"Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic In Disguise" by Ruth Reichl, about her life as the NYT restaurant critic.
We're talking serious disguises here. Life-altering moments. It's a *fascinating* read. She includes some of her actual reviews in the book which I enjoyed - you can see how her experiences translated into the writing. She also includes recipes, which all actually sounded interesting to me. Her stories of the people involved in restaurants really kept me going - I wanted to know who she was going to meet next, who she would BE next. She doesn't go into the newspaper business too much, which turned out to be fine with me. I realized, after the first restaurant anecdote, that I didn't care about the newspaper side of the business. I wanted more of the personal stuff. And she filled the rest of the book with it.
Her descriptions of dishes, ingredients, cooking methods, etc left me salivating. It's strange, I love reading about, say, the seared crust of a pate' - but I'd never eat it. And I love reading about a salad of
watermelon, avacado and calimari - how the ingredients slipped along each other, how the different crunch and crispness played off the next, how the tastes mingled and sparkled. But I'd never eat it myself. I don't want to eat it but I reveled in her description of the civet de lievre.
I think I'm a gourmet mind trapped in meat-n-taters tastebuds. :)
Comments