Giveaway: An Extravagant Hunger
This seems like a fine spring book, doesn’t it? I have mentioned before how important and beloved Mary Frances’s writing is to me. So much of my love of her work is about the exquisite timing of it. Just when I was forming my ideas of how I wanted to live, what that meant, and what it might look like, there she was at the library in the form of a a slim orange spine of a book. And so, on this spring Monday, a giveaway for you of the newest biography of one of my very favorite writers. Anne Zimmerman‘s An Extravagant Hunger examines M. F. K. Fisher’s “passionate years,” delving into Fisher’s loves: gastronomic, creative, and romantic. Sounds a juicy as as Mary Frances’s radiator-toasted tangerines. Leave a comment by Friday, March 18 at midnight EST to win about an ecstatically sumptuous food memory; one commenter with be chosen at random.
Update 3/21: And the winner is Christy! Thanks to all for entering!
Erica: I have been looking for new books and authors to get hooked on. Even if I dont win the giveaway this book is on my list!1 year ago
RH: For 27 years I thought I hated asparagus. Then I attended a friend’s supper club, where roasted asparagus was prepared with a simple walnut crema for the first course. I told myself I’d eat it to be polite, and wound up wolfing it down and almost licking my plate clean. She converted me into an asparagus lover.1 year ago
Carly: when i was living in portland the farm stand i always shopped at was sampling delicata squash sauteed in olive oil with sea salt. it felt like i had been handed a slice of heaven. one of my favorite flavors of fall ever since.1 year ago
Anna: What a wonderful giveaway. This sounds like something that will end up on my “to-read” list.1 year ago
dru: the cover looks good enough to eat.1 year ago
Aleta: I need a new book and this one sounds wonderful1 year ago
Nicole: I am in desperate need for some inspiration and would love to read this book to bounce me out of the winter slump!1 year ago
Eliza: Your blog introduced me to MFK Fisher. And thank you for that! This book is going on my To Read list whether I win or not.1 year ago
La Chapstick Fanatique: when i was living in france, i bought a pineapple. pineapples will just never taste the same as they did over there (or really any fruit for that matter).
http://lachapstickfanatique.blogspot.com1 year ago
Anna: I’ve been reading MFK Fisher since my high school days, thanks to my Dad. I reread Long Ago in France before a recent stay in Dijon, and wandered around to see if any of her old haunts still existed. (She haunts Aix for me, too!)
This book sounds like a fun read. Thanks for posting about it.
Happy Monday to you!1 year ago
KBG in DC: Looks like a good read!1 year ago
Suzy: Looks yummy!1 year ago
Hilary: Where to even begin with ecstatic and sumptuous food memories? So, so many. The day I arrived in Italy to begin my foreign exchange, I was 17 years old and the summer was leaning into September. The tomatoes, rinsed of the dust from my host family’s garden, were warm from the sun and then bathed in an ablution of grassy olive oil, finished with a sprinkle of basil. My first real tomatoes.
Another favorite food memory: I was introduced to MFK Fisher by a chef boyfriend when in my early 20s. He gave me “Consider the Oyster” to read and then took me for bivalves on the half shell, adorned with a squeeze of bright lemon. The love affair with that chef ended disastrously, but my love affair with oysters and MFK Fisher’s work continues to thrive in my staid, non-waitressing 30s.1 year ago
Lauren: While visiting family this summer, I encountered the best fruit salad I’ve ever had: just perfectly ripe peaches, strawberries, and blueberries with whole almonds. I often recreate it, sprinkling a little powdered sugar on top to sweeten my inferior out-of-season fruit, but I don’t know that any fruit salad will ever surpass that bowl of simple perfection.1 year ago
Betsy: I am not familiar with Mary Francis having had my head stuck in Fanny Farmer and Julia Child all these years. But the dust cover alone is enough to make me want to jump right in. Radiator roasted tangerines? Thanks for some new inspiration today!1 year ago
Margaret: I love that passage from B is for Bachelors! So tender yet ascerbic, just like her. I’ve wanted to add MFK to my library, but not yet found the right starter book- maybe this is it!
1 year ago
Katy: I honed my addiction to ecstatic food experiences under the influence of a disastrous first love. There’s something special to discovering that you want to bring someone the most fragrant, steaming cup of tea or tangle spoons over a summer-ripe melon steeped in sweet white wine.1 year ago
Deena: One of the best food writers out there, no doubt!1 year ago
Reta: I have been a fan and reader of M. F. K. Fisher from the day I read her article about eggs in The New Yorker many years ago. I own several of her books. I would love to add this beautiful book to my collection!1 year ago
sara: I love her writing, and have enjoyed all of her books. I didn’t even know about this one!1 year ago
Ai: Thanks for such a great giveaway!!1 year ago
Hallie: Her books make me feel so lavish! I’d love to learn more about her.1 year ago
Hallie: I remember a place in Oregon called La Catalana. They were tucked in the middle of a sleepy residential area, but they had the most melty mussels I have ever tasted. And beef roast that fell off the bone.
Even though I was a very poor 20 year old at the time, I saved up to eat there every few months.1 year ago
Christy: One of my favorite dining experiences was at a tapas restaurant in London. We dined outside and the weather was fantastic. I ate the most delicious sardines, and I didn’t even think I liked sardines.1 year ago
Melissa: Reading is such a passion of mine….and I have not had the pleasure of reading any of this authors work….I can read a cookbook like a novel…; )1 year ago
Margo: I would so love to win this!1 year ago
art and lemons: Anne is one of my favorite bloggers and MFK Fisher, well her books are always within arms reach…1 year ago
little big: So hoping I win this!1 year ago
Erin: I love cooking for guests and baking for celebrations for work. I recently won a baking contest at work (so what if there were only 9 entries?) and was quite pleased with myself. I LOVE discovering new recipes, especially ones that were a bit of a surprise on how they turned out.1 year ago
Maureen: There is a place in Evanston, Il called Dave’s Italian Kitchen that has some of the best food ever. The spaghetti carbonara is to die for, I have never found anything that even comes close to it. A simple dinner salad with their garlicy ranch dressing-heaven! I live thousands of miles away now, but I still think about that place and that carbonara.1 year ago
HeatherRae: Great giveaway! I found a few of her books at my beloved used bookstore.1 year ago
Erin: Ooh, I also love MFK Fisher and have had my eye on this book ever since it came out a few weeks ago. I’d love to win it! (Especially since I’ve been spending way too much $$ on books lately. A freebie sure would be nice!)
Here is my memory:
I had been dreaming of going to Italy for years, and finally went for the first time in April, 2008. A few hours off of a no-sleep red-eye, and two train rides later, we were settled into our hotel in Desanzano and bee-lined to a local restaurant that had been highly recommended by friends, La Lepere, to make it before they stopped serving lunch at 2:00. We promptly ordered a bottle of Franciacorta (a lesser-known Italian sparkling wine) and the daily risotto. Asparagus had just come into season, so it was featured prominently. When the risotto was presented to us, the waitress wheeled it over in a huge, almost hollowed out wheel of parmesean, and gave it it’s final stir inside the delicious bowl before scooping it onto our plates. Needless to say, the richness from the cheesy vessel was unbelievable, and I was completely in awe of the most unique food presentation I’d ever seen. I’ll never forget it!1 year ago
Jules: This sounds like a great read, cross my fingers!1 year ago
Michelle: Oh, Mary Francis!
I was born and raised in Califronia. When I married my husband, we moved to Georgia for his job. It was there that I first tasted fried chicken for breakfast. I had never heard of such a thing, and was reluctant to even try it. But try it I did, and it was the most delicious breakfast ever. The crispy, seasoned outside and the juicy meat served with a hot biscuit slathered with butter-it felt so extravagent, so out of normal. I felt like I had not just moved to a different state, but a place with an entire different mindset. We’ve moved away from Georiga since then, but I still crave fried chicken for breakfast sometimes.1 year ago
Tricia A: Food memories are very big for me……..I automatically think of my grandmother’s home made pickled beets……1 year ago
Lisa: Food and books are two of my very favorite things. Sometimes I will get inspired by something gastronomic that I have read. Once I read this book where a couple was watching a meteor shower while enjoying a picnic, they were eating roast beef and gouda sandwiches. The description of the sandwiches was so compelling that I craved such a sandwich and picnic experience. When I finally had the time to get everything together, it was truly an awesome food experience.1 year ago
kara: sounds fabulous. i can’t wait to read it.1 year ago
Birdie: Ohhh, I love MFK Fisher! This sounds fantastic.
Food memory: each year at Thanksgiving when my granny was still alive, we’d pull out the old aluminium washtub to make her special stuffing. It was my job to crumble up the 3 pans of cornbread she’d made the night before. I think of it every time I smell sage1 year ago
Meenoo: I love MK Fisher and I would love to be entered into this contest. I have many amazing food memories (fortunately). One in particular is eating piles and piles of mangoes in the summer in India when we were visiting family. I didn’t know that there are as many varieties of mangoes in India as there are apples here! It was heavenly. Another great food memory (that many people have, I am sure) is the crazy preparation that goes on before any kind of holiday, and the feeling of completion when you at last get to sit and eat all that special food.1 year ago
Daphne: mmm, food and literature! two of my favorite things.1 year ago
Megan: I have so many ecstatically wonderful food memories, but perhaps the best was the first strawberry shortcake in Sweden when we hand-picked the strawberries at a local farm. The Swedes had been talking about strawberries all winter, and we were somewhat skeptical of their excessive praise, but we found that picking them ourselves, they were, in fact, by FAR, the best we’d ever tasted. We made a simple, buttery, cardamom (inspired by the Swedes’ love of cardamom) shortcake, piping hot earl gray, and luscious folds of hand-whipped cream… there was no need for sugar or any other additive… it was heaven!1 year ago
Kirsten B NYC: Dinner with a friend in Palm Springs: the most amazing oysters I’ve ever eaten, followed by lamb in a reduction sauce…1 year ago
Alicia: would love this book!1 year ago
Caroline: I would love to win this! Great giveaway =]1 year ago
Coly: Looks like a wonderful spring read!1 year ago
Stella: I adore MK Fisher. Who else can write about oranges in such a way?1 year ago
wendy: My first taste of gaspacho in Santa Barbara, Ca. I was 23, on a trip with my parents when we stopped for lunch. We sat outside on the patio and had seconds! Then the best chocolate cake EVER!!! This is my favorite memory, and one of the last of my Dad. Poignant, to say the least.1 year ago
Designing Diva: This looks like a wonderful book – I will need to add it to my vast cookbook collection whether I win or not. I read
cookbooks like novels – it’s a pleasant addiction!
Favorite food memory…there are so many! I remember having clotted cream with scones on the ferry from Dover to France and thinking that combination was just heavenly. Although I rarely have the chance to savor clotted cream any more, whenever I travel back to England, that is definitely on my “must eat” list!1 year ago
Kristina S.: Looks wonderful! Sign me up!1 year ago
Katie: Looks delicious.
Sumptuous food memories…there are so many! But I always come back to picking raspberries off the brambles in my grandparents’ front yard, my arms and legs spotted with chigger bites, my fingers and mouth stained with juice. Those berries, swollen with sunshine, embodied summertime for me…they’re still my favorite fruit.1 year ago
Pamela Keown: I’ve been reading the comments and my poor opinions cannot hope to compete… I went to a book site and read an exerpt… it sounds like a dream I had along time ago… I will read it, either borrowed from the Library or as the winner of a free copy. Thank you for sharing someone so wonderful with me.1 year ago
Lizziefirst: I would love to read this book; M.F.K. Fisher is a huge inspiration to me!!1 year ago
Sara: Would love to read this. I am a fan of M.F.K. Fisher but even with all I’ve read by her there is so much that is slightly hidden below the surface in her writings–this would be fascinating to learn a little bit more about this intriguing woman.1 year ago
Emily: On our first date, my now-husband made me a birthday dinner that took all day to make and included whipped cream that was whipped with two forks (for lack of a whisk or beater). Talk about food made with love!1 year ago
Katie: This looks interesting. I hope to add it to my collection soon.
1 year ago
Amy: This book looks fantastic!1 year ago
Debbie: I adore MFK Fisher. I hope I win it!1 year ago
Athina: I can never forget the food we had in the fish taverns of Istanbul a couple years ago…1 year ago
Karen: I love the book cover…. lovely!1 year ago
Lily: Sounds like a tasty journey. I have my fingers crossed.1 year ago
Bookish Bella: My strongest food memories are of my grandmother’s southern cooking. A plate full of homegrown tomato, creamed corn, fried okra, Vidalia onion, and corn bread… Just thinking about it makes me hungry and homesick.
I’ve had delicious meals that were far more sophisticated, but they lack the food-emotion connection.1 year ago
Kristen: What a beautiful cover…I hope I win! Thanks for the wonderful giveaways!1 year ago
Brittany: this book looks sooo interesting!! love ur blog
1 year ago
Laura: When I was studying in Paris for a year in college, I used to go visit a dear uncle who lived in London. I would go shopping and sightseeing all day and when I came back to his flat, he would have a gin and tonic and a bowl of Bombay mix waiting for me to nosh on while he cooked dinner. It’s not fancy, but the combination of the drink and the tasty Indian-flavored mix made me feel so worldly and adult. Although I’ve lived in France and Belgium and have many food memories of a more sophisticated sort, this one is still very meaningful and visceral for me. I wish Bombay mix were more readily available here in the U.S.1 year ago
Stitchybritt: This is exactly my kind of book! I love biographies, and I love foodie stories – the two combined are fantastic.1 year ago
J Fierce: one food memory I’ll never forget was Christmas eve in Potenza (southern italy) with my italian sister and her family. 13 courses. About halfway through I simply couldn’t have another bite. I tried to keep going. The Christmas tree shaped tiramisu was the goal. I put what I couldn’t eat on my big brother’s plate. Clams, squid, all kinds of fish, olives, pasta… I can’t remember the sequence. The conversation was a garble of Italian and English, and I couldn’t follow a lot of it, but it was filled with an overwhelming togetherness. What we can’t share through language, we can show over dinner.1 year ago
Nina S: Two of my passions are traveling and food, and I love to combine both with every chance I get! I was recently in NYC and had the most amazing donut… It was creme brûlée complete with homemade custard on the inside and crackly sugar on top: utterly ethereal. My travel buddy and I are still sending each other fun “reminder” messages about that donut. Yum!1 year ago
Kasi: My husband and I had an outdoor wedding at a local park, and we had sandwiches and salads catered in. Having my maid of honor fetch food for me while I sat side by side with my hubby felt so luxurious. The fact that I was so deliriously happy may have helped, but I don’t think I’ve ever tasted food that delicious.1 year ago
eclair: I’ve often dreamt of the pleasure of a tangerine, “secretly indulged,” segmented and dried ever so delicately upon a radiator.1 year ago
Anastasia: I haven’t read her yet, but I love books about food. Thanks for doing a giveaway.1 year ago
Jen: Yesterday we reached nearly 60 degrees here in Wisconsin and Spring Fever is now in full force! When I left the house yesterday morning my front yard was buried in dirty, grey snow and ice. When I returned home from work I was greeted by my naked Christmas decorations and electrical cords which had spent the winter buried by snow. I even saw 2 robins, a sure sign that spring is indeed coming…I hope!1 year ago
Norma: It would be fun to win. The cover is amazing!1 year ago
Alice: My grandmother was a master canner – put up her own jams and jellies, fried apples and canned vegetables as well. Two of my memories of her food are warmed fried apples over vanilla ice cream (I have never had anything better) and open faced “bacon sandwiches” for breakfast. Take toast, butter well and add a layer of homemade jam – whatever flavor you feel like. Carefully place bacon over the jam. Eat. Aah, so delicious.1 year ago