Homemade Life

Homemade Life Rona Chang

I think one person has had a huge (actually gigormous) influence on me over the past year. I am going to give her some credit. Let's hear a collective round of applause for Molly Wizenberg (or you can read why's she's so amazing in my book first). Ms. Wizenberg is a regular contributing writer for Bon Appetit magazine, where I first discovered her work earlier this year. Maggie (my very nice best friend) gave me a gift subscription to BA for Christmas. I flipped through the first issue I received in the mail and thought, "Great, good recipes, I can use this." When I started reading it, I was very drawn to one particular article, one that Molly Wizenberg had written. Her style and contributing portion is to write a personal story/ experience in connection with a recipe or a food.

That particular story was about her father's love for rice pudding and how she never liked it until after he passed away. I was touched. I think I cried. In fact, I'm sure I cried. As someone who has lost her father, I really enjoyed the story about rice pudding that is (amongst other things) her connection with her father (an avid cook). Unfortunately my dad was not an avid cook. In fact, he barely had a kitchen (that's another story I will tell one day). That story stayed with me and I soon began to look forward to the issues of BA every month and read Molly's stories first.

Over the summer, I ordered A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table, Molly's first book and have been slowly savouring it ever since. She also has a popular blog, Orangette. She's been on a bit of a hiatus there though since she's busy tending to Delancey, a pizza joint her and her husband opened recently in Seattle. If Delancey were in NYC, I would be there singing her praises. Anyhow, I just wanted to share my hero, Molly Wizenberg. I hope you look her up and read some of her words. They are encouraging in a warm and open way.