November 25, 2020 | Issue #17 |
|
Sunday Bonus Episode!
HOLIDAY COOKING WITH
NATHALIE DUPREE
Lucky us! We've got a holiday cooking themed special Sunday Bonus Episode this week! We are so pleased to welcome James Beard Award-winning cookbook author Nathalie Dupree. Nathalie is a best-selling author with 15 cookbooks and more than 300 television appearances to her credit. Join us on Sun Nov 29th at 5pm ET via Facebook Live on the F&F Group page as we sit down with Nathalie and talk about the art of authoring cookbooks, her work writing for newspapers and magazines, and her role as founding chairman of the Charleston Food and Wine Festival.
|
|
|
Five Facts From Our Friend, Sue Monk Kidd
The one thing you’ve learned you can’t live without in quarantine:
With apologies to my husband, I’m going to say the dog. Not only is Barney 20 pounds of adorable, he’s a topnotch therapy dog, specializing in play and general preservation of human sanity.
Your perfect day:
If I could design the perfect day, it would start with cappuccino from a state-of-the-art Nespresso machine. That’s followed by a virtual boxing class, me in red boxing gloves. Then, a morning of uninterrupted writing, featuring an outpouring of perfect words and wildly inventive narrative. After a lunch prepared by someone other than myself, I spend 30 placid minutes in mindfulness meditation. The afternoon is spent being leisurely. I sit on the screen porch with my sketch pad, a cup of tea, my husband, and Barney (it’s 70 degrees out, the birds are singing). There is conversation interspersed with silence and a Thoreau-like reverie. The evening is about reading and books and falling asleep with one splayed open on my chest.
Your favorite independent bookstore:
The last book you raved about:
The Shark Club. I should mention it was written by Ann Kidd Taylor, who happens to be my daughter. I raved, though, because she created a beautiful novel about a brilliant shark scientist and wove together the quintessential female quest for self-autonomy, healing, and fulfillment with a unique love story, and an environmental mystery.
Your next book in ten words or less:
Two formidable southern women. Crisis, secrets, and an unfinished past.
|
|
|
Five Facts From Our Friend,
Nathalie Dupree
The one thing you’ve learned you can’t live without in quarantine:
I’ve learned I need to see my friends, and particularly their children.
Your perfect day:
My perfect day is holding a friend’s baby and reading them a book.
Your favorite independent bookstore:
Buxton Books is my favorite independent bookstore as it is less than a block away.
The last book you raved about:
The last book I raved about was Belinda Smith Sullivan‘s Let’s Brunch
Your next book in ten words or less:
My next book is part of an anthology for Dorothea Benton Frank.
|
|
|
Bookseller of the Week
BUXTON BOOKS
This week’s featured bookseller is Buxton Books in Charleston, SC. Located on historic King Street in the Holy City, Buxton is where you can go to experience your favorite stories first hand, meet the authors, and get involved in your local book-loving community. Visit them in-person or online to get your hands on select classics and new releases. This week they are offering a 10% discount on books by our guests Sue Monk Kidd and Nathalie Dupree—as well as those by F&F host authors—with the code friendsandfiction.
|
|
Up Close and Personal with Mary Alice Monroe
Nathalie Dupree is the queen of southern cooking. She’s a celebrated chef and bestselling author in Charleston, SC, a multi James Bear Award winner, TV Cooking Show star, and a woman I am lucky to call friend. We at Friends and Fiction are especially thrilled that the Nathalie is joining us for a Bonus Episode on Sunday November 29h! Just in time for the holiday season.
It’s the holiday season and our thoughts turn to cooking! Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking by Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart is the must have Southern cookbook with more than 700 pages of recipes, stories, food facts and history. My copy is proudly displayed in my kitchen. It’s a treasure for anyone who loves and appreciates southern cooking.
Nathalie kindly allowed me to share some of her recipes from Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking in the back of my novel, A Lowcountry Christmas. I selected these recipes because I feel they create a perfect Southern meal for the holidays:
Pickled Shrimp (please use wild caught American shrimp);
Spicy Sausage Balls;
Mess of Greens or “Pot likker”
Chocolate Snowball
My favorite is Chocolate Snowball. Nathalie served it at a private luncheon and it was unforgettable! Since that first bite, I’ve been serving the Snowball as my Christmas dessert. It’s a gorgeous presentation very showy, and y’all—it’s easy to make! I cherish this recipe and I hope you will enjoy it too.
Chocolate Snowball
For the Cake:
1 (10 ox) package semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup butter, room temperature
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
For the Topping:
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
For the Garnish:
Chocolate shards
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 5- cup ovenproof bowl with a double thickness of foil.
- Melt the chocolate with the water and sugar over low heat or in the microwave; cool slightly.
- Transfer the chocolate mixture to a mixing bowl or to a food processor bowl fitted with the knife blade.
- Beat in the butter, add the eggs one by one, followed by the vanilla extract, beating after each addition.
- Pour the mixture into the foil lined mold; bake 1 hour or until a thick crust has formed on top. It will still be soft under the crust.
- Remove from oven. It will collapse. Cool completely. Cover tightly and refrigerate until solid, 2-3 hours or overnight, or freeze. This can be done several days in advance.
- When ready to serve, whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla until stiff, and transfer the mixture to a piping bag with a star tip. Remove the snowball from the bowl and peel off the foil, placing on a serving dish, flat side down.
- Pipe rosettes of whipped cream over the entire surface until no chocolate shows. Chill until served. Garnish with chocolate shavings if desired. Leftovers freeze well, tightly wrapped!
|
|
Latest News From "The Fab Five"
This is your last chance to vote for KRISTIN HARMEL's The Book of Lost Names in the FINAL ROUND of the Goodreads Choice Awards! Kristin is grateful to all of you who have helped support her so far. Voting ends Monday, Nov. 30. VOTE NOW!
PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY is preparing for the house to be full again with college age sons from now until New Years. Meanwhile she posted a video about her upcoming book Surviving Savannah that she filmed at the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum. Want a sneak peek of the backstory? Watch it HERE.
MARY ALICE MONROE is excited to show the Cover Reveal of her Middle Grade book THE ISLANDERS on Friends and Fiction December 2nd!
KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY is cleaning and cooking—in between edits, of course—and getting ready to host a much smaller than usual, but still very fun, Thanksgiving celebration at her house! She is also putting together a killer holiday playlist and counting down the minutes until she gets her Christmas tree!
MARY KAY ANDREWS is baking up a storm. Can you say “just desserts?” Pecan pie. Pumpkin pie with ginger snap streusel topping from The Beach House Cookbook. Lemon cream cheese poundcake. Oh my!
|
|
|
We're Now a Podcast!
We're so excited that Friends & Fiction is officially available as a podcast!
Never fear! Our weekly web show on Facebook Live is not going anywhere! But we have been working hard to produce our episodes in audio-only format. So, the episodes we've recorded will be up on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and all other major podcasting platforms.
Not in front of the computer? Pop in your ear buds and listen in. Have a road trip planned? Take Friends & Fiction along for the ride!
|
|
|
News from the F&F Official Book Club |
Thanks to everyone who joined us for our Virtual Potluck Friendsgiving on Thursday, Nov. 19th. We had a surprise visit from the Fab 5 and it was truly a special night. Congratulations to our recipe contest winners: Donna Riedel, Jill Mallia, Mae Pitts Ledford, Bonnie Slack and Elizabeth Barnard Traviss—who each won a signed book from one of the Fab 5!!
Our December book is A Lowcountry Christmas by Mary Alice Monroe. Mark your calendars for Monday December 21st at 7pm ET for a live book discussion with Mary Alice Monroe!
We had so much fun discussing Feels like Falling with Kristy Woodson Harvey on Monday November 16th. If you missed it live, click here for the replay.
Happy Thanksgiving!
|
|
CONNECT WITH THE FRIENDS & FICTION HOST AUTHORS! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
