Cynthia D. Bertelsen's Blog

Climbing Back on the Horse

Yes, I am still here. It’s been a rough summer, with a cancer diagnosis (very treatable) and some post-surgical complications. But I am not done with writing. Not yet! So, for my first canter, I’m going to share a few book titles that may be of interest to you, books I read while coming to […]

Terrific Book for Ocean Lovers

I recently read Shelby van Pelt’s sensitive and informative book about octopuses, Remarkably Bright Creatures. Word on the street is that Netflix is making a film based on the book. Oh goodie! Ever since I watched “My Octopus Teacher,” I have been fascinated by octopuses. And I will no longer eat their flesh. This summer, […]

Happy Thoughts During Dark Times

One good thing about living a relatively long life is all the memories that bubble up when I least expect them. And lately I’ve been dipping into my vast reservoir of memories like a man overboard in a violent storm. At times, I envy the man overboard: he sees what’s beneath the storm. Right now, […]

Things that Create Happiness: 1

Note: I am trying to maintain a sense of optimism even as I watch my beloved country descend into chaos. And so I am limiting my writing to my new book, A Kitchen Library: The Romance of Reading and Cooking, due in December 2025.

From Ukrainian Kitchens: The Cuisine of a Beleaguered, Independent Nation

Serfdom, world wars, collectivism, famine, invasion, Sovietization — all these historically threatened Ukrainian kitchens with the loss of traditional dishes and culinary rituals. Once again, Ukraine faces extremely challenging days as Russia and the U.S. have formed an alliance. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is eager to swallow up Ukraine and force it to become subservient […]

Deep Blue Seas and Ancient Olive Trees: Cooking Mediterranean

Books tend to take me to places where I might never, ever go in real life. Such as Soviet Russia at the height of the Cold War. Or even places I could never visit, as much as I might want to. Or even not want to! Think a banquet in Apicius‘s ancient Rome or the […]

The Kitchen Library

In these days of unrest, I find myself turning to things that always sustain me when life becomes overwhelming: reading and cooking. And thus I also find myself writing a new book. The Kitchen Library: Why Reading and Cooking Feed So Many Hungers will not be available for some time, but here’s the nostalgic front […]

Joy of Cooking, or, Escaping the Deluge

With politics these days reminding me of demagoguery and dictatorship, I turned to my copies of Joy of Cooking for something very different: escapism. Cooking offers me a way to flee the outside world. So, I decided to bake Buttermilk Potato Rolls. Pure joy, pure delight. If I could own only one cookbook, it would […]

The Many Permutations of Chicken

Diana Henry’s A Bird in the Hand: Chicken Recipes for Every Day and Every Mood Like many of you, I find that the daily “dinner dilemma” presents challenges. Just what is the “dinner dilemma”? It’s the dull, ongoing, everyday search for tasty-but-easy dinner menus. Dishes that don’t require hours in the kitchen, but taste as […]

Nutty as a …*

The worst gift is fruitcake. There is only one fruitcake in the entire world,and people keep sending it to each other.~~ Johnny Carson ~~ It’s like liver: either you love it or you hate it. What? Fruitcake, that’s what. I hadn’t thought about fruitcake much this year until I read my fellow food writer Gary […]