A Conversation with Author Molly Wizenberg
Q: Can you tell us a bit in regards to your life since publishing A Homemade Life? Have there been any special projects, meals, or recipes? Does Seattle still feel like home for both you and Brandon?
A: It’s been busy around here, to say the least! In August of 2009, Brandon and I opened a restaurant. It’s called Delancey, and it’s in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. It’s a Brooklynstyle wood-fired pizzeria, inspired by all the outstanding pies that Brandon grew up eating in New York and New Jersey. A restaurant is in all probability the last thing that anybody expected of us, given that Brandon is a musician by training, and that I’ve written rather a bit regarding how much I dislike (!) working in a restaurant kitchen, but what may you do? He makes a killer pizza. I’m so proud of him.
Q: Do you still take pleasure in writing your blog, Orangette? Has it changed since you begun it in 2004?
A: I love writing for the blog. Probably more than ever, actually. The blog is where I may be the most spontaneous in my writing, where I may actually play. It’s also an unbelievable community. I’m continually blown away by the conversations that crop up in comments, by the people that I’ve met, by the way it has wholly reshaped my life over the past six years. It sounds cheesy, but I mean each word.
Q: At your book events or through your blog, do readers ever portion their own feed stories with you? Does one of these stand out in particular?
A: Absolutely. Talking with readers and hearing their stories has been my bestloved percentage of book events. When I write, I feel as altho I’m having a speech with my readers–only, the thing is, I never in truth get to see their faces or listen their voices. Book events give me that chance, and I’m so thankful for it. The fact that feed gives us a mutual ground to meet on, that it gives us something to share–that’s what it’s all about. Now I’m genuinely sounding cheesy.
Q: Does Paris carry on to be a particular place for you? Have you been back since the publication of your book?
A: Paris will always be a particular place for me. I haven’t been back since the book came out–this year was so busy!–but Brandon and I are hoping to steal away for a trip sometime in 2010. I miss it.
Q: List three items that are in your refrigerator right now, and what significance they have for you.
A: Peanut butter–it’s not glamorous, but I could eat it each day. I’m gorgeous sure my body is at least 75 percent peanut butter.
Maple syrup–this queer jug of syrup was given to me by one of my readers. It came from her trees in upstate New York, and it’s fantastic. I don’t think there could perhaps be a better present than maple syrup from your very own trees.
Apples from the farmers’ market–one of the best constituents of living in Washington! There’s one stand in queer that has a large total of heirloom apples, and they have the best names. Right now, I’ve got a couple of Black Twigs, one Gold Rush, and a couple of Waltanas.
Q: In A Homemade Life you write with regards to both of your parents, but there seem to be more stories with regards to your father and his outsized personality. Is there a reason for this?
A: I necessitated to write when it comes to my father. There were so galore details and moments and stories that made up who he was to me, and I didn’t want to forget. I necessitated to write regarding him to make sure myself that I would remember. But I also necessitated to write regarding him so that I could commence to let go of some of the harder moments of his sickness and his death. In putting them down on paper, I got to take them out of my head and store them someplace else. I didn’t know it until I was deep into the book, but I still had a lot of grieving to do, and writing helped me to do it.
Q: Has your kinship with your mother changed in the years since the death of your father?
A: We were always close, and we still are. But we’ve become more intentional in regards to spending time together. It’s not easy, since we live far apart, but each year, the two of us go away together, just for a few days, and do lots of eating and drinking and catching up.
Q: From potato salad to Christmas cookies to Hoosier Pie, in the book you describe a good deal of recipes that are traditions in your family. Have you and Brandon developed any new conventional recipes?
A: We ‘re still finelooking fixated on Hoosier Pie, to tell you the truth! Old traditions die hard–or nevertheless the saying goes. But we’re making new ones, too. Slowly but surely I’ve taken to making the same chocolate layer cake for our birthdays each year, and I get irrationally excessively affected emotionally with regards to it. I’m still working on the frosting, though. Maybe this will be my lucky year.
Q: What is your opinion of the slow feed motion in this country? Do you believe it is on the rise? How do you think the current economy has or will affect it?
A: Anything that inspires humans to eat more real feed and less processed food, to find pleasure in cooking and sharing food, is a great thing.
Q: What are you working on now? Do you have plans to write another book?
A: Well, I’m into my third year of writing a on a monthly basis column for Bon Appétit and my sixth year at Orangette, both of which keep me busy! I’m also the de facto manager / wineglass polisher / baseboard scrubber / errand runner / CFO of Delancey, and that keeps me even busier. (Or crazier, depending on your point of view.) But I do want to write another book, and getting a commence on that is my goal for 2010. Fingers crossed. <hr noshade="noshade" size="1" class="content" /
From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. Wizenberg’s debut shares the same basic format as her Orangette blog—favorite recipes interspersed with personal reflection—but constructed around a much tighter family narrative. Memories of her father, for example, commence with his cherished formula for potato salad and an try to recreate his French toast, but also include a variation on scrambled eggs that spurred a comforting moment as he was dying of cancer. The second half of the essay focuses on her blossoming kinship with Brandon, who started out as a fan of the blog, became a long-distance boyfriend and at last moved to Seattle and married her—of course, she shares the recipes for the pickled carrots they served at the wedding as well as the chocolate cake she baked for dessert. Though there is an special importance and significance on desserts, the recipes cover a assortment of meals, none beyond the range of an standard cook, and Wizenberg’s directions are laced with a charming voice that strikes a neat remainder with the reflective passages. Her strong personality stands out among her generation’s culinary voices. (Mar.)
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About the AuthorMolly Wizenberg is a freelance feed writer and the creator of the award-winning blog Orangette. She is a regular contributor to Bon AppÉtit, and her writing has been featured on NPR.org and PBS.org and has been praised in The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, and The Seattle Times. Wizenberg has degrees in humane biology, French, and cultural anthropology, but in 2005, she left the world of academia to write full-time.
At Molly’s table