Whining & Dining

Embrace the Chaos

Eshun and I have been doing the media rounds and getting some great feedback on our book Whining and Dining. Two years ago when we started the process we wanted to produce something that we wanted to read -- a book that could make us laugh and wince with the acknowledgment that feeding a family, especially ones with picky eaters is a chaotic, frustrating and hilarious challenge. We wanted to be comforted that we weren't alone and also that our kids were going to turn out normal -- despite their diets consisting of a single colour and some smog-filled air.  And of course, it had to be filled with delicious recipes. Jenna Muirhead-Warren came to our aid with some amazing photos of kids eating -- or not.  A great design from Random House and suddenly (well not so sudden) we are selling our book at bookstores around the country and people are reading and eating along with us.

And the best part is -- the feedback has been better than we could ever have imagined. I get goosebumps reading Elizaboothy's comment that her family is a happier place because of our book. (us? we did that?). My kids' barber is making the apricot bars for her high-cholesterol husband (and then she wraps them individually and puts them in the freezer).  My son's friend thanked me for telling her mother to put all the food on the table so they could feed themselves. And best of all, the process has allowed me to let go of some of the power issues at our table too.  Of course not every night is a success, some are downright failures. But sometimes I am amazed at how fun a meal with three kids with three different appetites and personalities can be (and how messy!).

Jennifer Mackenzie wrote a great article with some recipes attached for the Peterborough Examiner. Check out the link. But we are still the most impressed with the marriage proposal from Doppleganger at 50 Books. (sorry, we are taken...)

Check it out at all major bookstores and online at indigo.ca and amazon.ca.  And yes, we will do seminars for parenting networks, corporate offices and wherever there are a group of parents who have to go home to feed their kids.

Partying with the Silver Palate

Eshun and I went to a reception for the Silver Palate Cookbook, 25th Anniversary Edition where authors Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso were actually there (yes, to cooks these people are celebrities in the same way that Olivia Newton John is a celebrity).  We mused about the cookbook's iconic status, celebrated recipes and how it still sits on the shelves of almost everyone we know.

They served dishes from the book which were comfortably tasty. Although some were a little bit of a tastebud timwarp like the asparagus wrapped in brie and bacon which only needed a litlle sun dried tomato pesto and some John COUGAR Mellancamp and we could all be back in the 80s discussing how shoulder pads really flatter our figure...

I was happy to re-taste the famous Chicken Marbella which my roomate Catherine and I once made for a dinner party while we were undergraduates.  We thought we were very sophisticated in our ability to pull of a dinner party. We just ignored the fact that our friends would have been happy with a 2-4 and some beer.

Many teenagers found their love of cooking in the Silver Palate cookbook. It was one of Eshun's first books and she still bakes the Lemon Pound Cake.  Another foodie friend, Clare swears by the Orange Poppyseed Cake and Joanne Yolles, pastry chef at Pangea and the inventor of Scaramouche's famous Coconut Cream Pie bakes the Chunky Apple and Walnut Cake (but skips the glaze). There were even some famous media and foodie types who brought their own books to be signed.

The authors, who supposedly do not speak to each other, said their favourites were the tarragon chicken salad, salmon mousse and baked ham. Not suprisingly, they had made all those dishes on the Today Show earlier this month.

The Silver Palate was also one of the first cookbooks to have sidebars, tips and anecdotes down the side. So I guess that we are indebted to them for breaking the mould when it came to cookbooks because Whining and Dining also has sidebars, tips and anecdotes but we try to be funny. Hopefully, we will also be celbrating the re-issue of our phenomonally successful book in 25 years, but I'm pretty sure we will still be speaking.  Check back in 2032.

I was going to post the recipe for Chicken Marbella for old-time's sake but I very much doubt your picky eaters, or most kids would eat something that is made with capers and prunes. Eshun swears it's a great party dish and she made it for 100 people, so if you are having a summer party check it out!

The Silver Palate Carrot Cake is what all carrot cakes after 1982 tried to be.

Carrot Cake

Silver Palate Cookbook

10 to 12 portions

INGREDIENTS

Carrot Cake

• Butter, for greasing the pan

• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

• 3 cups sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon baking soda

• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

• 1 1/2 cups corn oil

• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• 1 1⁄2 cups shelled walnuts, chopped

• 1 1⁄2 cups shredded coconut

• 1 1⁄3 cups puréed cooked carrots

• 3⁄4 cup drained crushed pineapple

• Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

• 6 tablespoons (3⁄4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 3 cups confectioners’ sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Juice of 1⁄2 lemon (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Carrot Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease two 9-inch springform pans.
2. Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl.Add the oil, eggs, and vanilla. Beat well. Fold in the walnuts, coconut, carrots, and pineapple.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Set on the center rack of the oven and bake until the edges have pulled away from the sides and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 50 minutes.
4. Cool on a cake rack for 3 hours. Fill and frost the cake with the cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1. Cream together the cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl.
2. Slowly sift in the confectioners’ sugar and continue beating until fully incorporated. The mixture should be free of lumps. 3. Stir in the vanilla, and lemon juice if desired. Frosting for a 2-layer cake