Best Last Minute Shopping For Foodies and Their Significant Others: Watchung Booksellers

by Melody Kettle

Watchung Booksellers Exterior at Christmas

 

The locals know Watchung Booksellers as the community bookstore with a great selection of the latest releases and the best children’s section around, all without the door dings and parking lot scrapes associated with the big box stores. Whispers among the local foodie community refer to the Watchung Plaza shop as a Librairie Gourmande, and with good reason, but today the whispers are being replaced with shouts. WATCHUNG BOOKSELLERS IS COOKING WITH GAS!

 

To understand the cookbook sections, yes, sections, one must first understand a bit about what make this store so special. Watchung Books is locally owned and staffed by a team whose passion for the written word is a motivating force above all others. These people know books, all books.

Read More

Orange Squirrel Vincent Price Cookbook Dinner on Sunday, Nov. 4

by Melody Kettle

UPDATE: The Orange Squirrel Restaurant in Bloomfield, NJ, will pay homage to Vincent Price's legacy on Sunday, November 4, at 5 pm. 

 

Owner/Chef Francesco Palmieri resurrects a selection of frighteningly amazing dishes from A Treasury of Great Recipes by Vincent & Mary Price. Many of the restaurants referenced in the book have long since vanished, but Chef Palmieri has conjured an exclusive dinner where he will recreate six legendary dishes from these great restaurants of the world in his own style, paired with wines for $130 per person or $95 without wine.*

Read More

Top Seven Places To Read A Cookbook In And Around Montclair

by Melody Kettle

at Watchung BooksellersGet out of the kitchen! And forget the novels. Who really needs 50 Shades of Grey when you can enjoy the sybaritic pleasures of the table in public! Grab a notebook, or perhaps a stack of post-its, to make tasting notes and dive into your cookbook collection this summer.

7. Brookdale Park

This Olmstead designed county park straddles the Montclair-Bloomfield border and is host to concerts, fireworks and great art festivals. Park benches located throughout the park offer great vistas or places of quiet repose.  The park is large so there is sure to be a place that’s just right.

 

Read More

Beekman 1802 Macaroni and Cheese with Kale and Mushrooms Recipe

by Melody Kettle

The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Cookbook by Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell has become a favourite around here, so much so that in addition to writing a review I had to share one of the recipes from the book. Macaroni and Cheese with Kale and Mushrooms is true to the nature of the book as includes notes from the authors about options as well as space for our own notes and ideas to make what was passed down your very own.
Read More