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Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table
by Ruth Reichl

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8725.Comfort_Me_with_Apples_More_Adventures_at_the_Table?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1165722503m/8725.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8725.Comfort_Me_with_Apples_More_Adventures_at_the_Table?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5662.Ruth_Reichl">Ruth Reichl</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/19555228?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 4 of 5 stars I can't be sure what I think of this book as a whole until I try some of the recipes, but the memoir parts are pretty good. I want her job! She's met some amazing chefs, including Alice Waters who is a big hero of mine. Ruth Reichl is a decent writer, funny and easy to read. The recipes sound pretty good, although they don't seem to be the main point. She gives a recipe for sweet potato pie and doesn't include a recipe for the crust. Maybe she assumes her readers know how to make a pie crust, and I do, but it seems like a big assumption. I guess pie crust is one of those things that is pretty hard to learn from a book, and she isn't exactly trying to write a cookbook anyway. It's more like she is trying to give the reader as full a picture as possible of what all the amazing food she describes tastes like and the recipes will help with that even if you don't actually make them.
 
 I was inspired to read Comfort Me With Apples because of some reviews I saw on this site, and I remember someone saying that they were bothered by her descriptions of cheating on her husband. It seemed to me like the world Reichl was living in (late 1970's Berkeley commune) at the time accounts for her rather blase attitude towards her affairs. To me, the love stories were less interesting than the food anyway.
 
 I love the idea that the story of her life is, in many ways, the story of memorable meals. Before I even finished Comfort Me With Apples, I went out and bought her two other books, Tender at the Bone and Garlic and Sapphires. The best thing about Reichl is her enthusiasm and love for food. She is adventurous and not a snob at all. I would recommend this book to anyone who shares those qualities with Reichl. That is to say that, if you are a food snob or a timid eater or don't love food, you will probably be offended/grossed out/bored, but I really liked it. She eats a SLUG and it doesn't sound half bad. So cool. 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/921077?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Alice's review
rating:
bookshelves: food
recommended for: people who love food

I can't be sure what I think of this book as a whole until I try some of the recipes, but the memoir parts are pretty good. I want her job! She's met some amazing chefs, including Alice Waters who is a big hero of mine. Ruth Reichl is a decent writer, funny and easy to read. The recipes sound pretty good, although they don't seem to be the main point. She gives a recipe for sweet potato pie and doesn't include a recipe for the crust. Maybe she assumes her readers know how to make a pie crust, and I do, but it seems like a big assumption. I guess pie crust is one of those things that is pretty hard to learn from a book, and she isn't exactly trying to write a cookbook anyway. It's more like she is trying to give the reader as full a picture as possible of what all the amazing food she describes tastes like and the recipes will help with that even if you don't actually make them.

I was inspired to read Comfort Me With Apples because of some reviews I saw on this site, a...more

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