A Lesson Learned from Judith Olney originally published on Food and Fond Memories on January 26, 2010 by sandyaxelrod Leave a Comment (Edit)
A Lesson Learned from Judith Olney
Last week a friend called to let me know about an event at the Society of the Four Arts that she knew I would be interested in. It was called “Writing about food with Judith Olney” and she was right I wanted to attend. We went there together this morning and we were welcomed to an intimate gathering of foodies from our area.
Me with James Beard Award Winning Cookbook Author Judith Olney
The speaker Judith Olney is the author of many cookbooks including Summer Food, Comforting Food (which she would have preferred to title Winter Food), Judith Olney on Bread and The Farm Market Cookbook. The best-selling chocolate cookbook of all time with the most fabulous pictures, The Joy of Chocolate and her book Entertainments both won James Beard Tastemaker awards. Her articles have appeared in Gourmet, Conde Nast’s Traveler, House Beautiful, H&G and Bon Appetit to name a few. She has worked as a media spokesperson for many major food companies and appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, and CBS Morning. After many years of both literary and culinary teaching (Ms. Olney has an M.A. in Literature and her Cookery School ran for ten years), she became the food editor and restaurant critic at the Washington Times.
She has quite the resume to say the least but Judith was as warm and down to earth as could be. I hung on every word of advice she had for this group of humble writers. I certainly hope that most of what I learned stays inside my head and that I can apply it to my blog entries and the cookbook that I am writing. We were treated to a freshly baked fougasse with an exquisite Plugra butter rose. The bread had such a wonderful crust glistening with salt crystals and the inside was chewy and delicious! It made me want to go home and bake something but my waistline knew I better save baked goods for special occasions. We were given some writing homework to do so now I have to place an apple on the counter, name it and keep a journal as I watch it expire. Oh what shall I name my apple? Perhaps Granny because it is a Granny Smith. Or maybe I should name it Brian because it’s the apple of my eye!
