a read i want to highlight

frankly, i could not resist.
melanie rehak takes time to work in the kitchen of applewood restaurant in park slope, brooklyn (where she lives) and makes observations between choice and compromise all while taking the time to follow the chain of food before it gets to the restaurant.

applewood is my all time favorite restaurant.
it is where part of my journey of seasonal, local eating began.
rehak has read wendell berry and michael pollan.
again, how could i resist?!

and i think she (and the owners of applewood) strike a balance between eating with convictions (local, sustainable, seasonal) and personal reality (a picky eater that will only eat bananas for breakfast - which in ny this is not local....in case you didn't know that about the northeast). the wrestling with convictions and compromise. and i loved her adventures with the fisherman and vegetable farmers. she learned a lot and still let her child eat cheerios. that is a lady i could be friends with.

it did remind me of heat by bill buford....and yet the political drama of a kitchen, the chef personality that commanded the other chefs....was all absent. it was a pleasure to read.