Louisa Edwards's Blog, page 8
April 20, 2011
Swimsuit Season Ahoy!
For most of the country, the days of fun in the sun are still far off, but here in Austin, they've pretty much arrived. Guess I should've started thinking about this months ago, but I'm finally feeling the need to get back to eating right and working out! Better late then never.
My current plan is to count calories, avoid all processed foods, including white sugar, and focus on Michael Pollan's healthy eating goals: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
Real food, portion control, nearly vegetarian (but I plan to eat seafood, to keep my protein up.) Sound good? Anyone have any deliciously light recipes they'd like to share? I'll post the ones I make that turn out well...
My current plan is to count calories, avoid all processed foods, including white sugar, and focus on Michael Pollan's healthy eating goals: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
Real food, portion control, nearly vegetarian (but I plan to eat seafood, to keep my protein up.) Sound good? Anyone have any deliciously light recipes they'd like to share? I'll post the ones I make that turn out well...
April 18, 2011
Spring Cooking
This Huffington Post article on ham made me wonder what most people eat for Easter dinner. In my family, we usually jump all over the chance to have lamb. But I'm open to new ideas! What do you like to serve as your main dish?
April 12, 2011
Blood, Bones & Butter
I'm really into memoirs right now--especially memoirs by chefs I admire, like Gabrielle Hamilton, the famously straightforward, tough chef/owner of Prune in Manhattan. Her new book, Blood, Bones & Butter, is a beautifully written, unflinchingly honest window into the evolution and life of a restaurant. The stories from her unconventional childhood and young adulthood provide glimpses of the inspirations for some of her more iconic dishes at Prune, and it's fun to watch her destiny unfold. But mostly, the writing is great and totally sucks you in.
After this, I plan to read Grant Achatz's Life on the Line, and follow it up with a switch to the world of pro tennis for Andre Aggassi's memoir.
What's your favorite kind of book to get lost in, other than romance?
After this, I plan to read Grant Achatz's Life on the Line, and follow it up with a switch to the world of pro tennis for Andre Aggassi's memoir.
What's your favorite kind of book to get lost in, other than romance?
April 11, 2011
Musical Man
I'm not a huge musical theater fan (at least, not compared to some people I know) but I do enjoy it. Especially when it's done as well as this past weekend's staged reading (and singing!) of Sondheim's classic Company with the NY Philharmonic! Neil Patrick Harris (swoon) played Bobby, the main character, a single guy whose married friends are always trying to convince him to get serious about relationships. The best couple was Stephen Colbert and Martha Plimpton, who delighted the audience with some extremely physical humor and acrobatics, and basically stole every scene they were in. What a blast! The performance also featured the powerhouse diva of divas, Patti LuPone, singing the iconic "Ladies Who Lunch" and blowing us all away.
It seems to be my week for unforgettable theater experiences. What's your favorite musical or play?
It seems to be my week for unforgettable theater experiences. What's your favorite musical or play?
April 8, 2011
Pickle This
My husband got me the best gift this year--a two-day class at the French Culinary Institute in NYC! All our plans are in place, we have hotel reservations and dinner with friends and theater tickets...and we get a call yesterday that the class is cancelled. BOO.
But do we cancel our trip? Hell to the no! We soldier on. And find a new class to take! Slightly smaller, more intimate and hands on--and all about pickles.
That's right, pickles. They're not just those limp, yellow-died spears of ex-cucumber anymore! You can pickle just about any vegetable, and some fruits too, with very interesting, delicious effects. I've been curious about the process for a while, and now I'm going to unlock its mysteries with Bob McClure's class! Can't wait. I'll definitely report back on what I learn, and maybe share a recipe or two.
What's the cooking technique you're most interested in mastering?
But do we cancel our trip? Hell to the no! We soldier on. And find a new class to take! Slightly smaller, more intimate and hands on--and all about pickles.
That's right, pickles. They're not just those limp, yellow-died spears of ex-cucumber anymore! You can pickle just about any vegetable, and some fruits too, with very interesting, delicious effects. I've been curious about the process for a while, and now I'm going to unlock its mysteries with Bob McClure's class! Can't wait. I'll definitely report back on what I learn, and maybe share a recipe or two.
What's the cooking technique you're most interested in mastering?
April 7, 2011
New Excerpt Posted!
The countdown to the Rising Star Chef series continues! To tide you over until August 2nd, here's a brand new, never before seen excerpt from the first chapter of Too Hot to Touch. If you've been wondering about the smokin' hot hero on the cover, this is your chance to meet Max Lunden! And his heroine (and rival chef) Jules Cavanaugh. Check it out and let me know what you think. Below is a tidbit to get you going! Click on the snippet to read the rest of the chapter...Chapter 1
The dining room was deserted, the cracked red leather of the banquettes sagging sadly over the snowy white, tablecloths.
From here, she couldn't tell that those linens were all fraying at the edges, but she could see every chip, every indelible scuff mark, in the gorgeous black and white tiles covering the floor.
Jules Cavanaugh peered out the round glass window cut into the kitchen door and remembered another night when Lunden's had been empty, just like this. Only tonight, there was no blizzard. No storm. No snow.
And no customers, either.
Mind full of the worries that had become all too common over the last year and a half— is it time to talk Gus into shutting down lunch service? Do we really need four servers on Thursday nights if we don't get more than ten covers all night long? What am I going to tell Gino when he calls about next week's beef order? They're not going to extend our credit forever, even if Gino's great-grandfather supplied the first steaks ever cooked at Lunden's —Jules had managed to tune out most of the commotion behind her.
A kitchen full of chefs with nothing to do was a recipe for trouble, and the Lunden's crew was no exception...
April 2, 2011
These tired guys are my Border Terriers, Hunter and Oscar...
These tired guys are my Border Terriers, Hunter and Oscar. We just finished the Mighty Texas Dog Walk, a 3-mile trek to benefit the Texas Hearing & Service Dogs! Here's hoping we managed to break the world record for number of dogs on a walk, too.We saw a lot of great dogs today, including a 182-pound Great Dane, a dachshund in a Batman t-shirt, and a Pomeranian groomed to look like a lion.
Tell me about your pets!
March 30, 2011
Dedication
One of the coolest things that ever happened to me was when I worked at Berkley Editorial, at Penguin USA. I loooove coming up with the titles for books (other people's books, not mine--that's way harder!) and I must have been decent at it, because other editors would come to me all the time for help brainstorming titles. Too many to name or remember now, but one will always stick out for me, because the author was the fabulous, talented, smart, NYT bestseller Jayne Ann Krentz.
And she loved the title I came up with so much, she actually dedicated the book...to ME.
That's right! Take a look at the first few pages of Falling Awake (cool, right? ; ) and you'll see my name, and Jayne's kind, wonderful, never-to-be-forgotten words:
To Louisa Edwards, with thanks for the title. Yep, you were definitely cut out for a career in publishing!
Music to my young editorial assistant ears. Of course, life swerved a bit and my career in publishing hopped the editorial tracks and is heading down a slightly different path, but hopefully the sentiment will hold if I'm a writer instead!
Today, I get to write the dedication for my fourth published novel, Too Hot to Touch, and I'm a little stumped...I've already dedicated books to the obvious suspects: my husband, my parents, and my sister. This time, I get to branch out, which is fun, but poses its own problems.
So help me out! If you wrote a book, who'd get your dedication page?
And she loved the title I came up with so much, she actually dedicated the book...to ME.
That's right! Take a look at the first few pages of Falling Awake (cool, right? ; ) and you'll see my name, and Jayne's kind, wonderful, never-to-be-forgotten words:
To Louisa Edwards, with thanks for the title. Yep, you were definitely cut out for a career in publishing!
Music to my young editorial assistant ears. Of course, life swerved a bit and my career in publishing hopped the editorial tracks and is heading down a slightly different path, but hopefully the sentiment will hold if I'm a writer instead!
Today, I get to write the dedication for my fourth published novel, Too Hot to Touch, and I'm a little stumped...I've already dedicated books to the obvious suspects: my husband, my parents, and my sister. This time, I get to branch out, which is fun, but poses its own problems.
So help me out! If you wrote a book, who'd get your dedication page?
March 16, 2011
Book into Movie
I'm getting really excited for the new movie version of Jane Eyre! That's one of my favorite books of all time, and I've never been entirely satisfied with any movie based on it, so my hopes are high. Michael Fassbender seems like a great choice for Rocherster--dark, dangerous, handsome, a little cruel. I know less about Mia Wasikowska (didn't see Alice) but the reviews so far make it sound like she's perfect for Jane.
Movie adaptations of beloved books are very tricky--we, as readers, form such close attachments to our own ideas of the characters that if the movie doesn't conform to the original, it can be very jarring. I don't personally feel that a movie has to be word for word, to-the-letter faithful in order to be a good adaptation. In fact, sometimes that's a detriment, because what makes a great book isn't the same as what makes a satisfying movie experience. So long as the movie catches the spirit of the book and transports me to the same emotional place, I'm happy!
So what's your favorite movie adaptation of a book?
Movie adaptations of beloved books are very tricky--we, as readers, form such close attachments to our own ideas of the characters that if the movie doesn't conform to the original, it can be very jarring. I don't personally feel that a movie has to be word for word, to-the-letter faithful in order to be a good adaptation. In fact, sometimes that's a detriment, because what makes a great book isn't the same as what makes a satisfying movie experience. So long as the movie catches the spirit of the book and transports me to the same emotional place, I'm happy!
So what's your favorite movie adaptation of a book?
March 4, 2011
It's Coming
With January and February over, we're finally moving out of the months designated as Hollywood's landfill, where they dump all the movies they can't believe they ever spent money on--but that they DID spend too much money on just to can. Rule of thumb: if a movie is released in the first two months of the year, you don't want to see it. Spend your ticket money on a good book!
Okay, I'd be happy if everyone did that all the time, anyway, but also I'd be a hypocrite, because I love going to the movies. *Almost* as much as I love to read. And we're getting closer and closer to the great movie months of the year--spring, before the big brainless blockbusters of summer (which, let's be honest, are sometimes awesome, too.)
And this spring, the movie I'm most looking forward to, hands down, is The Adjustment Bureau. Ever since I first saw the preview...and now, after the great review in the Washington Post? I'm even more excited than before! Apparently, Matt Damon and Emily Blunt have sizzling chemistry together. I think you can see it even in this short trailer:
What movies are you looking forward to?
Okay, I'd be happy if everyone did that all the time, anyway, but also I'd be a hypocrite, because I love going to the movies. *Almost* as much as I love to read. And we're getting closer and closer to the great movie months of the year--spring, before the big brainless blockbusters of summer (which, let's be honest, are sometimes awesome, too.)
And this spring, the movie I'm most looking forward to, hands down, is The Adjustment Bureau. Ever since I first saw the preview...and now, after the great review in the Washington Post? I'm even more excited than before! Apparently, Matt Damon and Emily Blunt have sizzling chemistry together. I think you can see it even in this short trailer:
What movies are you looking forward to?
