bookstore

Another Session Added! – Appetite for Reading II

StephanieDickison 06 October 2010 One comment

Dear Friends,

So many readers were interested in the Appetite for Reading II series that we have decided to have another session, this time on Mondays.

If you were on our waiting list, please contact the store to formally register. If you weren’t on the list but are interested, please call us for details.

Appetite For Reading: A Book Club for Serious Food Lovers continues with the 2nd instalment in the series taking place Nov 2010 – May 2011.

We’ll read and savour 6 books about food – one a month for 6 months. Each month, we’ll meet in a carefully selected restaurant to discuss the book. Chosen restaurants will have main courses available for under $25, and you will be able to choose items from the full menu (no prix fixe). This exciting club allows you to participate in lively discussions about each book in a wonderful restaurant setting. We will of course also discuss food and restaurants over our meal! This is an interactive club, not a lecture, so come and enjoy the chance to have your opinions heard and share in other people’s impressions of the books we’ll be reading. And no, you don’t have to know how to cook to join!

As a restaurant critic and food writer, I am passionate about food, books and restaurants and hope that you will join me on this adventure. Surrounded by good food and people who love to get lost in great books, this is an experience that you won’t want to miss out on!

My mouth is watering already.
Stephanie Dickison, author of The 30-Second Commute: A Non-Fiction Comedy About Writing & Working From Home
Pricing, Availability, and Registration: Two seatings available: 6-8 pm or 8-10 pm, all meetings are on Mondays
Price: $178.01 (includes all 6 books, membership fee and HST)
Membership is limited to two groups of 12. To reserve your spot, please contact Maxeen at Nicholas Hoare 45 Front Street East Tel: (416) 777-2665 or email Maxeen at toronto@nicholashoare.ca
For more info: www.booksabroad.com “Appetite” or Stephanie Dickison stephaniedickison.com
Appetite For Reading Menu

Amuse Bouche
It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time
Monday, November 1, 2010 -Restaurant T.B.A.

Appetizer
The Recipe Club: A Tale of Food and Friendship
Monday, January 10, 2011-Restaurant T.B.A.

Salad
Consuming Passions: A Food-Obsessed Life
Monday, February 7, 2011-Restaurant T.B.A.
Entrée
Knives at Dawn
Monday, March 7, 2011-Restaurant T.B.A.

Dessert
My Kitchen Wars
Monday, April 4, 2011-Restaurant T.B.A.

Aperitif
Don’t Try This at Home
Monday May 9, 2011 -Restaurant T.B.A.

The Books We’ll Be Reading. Notes by Stephanie.
This time round, I’ve changed the book list a little. In this series, we’ll read a food writer’s recollections, the inside stories from a restaurant critic, a fiction title, a food-obsessed writer’s memoir, a detailed look inside the industry and a cookbook author’s experiences. Take a look:
It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Tim: My Adventures in Life and Food by Moira Hodgson
This restaurant critic (formerly of the New York Times, currently of the New York Observer) weaves professional, insider secrets of reviewing restaurants for a living with memoir moments that make for a rich, evocative read. You’ll certainly read about many famous chefs and personalities, but it’s perhaps Hodgson’s life that you will remember most fondly. Thankfully, recipes are included.
The Recipe Club: A Tale of Food and Friendship by Andrea Israel & Nancy Garfinkel
It’s called a “novel cookbook” so it seemed like a good choice for the club – a little bit of fiction and then off into the kitchen to recreate some of the recipes. Sounds like fun to me. Lilly and Val are lifelong friends, revealing the novel’s details through their letters that also contain recipes. It’s hard to remember that it’s a novel at times, because it’s written by 2 real-life friends and the dialogue throughout rings true. There are more than 80 recipes here so I bet we’ll be cooking as much as reading.
Consuming Passions: A Food-Obsessed Life by Michael Lee West

Don’t be surprised if you drool on the pages as you’re reading this one. This Southern Tale covers both the new and old South and offers up foods that you probably aren’t so familiar with here in the T-dot (Which is why you might find yourself scouring online markets at midnight for ingredients to make Lemon Chess Pie and hush puppies). This accessible read covers home cooking, whether it’s a dish to take to a potluck or feeding friends and family at home, in a completely charming fashion.
Knives at Dawn: America’s Quest for Culinary Glory at the Legendary Bocuse d’Or Competition by Andrew Friedman

Competitions are what much of food television is about these days. So I think it’s fitting to include a title like this, where everything is on the line and you can’t help but get caught up in 24 culinary teams competing at the most prestigious cooking competition. Can you imagine having to cook for 5.5 hours straight, only to be judged by the world’s best chefs?Gulp.The story of this competition is intriguing in of itself, but it’s the play-by-play detail that will have you flipping pages long after the rest of the family has gone to bed.
My Kitchen Wars by Betty Fussell
Betty has written at least 12 books, but this title might just be her most compelling. What’s nice is that this cookbook author has gone outside the usual autobiography template and uses acerbic humour to share her stories.

Don’t Try This at Home edited by Kimberly Witherspoon

In this raucous collection, over forty of the world’s greatest chefs relate outrageous true tales from their kitchens. From hiring a blind line cook to flooding the room with meringue to being terrorized by a French owl, these behind-the-scenes accounts are as wildly entertaining as they are revealing. A delicious reminder that even the chefs we most admire aren’t always perfect.

Nicholas Hoare
45 Front Street East
Toronto, ON M5E 1B3
416-777-2665 phone
416-777-0295 fax
www.nicholashoare.com
www.twitter.com/NicholasHoareTO

food book clubs appetite for reading, appetite for reading II, biographies, book club, books, bookstore, cooking, fiction, food, food book club, meals, memoirs, nicholas hoare, nicholas hoare bookstore, restaurants

Book News – More Places Carrying My Book & Audiobook

StephanieDickison 06 September 2010 One comment

Thanks to Open Library and Audiobooksforipods.com for carrying my book and audiobook.

I love that you can listen to it in the car or tuck the softcover into your carry-on.

I’ve tried to make it as easy as possible to read my book. You’ll be done in a couple of hours.

Tops.

book updates audiobook, audiobooksforipods.com, book, book news, book updates, bookstore, online, open library, the 30-second commute

Food Book Club Update – Appetite for Reading Series 2 is a Go!

StephanieDickison 15 July 2010 No comments

Well, my two lovely Appetite for Reading groups met for a final dinner at Quince Restaurant.

But it’s not really over!

Nicholas Hoare Books has graciously allowed me to do another Appetite for Reading Series with them!

We’ll be meeting once a month for six months – October 2010 to April 2011 (with no meeting in December), reading 6 intriguing titles about food and discussing the books over dinner at restaurants all around the city, carefully selected by yours truly.

To put yourself on the waiting list, please contact the store at toronto@nicholashoare.ca or call 416-777-2665.

I’d like to thank Nicholas Hoare Books, especially Co-Manager Maxeen for doing all of the administrative work (read: the heavy lifting!) and the restaurants that hosted us for some of the most memorable meals I’ve ever had – Pearl Harbourfront, King Street Social Kitchen, Pangaea, Provence Delices, Caplansky’s Delicatessen and Quince.

And of course, many thanks to all of the group members for their interest and support. For without you, I would be eating and reading all by myself.

We will be announcing the new book list soon (I have chosen very different books this time around). Please sign up for these updates by clicking on the “subscribe” button on the right. That way, as soon as there is a development, you’ll be the first ones to hear about it!

I hope to see you soon!

food book clubs appetite for reading, book club, book series, books, bookstore, caplansky's delicatessen, dinner, food, food book club, food book clubs, king street social kitchen, memorable meals, nicholas hoare bookstore, pangaea, pearl harbourfront, provence delices, quince restaurant, restaurants, waiting list

Photo – Cookbook Section

StephanieDickison 21 April 2010 No comments

After reviewing a restaurant, I was in the mood to browse new book titles. Of course I had made my way into the cookbook section, which now has a gazillion subsections, one of which is this above.

Yes, it is completely and utterly out of hand now…

photos books, bookstore, cookbooks, photo

Photo – The 30-Second Commute Reading & Book Signing

StephanieDickison 06 March 2010 No comments

The author reflects on U.S. President Barack Obama’s economic policy. She claims that Obama’s New Deal-style socio-economic approach, which focuses on domesticating capitalism, is causing problems for the business sector.

Nah. I’m just talking about music and stuff…

book updates, photos 30-second commute, author, biography, book news, bookstore, comedy, memoir, reading, signing