My Kitchen Year - Ruth Reichl

I came to Ruth Reichl and her books a bit backwards.  I first read her recent work of fiction, Delicious, which I reviewed here.  And I have it on my to-read-list to go back and read her other books. However, My Kitchen Year came across recently when checking in books and I dragged it home.  

This book hits many of my 'buttons' - in a good way.

First of, it's a 'year in the life of' book, which I really enjoy.  Secondly, it's filled with recipes and the stories behind them, another favorite of mine.  Third, it's written and photographed like you are peeking into her life and/or journal, getting the real story of Ruth Reichl.

Reichl starts her story just as her 10 years as editor of Gourmet magazine was abruptly ended.  Overnight she went from being the head of a well-known magazine to being unemployed.  This was the fall of 2009.

She writes 'seasonally' and includes recipes which mean a lot to her past and how they 'saved' her during the year when she was adjusting to no longer having a job.  Filled with snatches of handwriting, like it is pulled from her journal and pictures of both food and scenes from every day life, this is a book to savor.  So much so, I keep renewing it so I don't have to rush through it.

By the way, I just flipped the book open to her banana bread recipe and I have some ripe bananas begging to be used.