Thank You: David Whitney, Marriott, and Detroit

The two novels I've written are fiction, but like many--most?--fiction writers, I draw from life experience to create mood, scenes, and characters. There is a scene, though, in The Forager Chefs Club that goes beyond this to being nearly autobiographical. It involves fire, a mother and child, and a father's frantic race to the hospital. I was reminded of it--in a good way--during my most recent trip to my home state of Michigan.  

When I was eight years old, we had a fire on Mother's Day involving our backyard hibachi grill. I won't go into details here, but several months later I walked with my parents and two sisters into the lobby of the grandest building I'd ever seen. It was the David Whitney Building in downtown Detroit, and as we walked to the elevator on the far side of the lobby I cast my gaze up, up and up along fluted pillars and gold decorative scrolling, past railings and office doors on higher floors, to arches and windows that let in beams of sunlight. I could hear the click, click, click of ladies' high heels on the marble floor and I just knew that any doctor who could afford to have an office in such a beautiful building had to be a very good doctor who could help my sister.

Copyright: Romain Meffre & Yves Marchand

And that's why the pediatrician in The Forager Chefs Club is named David Whitney.

It broke my heart to see photos of the abandoned and dilapidated David Whitney Building in a book during a foraging trip to Asheville, North Carolina in 2011. That such a beautiful building had been left to decay seemed to speak volumes about the city where I was born--once so strong, the "renaissance" promised in the 1970s still not realized.

And yet.

Detroit is seeing a renaissance, and the David Whitney Building has been restored to its original glory and is now part of Marriott's Autograph Collection.

That hotel is where my husband and I stay when we're in Detroit. (Go Tigers!!)

On my most recent stay, I left a signed copy of The Forager Chefs Club in the lobby bookcase. It looks at home there.

As I say often in my novel, there are a lot of ways to forage forest-to-fork and farm-to-fork, and the foragers I depict are always careful to not take too much from any one place--harvesting while not destroying beauty and bounty. There was beauty and bounty in Detroit at one time, followed by decades of decline. I am so heartened to see my home city of Detroit (my day-TWA) truly growing and thriving again. 

I'll be in Michigan in mid-August! If you're in the neighborhood, please join me for a book signing at the Island Book Store on Mackinac Island on Monday, August 11, and at the Grand Chateau Winery in Traverse City--home of the Ship of Fools white wine featured in The Forager Chefs Club--on Wednesday, August 13.

As always, I welcome foodies and others who love forest-to-fork and farm-to-fork cooking to pick up a copy of The Forager Chefs Club! I love to meet with book clubs--either in person or via Zoom--so let me know about yours!

The Ladies of the Book Club

Last week I met with a book club for the first time since the October publication of The Forager Chefs Club. My friend and amazing professional photographer, Mary Ford Parker, arranged for The Forager Chefs Club to be the January read for her book club and invited me to her home to meet the ladies and answer their questions. I was delighted to accept but, I will admit, more than a little apprehensive. What if they didn't like my book or worse, couldn't even manage to get all the way through it? 

My first hint that I needn't worry was when Mary asked if I had any additional hardcover copies on hand that I could bring. On the appointed morning, I packed up a box of books, tasseled bookmarks, and a couple of Sharpies. I took a deep breath and headed to my car. 

In a nutshell, the time I spent with these nine ladies was amazing and humbling. In true forest-to-fork, farm-to-fork fashion, Mary prepared a brunch spread of foraged delights harvested from her garden and the farmers markets before the cold weather settled in. My favorite was the poached pears with dried fruit in a marvelous, light syrup. In true The Forager Chefs Club fashion, she had three ingredient exceptions that made up her light, moist muffins. 

The ladies and I talked about how my characters came into being, the arc of the plot, "deleted scenes", what forest-to-fork encompasses, and more. I loved hearing which character they had rooted to win the competition--it was a good mix!--and how the book inspired them to perhaps try some new foraged ingredients in their own kitchens once winter lets loose its hold.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Mary Parker, Alice Knudsen, Tricia O'Connell, Kelly Bradley, Kathy Murphy, Mary Ann Glennon, Sharon Rindfleisch, Isabel Fiolek, and Lucinda Michell. You have no idea what your generous welcome meant to me. 

For anyone else who is part of a book club, please consider adding The Forager Chefs Club to your reading list! I'd love to join you--either in person or virtually--to answer any questions you may have about it and share the love of local, seasonal living through farm-to-fork and forest-to-fork cooking and eating!

And for those of you in the northern Virginia area, I'll be at the Williams Gap Vineyard for their Book Fair on Saturday, January 25th from noon to 4 pm. What could be better than award-winning wine and reading?

Meeting Inspiration Face-to-Face

For my birthday, I got to meet the creator of my inspiration. 

In the Acknowledgements section of my novel, The Forager Chefs Club, I share that the idea for the book came from a dinner my husband, Tim, and I shared during a 2019 trip to Quebec City and the restaurant Légende. The ethos of Légende is "A tribute to our ancestors. A return to our roots. A thought on culinary history, from the first nations to today." This takes forest-to-fork, farm-to-fork, and foraging to a completely elevated level. It was during that 2019 dinner that, upon learning there was nothing in the kitchen that could not be sourced within 50 miles of it, Tim and I talked about what a unique cooking competition it would be to have it limited to only what was seasonal and locally sourced. A true foraging adventure. And the idea for The Forager Chefs Club was born.

Tim and I visited Quebec City for my Winter Solstice birthday this past month and were delighted to learn that Légende not only survived Covid, but is thriving and still "highlighting the richness of Quebec's regions, offering a creative and original tasting approach that celebrates our terroir." We booked a table for my birthday, and I brought two copies of my novel, hoping I might have the opportunity to meet the creative genius behind Légende, Chef Elliot Beaudoin.

Our five-course dinner was inventive, beyond delicious, and with surprising details – coal-seared halibut, for instance! The bison hanger steak with a honey and smoked tomato glaze, fermented sunchokes, and a boreal spices broth was one of the best main courses I've ever had the pleasure to eat. One of the most inventive courses was dessert, which featured boreal "chocolate": a charcoal tomato and cranberry concoction that I swear to you tastes like a fruity chocolate mousse.  "Boreal" features strongly in the Légende cuisine – forest-to-fork ingredients specific to the temperate forested region south of the Arctic circle.

Chef Elliot's cuisine is minimalism with finesse. It looks like art and tastes heavenly. I got to meet Chef near the end of our meal when he was able to spare a few minutes from his very busy kitchen. It was definitely the highlight of my birthday! He was gracious and engaging and seemed truly interested in the copy of The Forager Chefs Club that I brought him. (The second copy I brought went to our server, Max, who had asked to read a few pages.) 

My first meal at Légende inspired me to write The Forager Chefs Club. My second meal there, and meeting its amazing chef in person, has inspired me to share my novel's core message of foraging, cooking, and eating seasonally and locally with as many people as I can. If you share that ethos or want to explore it, I hope you'll consider spending some time with The Forager Chefs Club. 

And I heartily recommend a visit to Quebec City and Légende! I know that Tim and I will be back.