Keys To Good Cooking by Harold McGee {book review}

Harold McGee is America's foremost expert on the science of food and cooking. He writes a wonderful and engaging column for the New York Times called "Curious Cook"  and has recently come out with his new book Keys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes. 

I was invited by Penguin Press to review this book. As soon as I got it I turned to the Cooking Safely section. As someone who has a tiny kitchen and two tiny kids always in my kitchen I am constantly worried about burns and cuts. It was a good section.

Keys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes is filled with good sections. Resources to help you, I mean us, navigate our kitchens better. Something to guide you when you're trying to select fresh fruits and vegetables, which cuts of meat to buy, how to store and cook with dairy, among other things. 

His writing has me hooked and I finally feel like I understand science a little better through his explanations of why certain foods heat a certain way, are squeezed a certain way, are cooled a certain way, and the overall chemistry of food. I wish he had been my high school chemistry teacher. It probably would of made for a much less miserable sophomore year.

If you live in Santa Cruz, California come hang out with me tonight at Bookshop Santa Cruz. Harold McGee will be here for a book talk, signing, and Q&A. Plus, I heard that there will some yummy food.

If you can't make it I highly recommend watching the first lecture from the Harvard University Science and Cooking Public Lecture series. It's simply phenomenal. 

Froggy's Halloween and a challenge for picky eaters

 Chocolate covered what?!  This is a fun way I've found to challenge my picky eater to try things he otherwise claims to hate.

Our all time favorite Halloween book is Froggy's Halloween. This special Froggy comes home after a disastrous trick-or-treating night devastated when he finds out that he lost all his treats. To his surprise a big bowl full of chocolate covered flies is waiting for him at home, his absolute favorite.

Every time we read Froggy's Halloween Enzo bursts out in full belly laugh and then comes up with a list of silly things to cover up in chocolate. Playing along with Enzo's imagination and froggy's humor I decided to have Enzo try some chocolate covered things.

Enzo is not a fan of zucchini at all but chocolate covered zucchini, well that's a different story. He didn't love it but he was adventurous and took a couple bites. The strawberry he liked, the cheese he liked and the baby carrots he loved! He had well over 10 baby carrots dipped in chocolate.

Try doing this with your kids. Pick a few ingredients that they like and a few that they are usually picky about and cover it in chocolate. What wouldn't they eat covered in chocolate, right?! Put all ingredients on sticks and microwave a handful of chocolate chips for a minute until it is fully melted. Have your child dip the different ingredients into the chocolate and take a bite, or two, or three.

Do you have a picky eater in your hands?
If so what would you like to cover up in chocolate?

Mother Earth's Children; the frolics of the fruits and vegetables book

I recently found the online version of Mother Earth's Children and I seriously can't stop reading and smiling. This wonderful book from 1914 is pure delight. How can you not love this?

I want to read it with Enzo and try to convince him to give yams a try. Not sure he'll go for it but he will love the read. I think he'll find the temperament of the produce amusing.

Have you ever seen this book before? I'm going to have and search ebay for a copy.
Good thing for online archives. You can find the entire version of the book and read and even print it out for personal use. Thank you Beyond the Curtain for introducing me to such a delightful read.