Reviews

Kitchen Bliss is part memoir and part cookbook where Laura Calder shares many recipes and personal stories about how food and cooking have impacted her life. I will admit that I'm not one to follow celebrity chefs or cookbook authors so when the publisher sent me this surprise book mail, I was excited to be introduced to this James Beard Foundation award-winning author.

Through personal anecdotes with bits of humour, Calder shows readers the importance of slowing down and how the home kitchen and recipes can be so integral in our lives. She reminds us that we should 'eat with intention' which sounds a little woo-woo guru, but I appreciate the importance of listening to your body and thinking about what it needs at that moment instead of inhaling whatever food is put in front of you.

I also liked the message that cooking at home should be comfortable and easy-going and that you don't have to add special ingredients to make it exotic. By simply sticking a can of beer up a chicken's butt and throwing it on the BBQ with some corn-on-the-cob and watermelon for dessert you can make a meal that is as delicious and satisfying as any fancy restaurant meal.

But many of the recipes seem to go against this 'easy-going' vibe and there were a few instances where her observations had an ounce of snoot. I thought many of the recipes were outside typical weeknight family meals - fois gras salad, 'white radicchio and frisée bejeweled with toasted seeds and dressed with a pear vinegar' (from Normandy, no less). Just a bit too froo-froo. I did find a handful of recipes that would appeal to my family which include Fried Potato Skins, Mum's Salad Dressing, Penne alla Vodka, Salted Caramel Ice Cream...

Kitchen Bliss is a good pick for foodies, and I'm pleased to have found some recipes to try, some amusing anecdotes and appreciate Calder's reminder that recipes and cooking are powerful enough to soothe, inspire and satisfy.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Simon and Schuster Canada for this advanced copy which was given in exchange for my honest review.

More...