book Archives - Anali's Next Amendment

If you’re a food blogger or writer in the Boston area, you may have already met Richard Auffrey at a food event around the city.

He is a familiar face that I always enjoy seeing in a crowd. Richard’s blog, The Passionate Foodie, is aptly named, because as a writer, he has a true love for food and drink. He also strives to bring more inclusiveness to the food blogger community and celebrates its diversity.

I’m sure you’ll enjoy learning more about Richard as he answers questions for the second part in the interview series, You Pick Six.

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What is a favorite simple recipe to prepare at home?
I make a simple Teriyaki sauce. Simply add 7 parts Sake, 7 parts Mirin, 7 parts Soy Sauce & 1 part Sugar to a sauce pan. Bring to a boil under a medium heat, stirring constantly until all the sugar dissolves. And that’s it! Once it cools, you can bottle and refrigerate it for future use. If you want, you can also add minced garlic.

What is a favorite dessert?
I love a well made Bread Pudding, though it can’t have raisins. I think it is also a versatile dessert and I’m surprised that no bakery has chosen to specialize in Bread Pudding. Forget all these cupcake shops, give me a Bread Pudding bakery.

What is a favorite quote?
“O what an ugly sight the man who thinks he’s wise and never drinks sake!”
–Otomo no Tabito (c. 662-731)

What is a favorite food movie?
Ratatouille, the animated film about a rat who becomes a chef. Besides being a fun movie, it has so many excellent lines such as “Good food is like music you can taste, color you can smell. There is excellence all around you. You need only to be aware to stop and savor it.”

What is a favorite childhood food memory?
My mother’s Cinnamon Rolls, especially when they are still hot and fresh out of the oven. They always brought me joy and I saw them as a sign of my mother’s love. And after all these years, my mom still makes those Cinnamon Rolls, with the same recipe, and they immediately bring me back to my childhood and they also still are a sign of her love.

Tell me about your book.
Halloween Nightmare At Fenway is my third novel in the Tipsy Sensei series, which centers on a Boston-based Sake expert who learns that the supernatural creatures of Japanese folklore are real. In this latest novel, the darkest element of Japan from World War 2 spawns supernatural creatures which now threaten Boston, choosing Fenway Park during the World Series as the site of their primary threat. Nate, the Sake expert, must stop the threat, assisted by an immortal Japanese samurai and a homicide detective, a woman of color. As the novel occurs in Boston, I also mention some of my favorite restaurants. The Tipsy Sensei series is a way for me to share my passion for Sake and to tell a thrilling tale.

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Thank you so much for participating Richard!

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Photos provided by Writer Richard Auffrey.

Happy September! Since it’s the first day of a new month and back to school time, it seems like the perfect day to begin something new. You Pick Six is a new interview series where I email several questions to interesting New Englanders and let them decide the six questions that they would like to answer.

There are so many fascinating people in the New England area. With this new type of interview, I hope to learn a few things and share some of these people with you.

Let’s get this first interview started with writer Anastacia Marx de Salcedo, who has a new book out called Combat-Ready Kitchen: How the U.S. Military Shapes the Way You Eat.

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What is a favorite simple recipe to prepare at home?
I don’t have a favorite recipe; I have a favorite way—actually ways—to turn vegetables delectable, and those rely on two workhouse appliances, the toaster-oven and the blender. The toaster-oven is great for roasting. I cut all sorts of things— cauliflower, eggplant, okra, peppers, Brussel sprouts, zucchini—into bite-size chunks, toss with olive oil and sea salt, and cook at 400 °F for anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes. I serve these at parties as finger foods and people can’t stop eating them. My other infallible vegetable cookery method is a smidge more complicated, which is to braise in water or stock such standards as asparagus, broccoli, carrots, and mushrooms; make a white sauce (aka New England soul food); puree the vegetables in the blender; and then mix everything together in a soup pot. Great winter night fare!

What brings you peace every day?
Running. Laughing with my kids. Being in bed with my husband.

What is some of the best advice you’ve ever received?
When you can’t solve something, keeping reading. Thanks, Dad!

What three people do you admire most?
I admire many ordinary people, drawing from them a collection of the qualities that seem necessary to live a good life. Some of those are courage, optimism, and dedication. Personally, I’m always asking myself if I’m being a good role model for my children. If I’m behaving in a way that I’d like them to emulate, I feel good about my decisions.

What is the best meal you ever had and where was it?
Tiny, just-dug, hot potatoes sprinkled with kosher salt eaten from a plastic sandwich bag; a hard-boiled egg (undoubtedly laid that day), also with kosher salt; and sweet coffee eaten in a small, Ecuadorian mountain village at sunrise. Why was it the best? I was hungry. I was happy. It was a moment of purity.

Tell me about your book.
My book untangles the profound influence the US military has had on American food science and processed foods. If you’d told me ten years ago that I’d be writing about this topic, I would have been very surprised. But one day I started thinking about a sandwich—specifically that its components all had a rather long shelf-life—and that led me down a rabbit hole into the military’s involvement in our food system. The book’s got a lot of important 20th century food science in it, although it’s been digested by me, the ultimate layperson and written in lay terms. Writing about it made me realize how scarily little we humanities types often understand about how the material world works. Time to change that, y’all!

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Thank you so much for participating Anastacia!

{You Pick Six} An Interview with Writer: Richard Auffrey

{You Pick Six} An Interview with Writer: Anastacia Marx de Salcedo