman. And I just loved her energy. I loved her sincerity and her passion for teaching what she knows about finally breaking free of food addictions and finding our individual bodies’  own natural weight. It was a theme I explored in my novel FAT CAT, and it’s definitely something that speaks to me personally.

(And by the way, when I was researching and writing FAT CAT, I completely gave up sugar. Weight melted off me. I felt great. My brain was clear, I had incredible energy … and yet here I am again.)

What drew me in was Susan’s own story about appearing to be very accomplished in some respects — highly educated, very successful in her career as a professor — but at the same time feeling like a failure because she was always overweight. How could she be so smart in other areas of her life —  how could she know so much about science and psychology — and yet still look like  … that?

Then one day she was finally ready to turn her years of research and knowledge on herself and figure this out once and for all. And to her utter delight, she discovered it wasn’t an issue of willpower or weakness or laziness, it was actually just a matter of brain chemistry. Some people are more susceptible to certain foods than others are. It’s not a moral issue, it’s just biology. And we can work with biology.

For some of us, sugar is as addictive as cocaine or heroine. If you’ve felt as enslaved by sugar as I have at times, you know it absolutely feels like a drug.

By the end of watching that interview, I knew I wanted to hear more of what Susan could teach. So I actually contacted her to find out when her next course was. Turns out it starts in just a few weeks. PERFECT.

A lot of you have written to me over the years after reading FAT CAT to share with me your own struggles or journeys about food and weight loss. I’ve read them all, I’ve answered them all, because I know what you’re going through and I want to try to help where I can. I’ve passed along resources I relied on in writing the novel, such as websites and books and cookbooks. I hope all of you who have written to me have gotten great value out of that information.

So now I’m passing along Susan’s free video series, too. I’m also including a link to her Susceptibility Quiz, which will evaluate how high or low you are on the scale of being susceptible to certain foods. I’m a 7 out of 10. Just saying.

The first video is out now, and the second and third will be released over the next few days. I’ll add those links then.

Good luck, fellow foodies! Hope this information helps. Pass it along to other foodies if you think they’ll like it, too.

And here’s to freedom. ‘Bout time!

xoxo
Robin

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DRAW TIP!
If you don't know what to draw in your art journal: draw what you eat!
It never gets boring and it's always different!

To warm up a little for my online art class "Draw It Like It's Hot", I've been doing these art journal entries of what I ate... I enjoy it so much - I might be hooked!

The online class just started this Monday, so it's not too late to join! Come on in - it's just $69 for 4 weeks full of foodie-art!
Click here to learn more and to sign up!

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Post by Chloe

Sarah Ferone is a freelance illustrator based in Philadelphia. Sarah Ferone’s background in painting and art history, and experience in designing for advertising has allowed her to develop a distinct, individual style. In addition to editorial, Sarah Ferone also works on packaging and books. Her work often has deep narrative and a beautiful handmade feel.

If you’d like to see more of Sarah Ferone’s work, please visit her portfolio.

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Post by Chloe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Firstly, I advice you not to look at Ohn Mar Win’s work if you are feeling slightly peckish! Her work is so packed full of delicous looking treats, it will leave you reaching out for a sneaky snack.

Ohn Mar Win is originally from Burma and now lives in the UK and it was this journey that led Ohn Mar Win to drawing as a method of expressing herself, after all, art is a universal language. She is inspired by food and all things retro and vintage. The textural, handmade quality to her work really brings it to life.

If you would like to view more of Ohn Mar Win’s work, please visit her portfolio.

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