Product Description

In this delightful sequel to her bestseller Tender at the Bone, Ruth Reichl returns with more tales of love, life, and marvelous meals. Comfort Me with Apples picks up Reichl’s story in 1978, when she puts down her chef’s toque and embarks on a career as a restaurant critic. Her pursuit of good food and good company leads her to New York and China, France and Los Angeles, and her stories of cooking and dining with world-famous chefs range from the madcap to the sublime. Throughout it all, Reichl makes each and every course a hilarious and instructive occasion for novices and experts alike. She shares some of her favorite recipes, while also sharing the intimacies of her personal life in a style so honest and warm that readers will feel they are enjoying a conversation over a meal with a friend.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #73652 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04-09
• Released on: 2002-04-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 302 pages

From Amazon.com
Ruth Reichl's first book, the autobiographical Tender at the Bone, disarmed readers with its droll candor. The former restaurant critic of The New York Times and editor in chief of Gourmet magazine told great stories about growing up and loving food. Comfort Me with Apples begins where the first book ended, tracing Reichl's evolution from chef to food writer while detailing the dissolution of her first marriage, the start of a second, and motherhood at the age of 40. The book also limns a sensual journey, Reichl's awakening to the pleasures of sex as well as food, and also to love. Reichl interweaves her diverse coming-of-age narratives with passion (especially on the subject of food), wit, and a no-nonsense grace, all of which add up to a wonderful read--entertaining, but moving, too.

The story begins when Reichl, living in a '70s Berkeley commune, gets her first real job as a restaurant reviewer. Despite the incredulity of her in-the-movement roommates ("You're going to spend your life telling spoiled, rich people where to eat?" asks one), Reichl persists, traveling widely to polish her palate. In the doing she meets food luminaries such as Wolfgang Puck (a mad encounter in a produce market), M.F.K. Fisher (lunch and sweet reminiscences), and Alice Waters (a garlic feast), among others. Her trip to China, which includes clandestine dealings with a former chef, is particularly well handled. The ungluing of her first marriage is depicted in adroit emotional counterpoint to her soaring career, as is her discovery of love with her second husband, unspooled against her father's death. Reichl also provides recipes, such as Fall Mushroom Soup (made to comfort herself and her mother) that, unexpectedly and delightfully, deepen the narrative. --Arthur Boehm

From Publishers Weekly
In this follow-up to the excellent memoir Tender at the Bone, Reichl (editor-in-chief at Gourmet) displays a sure hand, an open heart and a highly developed palate. As one might expect of a celebrated food writer, Reichl maps her past with delicacies: her introduction to a Dacquoise by a lover on a trip to Paris; the Dry-Fried Shrimp she learned to make on a trip to China, every moment of which was shared with her adventurous father, ill back home, in letters; the Apricot Pie she made for her first husband as their bittersweet marriage slowly crumbled; the Big Chocolate Cake she made for the man who would become her second, on his birthday. Recipes are included, but the text is far from fluffy food writing. Never shying from difficult subjects, Reichl grapples masterfully with the difficulty of ending her first marriage to a man she still loved, but from whom she had grown distant. Perhaps the most beautifully written passages here are those describing Reichl and her second husband's adoption and then loss of a baby whose biological mother handed over her daughter, then recanted before the adoption was final. This is no rueful read, however. Reichl is funny when describing how the members of her Berkeley commune reacted to the news that she was going to become a restaurant reviewer ("You're going to spend your life telling spoiled, rich people where to eat too much obscene food?"), and funnier still when pointing out the pompousness of fellow food insiders. Like a good meal, this has a bit of everything, and all its parts work together to satisfy. (on sale Apr. 10) Forecast: Even more appetizing than Tender at the Bone, this volume is bound to visit bestseller lists.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This delightful memoir, written by the editor of Gourmet and former restaurant critic at the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, picks up where her first best-selling work, Tender at the Bone, left off. Readers and fans who hankered to learn the details of her coveted career now get them and then some. This book reads like a well-edited and quite romantic film, full of hard work, good luck, love, joy, pain, travel, celebrity chefs, and always fine cuisine. The recipes (for the most part, quite replicable) are reminiscent of flashbacks in a movie, loaded with visual memory. Elegant description captures the imagination, tempts the palate, and illustrates Reichl's well-deserved reputation as a food writer. Highly recommended for all public libraries and culinary collections.
- Wendy Miller, Lexington P.L., KY
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Reichl imparts hope and inspiration
This book is beautifully written. The honesty with which Reichl shares the joys and pains of her early professional career, and her ongoing exploration of food and of herself, will offer comfort, hope and inspiration to any reader, regardless of their understanding or passion for food. This is a book that reaches beyond the kitchens' of "foodies" and into all of our lives to offer us an outlet to contemplate the place of confusion, pain, and longing that so often co-exist along side happiness, excitement and fulfillment. Through Reichl's writing, readers are offered an example of how to look inwards at ourselves, and outward at the world, with compassion.

Well, at least she cooks
Tender at the Bone was a good book. Comfort Me with Apples was not. I finished Bone wanting more, and finished Apples wishing I'd stopped after one course.

appetizer not a main course
This book, which I gave one star simply for the delicious recipes it provided, was an evocative read. The smells and tastes of the various dishes prepared and consumed float off the page. This sequel to "Tender at the Bone" finds Reichl continuing to review restaurants, as well as deal with her demanding mother. She's also good at describing the characters she met while touring restaurants. However, while I admire her for her willingness to try any dish (even armadillo!), I wish less had been in about her various affairs. While I may be overly judgmental, I found her ruminations about her love life distracting and irritating. While the author is an adult, I just felt like she should have concentrated more on her professional life. When she sticks to food, Reichl is on more secure footing, I think. When she is wondering about her lovers, the book takes on a more teen magazine feel.

However, I had to hand it to her when she finally decides to stop being manipulated by her mother. That description, short as it was, was priceless. No more pussycat, for her!