Happy Saturday, my friends. Today I have a mini review of a specialty cookbook and my meal plan for the week. Almost all of the recipes I picked this week were from cookbooks I received from a publisher, and reviews or mini reviews will come in the following weeks. Thanks to Chronicle Books for an ARC of the book I'm reviewing today.Art Boozel by Jennifer Croll an illustrated by Kelly Shami (Chronicle Books, August 3): This is a fun and beautiful collection of cocktail recipes--as the subtitle says--inspired by relatively modern artists. Each recipe is accompanied by a colorful illustration of the featured artist (kind of pop art style, as shown on the book cover), a short biography of the artist, and an explanation of the cocktail inspiration. Artists range from Georgia O'Keefe and Gustav Klimt to Robert Mapplethorpe and Kehinde Wiley, with about four dozen others in between.
The beginning of the cookbook consists of chapters for cocktail equipment, glassware, ingredients, and homemade syrups. The rest of the book features spreads showcasing each artist and that artist's cocktail.What do I love? The illustrations, the information about the artists, and the cocktail flavors. What didn't work? That before making many of the cocktails you have to first make a special syrup or track down a special ingredient (like edible flowers and edible gold dust). When we have a cocktail, it's usually spur of the moment, so we don't feel like going through a lot of steps.
I did find one cocktail--the Roy Lichtenstein--that called for ingredients we had on hand. The drink is made from fresh citrus juices, vodka, Cointreau, soda water, and simple syrup and is absolutely delicious. Recommended for fancy cocktail lovers and art lovers. Art Boozel by Jennifer Croll would make a terrific holiday gift.
This Week's Meal Plan
- Grilled salmon with grilled zucchini
- Marinated bean and lettuce salad with tomato pie (those from the Philadelphia area may know what this is)
- Classic beef stew
- Cod and kale saute
- Grilled pork tenderloin with yellow wax beans
- Pasta with fresh tomato sauce and a salad
Shared with Weekend Cooking, hosted by Marg at The Intrepid Reader (and Baker)
I love artist cookbooks, but would hesitate at cocktails because I don’t really consume them. I did have one mixed drink on our ship last week (and note that there was an open bar included in the price, so I could have had any number of them, and it’s a well-stocked bar). I’d like to see the pictures in the one you reviewed.
ReplyDeletebest… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
This book sounds fun! I concur it would be a bit of a challenge to track down edible flowers and edible gold dust...
ReplyDeleteLove that cover! Reminded me of the Andy Warhol character in Men in Black 3.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a fun book. Speaking of art in books I’ll have to get Doug to take a photo of me with an art book the library got me. It’s huge!
Beth,
ReplyDeleteI love the name , the cover, and would probably enjoy the contents of ART BOOZEL Looks like an interesting and fun book.. thanks for the review.
My kind of book! I've already sourced it at a local bookstore so I plan on picking it up this week.
ReplyDeleteWe aren't really cocktail people so this would be for fun read only for me! I would struggle to have all the ingredients.
ReplyDeleteMmmm ... sounds like a great meal plan, with lots of fresh summer produce!! With our CSA (this summer, we got a fruit share in addition to our usual veggie share), we've had LOADS of great produce lately. Corn, peaches, plums, pears, summer squashes, green beans (so much better than the on es in the grocery store), and those tomatoes!! Yum!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy - oh, and I mentioned you in my Monday post today :)
Sue
Book By Book
i love salmon! we eat it once a fortnight usually. all those great oils and vitamins... I get what you mean about hunting down special ingredients. so annoying:)
ReplyDeleteLove your review style. All key features covered concisely! Since Jennifer Croll is here in Vancouver, I love to attend her book launches as they are always in interesting locals and at least a couple of the cocktails are at the bar. Last night, she was entertaining at the beautiful Polygon Gallery, in North Van and on the water. I reviewed her last book, "Free The Tipple", here:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.clotheslinefinds.com/2018/11/free-tipple-kickass-cocktails-inspird.html