Once again, I’m coming in late (ish) for both Cook the Books and Movies & Munchies. I really don’t know where the summer is going.

Family Tree by Susan Wiggs is the June/July selection for Cook the Books. Claudia of Honey From Rock is hosting. You can read her announcement post here.

About the book:

Annie Harlow knows how lucky she is. The producer of a popular television cooking show, she loves her handsome husband and the beautiful Los Angeles home they share. And now, she’s pregnant with their first child. But in an instant, her life is shattered. And when Annie awakes from a yearlong coma, she discovers that time isn’t the only thing she’s lost.

Grieving and wounded, Annie retreats to her old family home in Switchback, Vermont, a maple farm generations old. There, surrounded by her free-spirited brother, their divorced mother, and four young nieces and nephews, Annie slowly emerges into a world she left behind years ago: the town where she grew up, the people she knew before, the high-school boyfriend turned judge. And with the discovery of a cookbook her grandmother wrote in the distant past, Annie unearths an age-old mystery that might prove the salvation of the family farm.

Family Tree is the story of one woman’s triumph over betrayal, and how she eventually comes to terms with her past. It is the story of joys unrealized and opportunities regained. Complex, clear-eyed and big-hearted, funny, sad, and wise, it is a novel to cherish and to remember.

About the author:

Susan Wiggs’s life is all about family, friends…and fiction. She lives at the water’s edge on an island in Puget Sound, and in good weather, she commutes to her writers’ group in a 21-foot motorboat. She’s been featured in the national media, including NPR, PRI, and USA Today, has given programs for the US Embassies in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, and is a popular speaker locally, nationally, internationally, and on the high seas.

From the very start, her writings have illuminated the everyday dramas of ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances. Her books celebrate the power of love, the timeless bonds of family and the fascinating nuances of human nature. Today, she is an international best-selling, award-winning author, with millions of copies of her books in print in numerous countries and languages. According to Publishers Weekly, Wiggs writes with “refreshingly honest emotion,” and the Salem Statesman Journal adds that she is “one of our best observers of stories of the heart [who] knows how to capture emotion on virtually every page of every book.” Booklist characterizes her books as “real and true and unforgettable.”

The author is a former teacher, a Harvard graduate, an avid hiker, an amateur photographer, a good skier and terrible golfer, yet her favorite form of exercise is curling up with a good book. She lives on an island in Puget Sound, where she divides her time between sleeping and waking. Find out more about Susan and her books here.

What I thought:

This is a great summer (or fall) read. I really enjoyed the majority of the book but the final section left me wanting. Wanting I don’t know what. It’s a predictable book but the characters kept me interested and going.

On page two Annie and Martin (the beautiful husband mentioned in the blurb above) have a fight over a Buffalo. Annie just concedes but honestly, I don’t know that it was a knock down drag out. Maybe Annie is just used to it. Anyway, I didn’t think it was something that needed flowers sent as an apology or an impromptu studio visit to fix the relationship. It’s quite obvious that Martin does have things to feel guilty for though. Ironically, Annie’s pop-in at the set to make things right, thank him for the flowers and announce some special news has a number of disastrous results.

Not a spoiler, but the reader can see what’s coming. Martin is a louse; Fletcher (HS boyfriend) is waiting for her at home. Know that there’s lots of drama, angst and twists along the way.

Another episode I just didn’t get was Annie’s mother apologizing to Fletcher. She makes it sound like she was instrumental in their initial break up. (If I missed something in the reading, please set me straight.)

I did like how Wiggs used flashbacks and different POVs from the key characters to tell this tale. Wiggs also uses food to chronicle Annie’s journey back to health. Annie thinks about food memories as she tries to unscramble her brain and one of the first memories involves scrambled eggs.

 It was important to avoid beating them into a uniform homogenous liquid; instead, they should be stirred gently with a fork in order for all the eggs to retain their character. Add a big pinch of salt and a small pinch of pepper. Warm the butter in the pan without letting it turn brown. The moment the butter starts to foam, pour in the eggs. Count slowly to ten and then scramble them gently with a wooden spatula. While the eggs are still moist—but not wet—remove the pan from the heat. Serve on a warm plate with buttered toast. (101)

I love this tip!

Also, it’s been a while since I read the book, so I didn’t really remember her grandmother’s long lost cookbook being a catalyst for Annie’s new life and the “salvation of the family farm” (again from the above blurb). Since I actually had it read by the end of June but I’m just now getting the post together, let me know if I missed something.

I would not be opposed to reading more about Switchback, Vermont. That being said, I could totally see Wiggs elaborating on some of the characters. (In fact, I sometimes thought there were too many characters.) I would love to read a prequel about the parents. Family Tree is actually the second in Wiggs’ Vermont series. The first is The Key Ingredient and chronicles Annie and Martin’s courtship. I’m not sure I’ll pick that one up since Martin is such a turd.

The Food:

Food abounds in this novel. There’s the handsome chef, the cooking show, and Annie’s recipes.  Of course the Buffalo Mozzarella starts Annie’s life spiraling and the maple syrup of her hometown helps her find her footing again.  Maple syrup has to be the “Key Ingredient” in the book. Here’s a list of the other food in the novel.

• Iced Maple Pecan Cookie
• Cheddar, Apple, Beer soup (locally sourced cheddar, apples, cider and beer)
• Salted Maple Shortbread Cookie
• Margherita Pizza
• Scrambled Eggs
• Pancakes that bring her appetite back (with maple syrup)
• Lady Baltimore Cupcakes
• Cuban sandwiches
• Thanksgiving meal delivered: Turkey brined in maple syrup and roasted with sage butter, sweet potato hushpuppies with sriracha ketchup, wild mushroom and walnut dressing, garlic mashed potatoes and gravy, brandied cranberry compote, pumpkin pie in a maple pecan shell.
• Duck confit sandwiches with Stilton or smoked cheddar on brioche with caramelized red onions, grilled goat cheese, crunchy duck cracklings, sweet rocket, Dijon and truffle honey.
• Sautéed hen-of-the-woods mushrooms over hummus seasoned with coriander.
• Tomato tart with caramelized onions and shavings of fennel
• Pear-and-apple compote drizzled with butterscotch sauce (from coconut milk)
• Blueberry muffins
• Lasagna with homemade noodles, bread with rosemary, Tarte Tatin, salads, drinks with homemade maple syrup flavored berry extracts, strawberry-rhubarb cordial (as she reclaimed her life)
• Raspberry-almond butter horns
• Sugar Rush old-fashion (made with barrel-aged maple syrup)
• Boxed mac ‘n cheese, white wine, a handful of cherry tomatoes and basil
• Maple-walnut ice cream
• Mint martinis, a tomato tart with Cabot cheese, buttery lady peas with charred onions, and huckleberries with crème fraiche flavored with Frangelico
• Pate a choux and croquembouche

There is just so much to make here. I was drawn to the hummus and mushrooms, the old fashions, and the cheddar-apple-beer soup. In the end though, I decided to do my own riff on that boxed mac ‘n cheese dinner she makes (with Fletcher, as I recall). Because that boxed mac ‘n cheese became a romantic dinner, I halved this recipe to include only two.