Leah Eskin’s Slices of Life

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I just had the chance to read an advanced copy of beloved food writer Leah Eskin‘s forthcoming book SLICES OF LIFE: A Food Writer Cooks Through Many a Conundrum (Running Press, April 2014).

For a decade now Leah has contributed her everyday chronicles with accompanying recipes to her syndicated column, “Home on the Range” in the Chicago Tribune, and now readers can enjoy a collection of those columns covering everything from her early married days to parenting adolescents—and all the challenges and surprises in between.

Praise is already pouring in:

“Reading Leah Eskin’s columns one by one is a pleasure; reading this collection from start to finish is a joy. It’s also proof that the sum is much greater than the parts, even when the parts are terrific. Smart, honest, literate, funny—very funny—and packed with recipes for happy days and calamitous ones, Slices of Life is bound to find a place in your heart and your kitchen.”

 —Dorie Greenspan, author of Around My French Table 

This book bubbles over with Leah’s love of food, and her belief in the profound importance of eating—and cooking—together with family and friends. The recipes are great, too!”

—Ted Allen, host of the Food Network’s Chopped

SLICES OF LIFE is both an enchanting memoir and a cookbook, with more than 200 recipes that have taken the author from the simple Birthday Cake of her daughter’s one-year old dreams (page 11) and Best-Friend Biscuits (of the dog variety, page 21), to post-cancer Paella (page 198) and of course Emergency Pasta (page 346), for when instant gratification after a long school and work day is desperately needed.

For many, food signifies the comforts of home—family, love, warmth, and tradition. SLICES OF LIFE, featuring Leah Eskin’s quirky writing style and delectable recipes, takes ordinary life, and makes it extraordinarily delicious.

SLICES OF LIFE is an enjoyable read.  I was amused by Eskin’s wit and bookmarked more many pages for the cooking tips and recipes.  Since it’s a collection of her columns, the sections are short and easy to digest when you don’t have a lot of time to read something meatier (puns intentded!).

I liked the format of the book because of the essay content and there are more than enough recipes in it that I would prepare to make it worth the cover price.  In order for one to use it as a cookbook resource you either have to read the book through (which I suppose is the intent of publishing a book of this nature) and rely on the index; as unlike traditional cookbooks the recipes are not compiled in a grouped fashion of like foods (example, desserts, beef, chicken, pasta, etc.).

SLICES OF LIFE is available for pre-order on Kindle for $12.99 and wil be delivered on April 1, 2014 if purchased prior to publish date.

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