Monday, February 25, 2013

Reading Challenges: Life From Scratch


Title: Life From Scratch
Author: Melissa Ford
Genre: Foodie

When Rachel Goldman finds herself newly divorced and living off her savings while taking a year sabbatical to find herself, she quickly learns that she needs a new focus in life, and that eating in and ordering out are a thing of her past budget. Unfortunately Rachel grew up with a mother who is strictly anti-everything that would be considered "women's work", especially cooking, which left Rachel with literally no knowledge of how to use a bunt pan or spatula.
Rachel launches her blog, Life from Scratch: blogging about life one scrambled egg at a time.

Melissa Ford digs into the story by describing a nightmare Rachel has in which Martha Stewart, June Cleaver, Bree Van De Kamp, and Marion Cunningham star.
"They hadn't really noticed me lounging around by the sink until I pointed out what a waste of time it would be to pit your own cherries when there were perfectly decent ones that you could get in a can when June Cleaver tuned with a maniacal gleam in her eye and started beating me on the face and shoulders with her flour-dusted rolling pan.
Just imagine what she would have done to me if I had suggested frozen pie crust."

I cracked up remembering how in my early years of cooking I had my nieces over for a slumber party. We made a run to the grocery store for supplies and when I neatly grabbed a box of waffle mix off the shelf and suggested it for breakfast my oldest niece nearly fainted with horror. That was my first experience making waffles the Betty Crocker Way, and I've never gone back.

The book is a little bit blog, a little bit foodie, and a little bit divorce survival, with a lot of irony at the end.