This summer my mother and I enjoyed a fun mother-daughter weekend in New York. The highlight was a Random House event called Off The Page. It was held in Hudson Valley, New York and was a day filled with authors and hands-on activities. We had a fabulous day!

Off The Page Event Highlight
One of the speakers at the event was Ruth Reichl, former editor in chief of Gourmet magazine, who was talking about her book My Kitchen Year 136 Recipes That Saved My Life. As a participant in Off The Page, we received an advanced copy of the manuscript. What a treat! It is a cook book as well as a biography of Ms. Reichl’s journey as she navigates her year after Gourmet magazine unexpectedly closed. The book reads like a novel that is infused with wonderful recipes. Anyone who has either been laid off or worked at a company that closed its doors can relate to her experience. Even if someone hasn’t been displaced in work, that person will still enjoy reading about her path to reinventing herself, and the recipes are yummy!

How My Kitchen Year Helped Me
I’m new to cooking. I never really learned to cook and I never really had to cook – not that I couldn’t. Two years ago I started experimenting with cooking with some apprehension; but I found that I really enjoy it. Cooking had been tedious because I measured out the ingredients exactly. The interesting thing about Ruth Reichl’s book is she encourages the cook to be creative, substitute ingredients, and experiment. This approach was liberating for me. Since reading her book, I thoroughly enjoy cooking.

My recipe outcome
Shortly after reading her book I tried the very first recipe – Shirred Eggs with Potato Puree. I wowed my guests with the presentation and flavors although I didn’t tell them that it was quite easy. Since then I have prepared five additional recipes; each was enjoyable to cook and tasted delicious.

I highly recommend My Kitchen Year 136 Recipes That Saved My Life by Ruth Reichl. I also wanted to share that I learned about the Random House Off The Page event on their website. Other Random House events are listed at: www.RandomHouseBooks.com/events.

Purchase the book on Amazon with this link: Buy on Amazon