In case you missed last week's announcement, the Chow Bella Book Club is reading A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg. I thought you might want to get to know the author better, so here's a few things you might not know about food writer Molly Wizenberg:
Let's learn about Wizenberg through the 5 Ws., shall we:
Who: Molly Wizenberg
What: She has quite a lot of whats, which maybe should be logged as wheres but we'll leave that for the human, Wizenberg, and not her work. That's what's I've listed here.
She writes the award-winning blog, Orangette. She has a lovely book named A Homemade Life (our current CBBC selection) and is working on a second book, Delancey. She has also been a regular contributor to Bon Appetit with the monthly feature"Cooking Life." She's also had has her work featured on NPR.org and PBS.org.
In August 2009 she opened a Brooklyn-style wood-fired pizza restaurant with her husband. It's called Delancey and the menu looks amazing. She writes on her blog (about the restaurant): "It's been insane - but mostly in a good way. I thank my lucky stars every night."
Also at Delancy, the newest venture: The Pantry at Delancey. It "is a community kitchen offering hands-on cooking classes, family-style dinners, private events and locally-sourced catering."
Additionally, she's got a great speaking voice and broadcasts her podcast, Spilled Milk, cohosted by Matthew Amster-Burton and Wizenberg. It's where you'll hear recipes and food talk, even talk about toothpaste flavors, really.
We can also follow her tweeting bits and bites over at (@mollyorangette).
Where: She's from Oklahoma, went to college in California, spent time in Paris and presently resides in Seattle.
When: She began Orangette in July 2004 upon the suggestion from a journalist friend who thought that a blog would get her closer to her dream of becoming a food writer. It worked. In 2009 Simon and Schuster published A Homemade Life and she's working on Delancey, which is on schedule for early 2013.
Why: Wizenberg lived in academia for a bit but was not settled. She has studied biology, French, and cultural anthropology. However, she decided to leave her Ph.D. program in cultural anthropology right after starting her blog in 2004. "I didn't know what to do with myself. The only thing I knew was that, whatever I did, it had to involve food and writing." And that, she did.
And now you know Molly Wizenberg a bit better.
If you still need a copy of the book, Changing Hands is offering a 20% discount this month to all Chow Bella Book Club readers; head over to Changing Hands' Chow Bella Book Club page to receive your discount. Our next Chow Bella Book Club "meeting" will be December 6th at 7 p.m. to discuss you thoughts and reaction to the 50 essays and recipes in A Homemade Life. Can't wait to "see" you there!
