notes from my food diary

Last week I was contacted by Mercedes Bent, a representative from Share Our Strength, by email. She asked me if I would mention about Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale in my blog. Share Our Strength has lots of events going around the nation to help raise money needed to feed America’s children. One of the events that’s going on right now is Great American Bake Sale, which is held from May 19-August 31. This is a great opportunity for everyone to participate for a very good cause.

To participate you will need to go to Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale’s website which then will give you all the information. Either through online or in your community, you could help in any way you can. This year event is also supported by the Food Network which give prize for a top bake sale fundraiser. Very good incentive to fire up your kitchen, eh?

I love the idea of having a bake sale to raise funds, it’s so uniquely American and almost always entice people to come and sample and buy. Do any of you have a memorable bake sale fundraiser that you’ve helped or attended?

For years, here in Portland we have an event that’s also hosted by Share Our Strength which is called Taste of the Nation. The event started in 1988 and it will celebrate its 21st next year in April 28, 2008.

And finally, I urge you to read a book inspired by Great American Bake Sale, titled: Baked from the Heart: Our Nation’s Best Bakers Share Cherished Recipes for The Great American Bake Sale (A Share Our Strength Book to Fight Hunger) edited by Michael J. Rosen. It contains 100 recipes by familiar names such as Dorie Greenspan, David Leibovitz, Maida Heatter, Joanne Chang, François Payard, amongst others. After you read it through, hopefully you’ll be inspired to make one creation from the recipes and blog about it too. I own the book and plan to do some baking soon!

Talking with My Mouth Full: Crab Cakes, Bundt Cakes, and Other Kitchen Stories—- From NPR’s Weekend Edition Food Commentator, Bonny Wolf.

Yes, I could even slip a little book reading between the holiday rush. Well, to me it’s more like between baking cookies rush for I don’t rush anything else for the Christmas. We, three, always had a melow Christmas holiday. It’s almost always about family time, togetherness and sharing love. Sounds cheesy, eh? My parents usually come to stay for two weeks for Christmas holiday and we usually eat a lot! I’ve even already made plans to bake some Indonesian cakes with my mom, especially the ones that seemed too hard for me to try. So be prepared for Indonesian cakes & sweets in the next posts.

This book got a review somewhere and I happened to read the review. Sounded good to me and I like reading food related book anyway. I placed hold in my town library and got the copy almost right away. I love it! The book is slim, easy to read, full of stories about regional foods, and specifically of what American people really eat from ages ago. What so great about this book was that the author, Bonny Wolf, lived across the regions in America so she and her husband got to try regional specialities. Add to that, her own stories of growing up in Minneapolis. Very interesting facts to read, it makes me more knowledgeable about the foods in America. I didn’t know before reading this that Pronto Pup is different from Corn Dog and Pronto Pup is only sold in a state fair and eaten with a lot of mustard. Who would I know that Jewish people will go to a Chinese restaurant for Christmas and it’s basically a tradition amongst themselves? And how about a popover? It generates a lot of recipes, aYorkshire puddings, English’s toad-in-a-hole, German apple pancake and including choux pastry to make eclairs and gougeres.

I’ve finished reading this about 2 days ago and I couldn’t wait for another book like this.
Buy it for Christmas gift to a foodie and she or he will thank you!