Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes

by Shauna Niequist

What I didn’t know is that debearding is harder than it sounds, and that the grit on the shells takes so many rinses to wash away. I didn’t know that the smell would be somewhere between heaven and the ocean itself —all those shallots, all that wine. I didn’t know that they’d steam so fast and that before I knew it, I’d be serving this great steaming pot of amazing smells, and I couldn’t have predicted that I’d feel so impossibly proud, standing before this pot.

I hold all these places and flavors with me, like a fistful of shiny coins, like a charm bracelet. I want to be everywhere at once. I want a full English breakfast at a pub in London, and hot buttery naan in New Delhi for lunch. I want conch fritters at a beach bar in the Bahamas, and an ice-cold Fanta overlooking Lake Victoria. I want Cowgirl Creamery’s Triple Creme Brie at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in San Francisco, and the gingerbread pancakes from Magnolia Cafe in Austin. I want it all—all the tastes, all the smells, all the stories and memories and traditions, all the textures and flavors and experiences, all running down my chin, all over my fingers.