Reading and Eating with Germaine
What we are currently reading and eating, and thinking about reading and eating...
Hello and happy Friday!
While we’re between episodes (next one comes out on August 26), We thought it would be fun to write about the things we’re cooking, reading and loving. Today it’s Germaine’s turn, Sophie is next and then we’ve invited some of our favourite writers to share theirs.
Letters for the podcast!
We’d love to hear from you with a letter we can read out on the pod and ‘prescribe’ something to eat and something to read. You can be anonymous or not. You can send the letter via DM or email (sophie_hansen@me.com) and if you feel like it, you can send in as a voice memo that we would love to include.
If we read your letter on the pod, you receive a case of wine from our special friends at @singlevineyards.
Your support
Means so much to us. The podcast and some newsletters will always be free to access for all, but if you’d like to become a paid subscriber ($5/month) you will receive all our podcast show notes and recipes (including one for the meatballs pictured above and the quick chicken dinner Germaine mentions below). To sign up, please click on the button below.
Ok..on to this week’s newsletter.
Germaine’s Something to Eat and Something to Read questionnaire!…
What was the last book that you read and LOVED! And why?
My choice is the classic case of the right book at the right time - bibliotherapy in action! I loved Anne Tyler’s latest novel, French Braid. If you love books about families and the transitions a family goes through as children become adults, then I recommend this one. If you are already an Anne Tyler fan (this is her 24th book) you will again be delighted with her ability to show the extraordinary in the ordinary lives of her characters. This book was particularly poignant at this time of transition in my own life with my oldest away at university. The dynamics are changing, but I found much solace in Tyler’s words. When one character asks his wife the name of the French braid their daughter used to have, “and when she undid them, her hair would still be in ripples, little leftover squiggles, for hours and hours afterward”, he continues on: “that’s how families work, too. You think you’re free of them, but you’re never really free; the ripples are crimped in forever.”
What was the last meal you paid for or made and LOVED? And why?
We met up with another couple for dinner in the area of Sydney we lived when our kids were small last weekend. It was a seafood restaurant called Fich, owned and run by a Portuguese family. I first went there before the pandemic began and it was a relief to see it’s still going and thriving. We shared plates, including prawn rissoles made by the owner’s mother-in-law, so you could say it was homemade! Our friends haven’t left the area and when we are together, I often wonder what it would have been like to stay there as well. This always takes me back to a book I read when we first moved to a bigger house in the suburbs. It’s from The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank: “I sat out on the porch drinking another glass of wine, listening to the crickets and the occasional car. It occurred to me that the quiet in the suburbs had nothing to do with peace.” Our move happened as my children entered middle childhood and were heading towards adolescence. The quietness of our new street, such a contrast to the hustle and bustle (and plane noise) of our last address, was not at all psychologically peaceful for me at that time. Last weekend’s dinner reminded me of that difficult transition and also the ways it was overcome and welcomed. We became a family just near Fich restaurant, but grew up somewhere else…
What’s your go-to comfort read?
At this middle stage of my life, I have go-to comfort authors! I found Dani Shapiro’s memoir Devotion at a time when I felt quite lost. In this book, she explores the existential crisis she experienced in her 40s and the search for meaning that followed. When I read “I had reached the middle of my life and knew less than I ever had before”, I knew I had found someone who could share some wisdom.
What’s your go-to comfort food?
Nigella’s meatballs. It’s been our family’s comfort food for years (recipe first given to me by the friend I dined with at Fich!). I think it’s the milk added to the sauce that sets it apart from other spaghetti meatball recipes (would that be right, Sophie?!). It became a Monday night staple nearly 10 years ago when kids had different activities and were home at different times but I was determined for us to continue eating together as a family, even if it was a late dinner. With this dish that would be bubbling away on the stove, it was always ready to go as soon as soccer training ended. It became known as Mincemeat Mondays, but now I may randomly bring it out on a Wednesday when someone is looking for comfort!
A cookbook you are actually cooking out of at the moment?
Truly, it’s Sophie’s In Good Company! More specifically, on Sunday night, we had the Soboro Don that has become a family favourite. So much so, that while talking to my daughter on the phone as her brother made it, she asked me to send her a photo of the recipe so she can also make it in her kitchen at college.
You get to invite 4 of your favourite writers over for dinner, who are they and what will you cook them?
Geraldine Brooks - I am reading Horse at the moment, and I am marvelling at how quickly she has me completely lost in 1800s Kentucky and modern-day Washington. As we know from the podcast, I am not a huge historical fiction fan and I am also not into horses so how has she managed to have me so enthralled in this world that I am losing sleep?! I have also been listening to her recent interviews while on book tour here and would love to hear more of her stories over dinner.
Rumaan Alam - Another writer who gets me involved in their books from the first page. He is such an observer of human nature, I would love to hear more of those observations over a meal.
Maggie O’Farrell - An author I have loved since she wrote her first book After You’d Gone in 2000 and have read every book since. A mutual love of her books has consolidated one of my strongest friendships. In fact, I remember loaning After You’d Gone to another friend and said that if she didn’t love it, it may damage our friendship. Thankfully she did. (And Sophie, I think one of the first times we met I told you about her memoir I Am I Am I Am, which you read and loved. Phew!) Even though Maggie is now venturing into the historical fiction genre with Hamnet (which was beautifully and sensitively done) and The Marriage Portrait which is coming out next month, I am staying loyal. I may want to ask her more about this genre decision over dinner …
Alexander McCall Smith - As a critic once wrote, “There’s wisdom in inviting readers into a world of kindness, gentility and creature comforts; the literary equivalent of herbal tea and a cosy fire.” I think he would entertain us all with his vast literary and philosophical knowledge, which he wears so lightly. He may also stop the dinner conversation from getting too serious as I imagine he is quite the bon vivant and doesn’t every dinner party need one of those?
Ok, I now have all these people around my kitchen table, and I want to be talking to them about books and life, not trying to follow a recipe in the kitchen! I also want everyone to feel comfortable, given none of us know each other, so perhaps I would go with a communal meal. The most success I have had with this in the past has been another recipe of Sophie’s from Good Company - Lamb Rogan Josh. It can all be prepared beforehand (in fact the meat needs to marinate overnight), and I can buy the roti and pappadams, and other sides/extras, which means little work for me and lots of time with the company. I cooked this curry for a friend’s birthday dinner for 8, and everyone loved the “curry night” theme alongside how good it tasted. It’s become my group cooking solution. Thanks Soph!
Soboro don
This is a really simple recipe from the Spring chapter of In Good Company and one that everyone always loves. I serve it poke-bowl style so everyone can make up their own, which kids particularly love, with the chicken, a cucumber salad, carrot salad, sushi rice, omelette strips and spring onions in separate bowls.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Something to Eat and Something to Read to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.