Kathy’s on the new Food Network series Outchef’d, which pits home cooks against professional chefs. She’s one of the judges in the episode Maneet Chauran vs. Helena, who battle with seafood (something she rarely eats these days, but she made an exception for this!)
It’s also streaming on Amazon Prime Video (with Discovery+), Hulu Live TV and YouTube TV.
After sitting on the sidelines of a Food Network show taping (“Food Games,” in Eat, Drink & Be Wary), she’s finally made it on screen!
Questions for those who watch it: Can you tell which dish won her vote? And guess which host comment before the big reveal caused an iconic lift of an eyebrow off camera?
The Eric Hoffer Book Award honors the memory of the great American philosopher Eric Hoffer by highlighting salient writing, as well as the independent spirit of small publishers. Since its inception, the Hoffer has become one of the largest international book awards for small, academic, and independent presses.
3 PM Thurs. March 17: Kathy Biehl will be talking about restaurants longtime residents remember, including backroom shenanigans at Mariano’s in the insanity of two-for-one-happy hour days. No food or drink service. Kuby’s Sausage House & European Market, 6601 Snider Plaza.
2 PM Friday March 18: Kathy will be talking about cellular food memories, at Beckley 1115, James Beard-nominated chef Sharon van Meter’s eatery at 1115 Beckley Avenue in Oak Cliff. Food and drink service!
7 PM Saturday, March 19: Kathy is a table host at the Tables of Content fundraiser for Friends of the Southern Methodist University Libraries.
Portsmouth, NH is one of my favorite places on the planet. It’s a lovely jumble of history, artists and writers (it has a poet laureate, for cryin’ out loud!), quirky little shops and of course FOOD. Scrumptious, decently priced and varied. I spent a long weekend there in October. Here are some visual crumbs to entice you to find your own way there.
Women power sentiment at Hazel’s, where I found a coppery wrap that complements my book cover (how’s that for rationalizing!) ice cream near the harbor; hard stuff directly opposite.
Lil’s, across the bridge in Kittery, ME. A cavalcade of carbs. Ah, crullers.
Strawbery Banke is an outdoor history museum with historic buildings interpreted to various times in the community’s existence. The Marden-Abbot House recreated a 1940s food market filled with rationed goods. A time traveler from that decade sat on a bench out front crocheting and chatting with people about the market, its owner and the weather.
I’ve been travelling around northern New Jersey for Eat, Drink & Be Wary talks and signings!
July saw one under an arbor at Apple Acres in the West Milford Community Garden, the largest community garden in Passaic County. The garden was lush with fruits and herbs and vegetables, some of which overhung the table that Apple Acres’ proprietress set up for me. Of course I contrasted such a healthful setting with an excerpt from The Joy of Junk Food (of which there was an abundance, I should be ashamed to admit, on the refreshment table).
Bonnie, the author, Deb of the Circus Peanuts & Anne of Apple Acres
I returned to Lafayette in October for a Local Authors Showcase hosted by Black Dog Books.
November brought two appearances. I talked about the realities of being a food writer at the Jefferson Township Public Library and at the Boonton Books and Beyond! Festival sponsored by the Boonton Public Library. These venues had been in my flight path for decades, and it was fun showing up in author togs.
The JTPL event took me to a room I’ve frequented as attorney for the library board (with reps from my client in the audience, for a change!) and as organizer of a Summer Chillers film festival a decade or so back.
Boonton is a charming little town, with a main street on a hill lined with a jumble of Victorian houses and brick commercial buildings of varying vintage. I’ve had wide-ranging connections with the place — acting on the stage of the Darress Theater, a haunted (I have stories) former silent film/vaudeville house the town recently took over, taking architectural walking, reading cards at a now shuttered coffeehouse, indulging in comforting interior Mexican food at Chili Willie’s and my favorite margherita pizza at Top of the Park.
The streets were buzzing with people on the sidewalks when I arrived for the lunch the library was providing for presenters. Before I cleared half of my plate, a event rep warned that a rain and hail storm of Biblical proportions had broken out. With his help I was able to keep my tote bags of books from getting wet but … as the storm cleared, so did the crowds. Ah well. The basement of the Boonton Coffee Co. was a cozy setting, heavy on dog decor, for an intimate group.
At both events I read an excerpt again from The Joy of Junk Food (it’s a crowd pleaser) and threw in some Mariano’s memories for the Boonton audience, which had backgrounds in food service.
Kathy will be at Black Dog Book’s Local Author Showcase Saturday, October 16, from 1-4 PM, in the upstairs room — a former vaudeville venue! — of the Millside Cafe, 12 Morris Farm Road, Lafayette, NJ 87848. Directions.
She’s giving a talk and reading at the Jefferson Township Public Library at 2 PM Sunday, November 7. The Library is in the municipal complex at 1031 Weldon Road, Oak Ridge, NJ 07438. Directions
TBD: Kathy will be speaking to the Friends of the Southern Methodist University Library in Dallas, TX when the organization is back to in-person meetings and travel is a bit more certain.
Once a food writer, always a food writer. Note taking is an integral part of my meanderings, and cell phones make documenting finds all the easier.
A weekend at the southern edge of the Berkshires threw many culinary wonders across my path. Most of my time was in and around Hillsdale NY, where I encountered lots of folks with a style and mindset that could have come from Brooklyn or Portland. (Quite different from the wilds of northern New Jersey.)
The Crossroads Food Shop, at the center of town (basically…an intersection), warranted two breakfast visits. The open dining room is sunny and minimalist, the menu a blend of intelligent turns on pancakes and eggs (with smoked fish! kim chi!) and tauntingly tempting baked goods.
The meaning of Life, the Universe and Everything
Does this not look like a painting?
Down the road a piece, the Copake Hillsdale Farmers Market had me happily draining my bank account. Besides the usual local produce and meats, baked goods and takeaway food stalls, three vendors stood out.
Vine Gate Lavender Floral Farm waited just inside the gate with a cornucopia of lavender-stuffed and scented wares. I walked away with wool balls for the dryer, lavender-stuffed sachet bags for the dryer, dresser and pillow case, body salts and an eye pillow.
Coopers Daughter Spirits stopped traffic with infused vodkas (cacao maple went home with me), black walnut bourbon, and lilac or rose liqueur. Each was smooth and seductive. Bonus points: stark, sleek design; aging in barrels made on site at an 1805 distillery facility; and ownership by women.
With a name like TNT Bitters and dynamite packaging, how could I not strike up a conversation? The handcrafted bitters are as advertised, each awakening the tongue in distinctive ways. Espresso is the keynote of Napalm in the Morning, poblano peppers of Fire in the Hole. Smoked grapefruit goes by Pink Mist, and Alibi is aromatic and citrus. A Better Name Than Kamikaze features horseradish and ginger (which owner Anna, seen smiling below, suggested as an addition to the Party Out of Bounds signature drink, and the drink creator agreed with her idea). (He also got a dynamite sampler pack.) Plus, the humans here are so damned friendly. Anna was manning the booth with her mom, who stepped out of the way for the photo. I’ve been following them on Instagram since. And also dribbling bitters into tonic, happily.
.Exploring then took me to Great Barrington, MA, where the heavily attended farmer’s market was more for buying actual kitchen provisions. The streets were filled with delights. An ice cream parlor checking IDs, on account of cannabis within. Unicorns and happy masked bear images. Rainbow painted crosswalks. A store with vintage glassware, relocated here a few years back from NYC.
@robertlloydart on IG
My reason for being in the area? A private event with dazzling celestial decor, music-themed drinks (A Brown-Eyed Girl!) and food to match. Exhibits A and B below.
My June 1 appearance at Black Dog Books in Lafayette, NJ was a first for both of us: my first in-person reading and signing, and the store’s first in-person event since March 2020!
Longtime pal Deb Manfredonio supplied a tray of Circus Peanuts in honor of an anecdote in my bio.
Black Dog Books is not only charming and atmospheric, but fiercely supportive of local authors. The owner placed an order and scheduled the event on the spot when I handed her a review copy.
It’s in the stonewalled basement of a 19th century building, neighboring a rushing creek stocked with trout, a former vaudeville theater (#thereisnosuchthingascoincidence) and numerous historic structures now housing gift shops and eateries.
The Old Dogs Podcast interviewed me on Episode 59 of Season Three, “Taking Out the Space Trash.” (Yes. That’s the actual title. There is no such thing as coincidence.)
Hie thee here and scroll down to Episode 59. I’m at 11:45.
Or listen to my segment only.
The Old Dogs are actor-raconteurs Paul Menzel, founder of The Comedy Workshop in Houston & Austin, and Jim Conlan, prolific voice actor and longtime director of The Jung Center in Houston. (Again, there is no such thing as coincidence.) They’re great conversationalists, and I heartily recommend listening to the other episodes as well!
Circumstances constrained physical get-togethers, so off to the Interwebs it was! I celebrated the launch of my book with two online events, with people all over the US.
The first was a virtual gathering with members of the village that made Eat, Drink & Be Wary possible. Some were longtime pals, now far flung, who’d accompanied me on restaurant reviews way back when or contributed memories or quotes or ideas for my essays. Some had proofed the manuscript; two created the book’s design. Most had not seen each other in decades. A few had never met, and it was fun to watch people connecting faces and voices to names they’d been hearing from me for years. (And to watch Ben’s ever-changing Zoom backdrops — The Tardis in Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, indeed.)
Oh, and Matthew Foster (designer of this website, creator of the initial cover treatment and fellow Aquarian) demonstrated Party Out of Bounds, the Dark & Stormy-inspired cocktail he created for the book. (The recipe for it and companion snack are at the bottom of this post).
For this audience only I read the tale of my favorite restaurant review visit ever, to an ill-conceived place that opened on the brink of disaster, I believe this was my longest Zoom event yet. Three hours? Four? It didn’t matter.
The second was a special Launch Time version of the Lunchtime Story Reading for Adults that Suzanne Savoy has been curating for the Lewes Public Library in Lewes, Delaware. Twice a week from March 2020 through June 2021, the program has featured live short story readings by a dazzlingly talented stable of actors. Three did the honor of reading selections from Eat, Drink & Be Wary: Suzy, the versatile and hysterical Deborah Hope, who inhabits Lorelei Lee, and Paul Menzel, actor and founder of The Comedy Workshop.
A retired internist phoned before finishing the first entry in my book, The Cellular Memory of Food, because it set him to pondering ethical considerations in using feeding tubes at end of life. (I had nothing to contribute to the topic.)
Table For One prompted a confessional. Dining solo has not been the problem, wrote an acquaintance; her problem is with cooking. She has but two specialties, “toasty breakfast” (avocado toast with cheese, tomato, hard-boiled egg), and Sengalese peanut soup. Otherwise her capabilities are assisting the resident cook by making pots of coffee, chopping vegetables, and washing dishes.
Peanut soup? I asked for the recipe. It includes ginger root and cilantro, two of my favorite food groups. Let me know if you try it.
My piece about pasties in New Jersey stirred the Upper Michigan Peninsula roots of my friend David, who posed as my husband in the gay bar. He pointed me to pasty central online, as well as musings about the Upper Peninsula’s obsession with the hand-held pie. That article not only explains the food’s Cornish origins, but also a tradition I hadn’t encountered, tossing crusts aside in mines to placate goblins.
He also sent a photo of him reading my book in Puerto Vallarta, alongside a libation he continues to insist was lemonade.
The Martha and Me piece inspired my college advisor to send a Martha Stewart holiday program for PBS in the 1980s. Ever so young and close to her modeling looks, with hints of vocal mannerisms that now define her. Also, my prof friend claimed to have already made my Martha-inspired brownie recipe twice.
And Ben, my companion for restaurant visits behind so many of my rants, sent this photo of alcohol in the wild, with the comment “Not entirely sure where that apostrophe goes …”
