Saturday, January 28, 2012

Weekend Cooking: The Recipe Club by Andrea Israel and Nancy Garfinkel

I added The Recipe Club to my tbr list after reading about it on Staci's blog. I chose to read it now for the Foodies Read 2 Challenge.
The Recipe Club is about two women, Val and Lilly. At the start of the book, Lilly and Val are reconnecting after 26 years apart. This part of the story is told through emails. I was sort of confused at first since I didn't understand what drove two friends apart. But the second part of the book is told through letters when the girls are thirteen and continuing through to college. It's in these letters that the girls exchange recipes. They create their own recipe club and exchange letters and recipes for about ten years. It's during this time that I learned more about Lilly and Val. I liked both of them but never really connected to either one. I don't know if it was the format (the letters) or I just didn't really care for either of them. The third part was in a novel format with newspaper clippings and letters added in. This part felt a bit rushed to me. The end wrapped everything up neatly, but I just felt we got there way too fast.
Overall it was a sweet story of friendship. I did enjoy the recipes, so I decided to make and share one. I chose the Mighty Math Muffins (page 57). Lilly's having trouble with math so her tutor creates this recipe.
I couldn't find frozen cranberries but I had dried on hand. Really easy recipe and a delicious muffin.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.
This was my second read for the Foodies Read 2 challenge.

10 comments:

  1. Those muffins look great! I just looked at the recipes but never made anything! I remember liking this one.Sorry that you didn't make a connection with either of the ladies, but you did get those great muffins from it!

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  2. The muffins look really good. I have had a copy of the book for a long time. I don't know why I never read it. Maybe I'll give it a try. Perhaps with lover expectations, I'll have a better experience.

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  4. I always like to read reviews of food fiction. Thanks for posting this one.

    My Weekend Cooking post is my sign up for the Foodie Challenge. I am looking forward to this one.

    Rose City Reader

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  5. The book looks familiar, I may have it on a shelf somewhere, but I'm in the middle of reorganizing my library (books everywhere) so it'll be a while before I can check to see.

    If I don't have it, I'll look for it, it sounds like a book I'd enjoy!

    Those muffins look yummy!

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  6. I liked this book too. I like the way the whole story was told with just letters, notes and emails. Glad you tried the muffins. They look good.

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  7. I so enjoy reading foodie novels. Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran is another good one!

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  8. At Thanksgiving and Christmas fresh cranberries are out and they do freeze well. I buy 2 or 3 bags to freeze to have all year. Muffins look great!

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  9. Sounds like a book I'd enjoy reading. The muffins look great! With my math skills though, I'm not sure what my muffins would turn out like :)

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  10. I do like foodie related fiction! The muffins look great.

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