What a wonderful reading weekend I have had – and Sunday still awaits! But I knew it was going to be good when two of the books I have been most excited to read this fall arrived at my library late Thursday. It was as if the universe knew I was taking Friday as a half day off work and so was in need of wonderful reading material to fill the empty hours (or, those hours that weren’t going to filled by my optometrist appointment – after all, I hadn’t known the books were coming and I couldn’t let a half day go to waste). And Saturday obliged with torrential rains which (I learned the hard way) are not meant to be enjoyed out of doors but instead wrapped up in a blanket on the sofa, book in hand.
I started with My Berlin Kitchen, a memoir with recipes (like Elizabeth Bard’s Lunch in Paris or Molly Wizenberg’s A Homemade Life), by Luisa Weiss, who blogs as The Wednesday Chef. Right after my optometrist appointment, I walked over to one of the nearby restaurants, ordered my lunch, and settled down with the book. I was not waiting until I got home, no sir. The book, needless to say, got far more attention than my food.
Weiss was born in West Berlin to an Italian mother and an American father. After her parents divorced when she was three, she spent her early childhood living with her father in Boston and then moved back to Berlin when she was ten to be with her mother. As an adult, she worked in publishing in New York but it was Berlin she longed for, though it took her a while to realise that and longer still to find her way back. A product of so many different cultures and with so many different homes to turn to, food was a way for Weiss deal with her homesickness – whichever home that might be.
The most relatable portion of the book, for me, was the section dealing with her confusion during her late twenties as she tried to figure out what it was that was missing from her life, despite the excellent job in her chosen field and committed long-term boyfriend. Weiss describes herself as “a responsible person, possibly even a square. I always eat my vegetables. I never have that third glass of wine (in fact, rarely even that second one). I get palpitations if I’m not punctual. And I tell my parents everything. Sometimes I think this stodgy obedience is the honorary German in me, the stuff that rubbed off on me by osmosis.” I know how hard it is for that kind of person (being one myself) to admit that all the things you had planned for yourself – and achieved – aren’t actually what you need. I am always filled with admiration when, having figured out what they actually do want and need, people go out and get it. (I am still at the figuring out stage myself.) And that is exactly what Weiss did; she moved back to Berlin, got a book deal on the strength of her success as a blogger so she could do the work she loved, and rekindled a romance with her first love. Interspersed through this story are her wonderful, incredibly tempting recipes.
Weiss admits that German food does not have the romance of French or Italian cuisine – especially given the hoards of food books or mid-life memoirs screaming in praise of those two countries – and though she spends plenty of time cooking Italian, American and various other types of food, she does do her best to make the case for German food. For me, this is preaching to the choir. I adore eating in Germany. I used to travel to Europe in the spring after university let out and I would always arrive in Germany in time for Spargelzeit, when white asparagus would be in every restaurant, prepared every way you could imagine. Now, when I visit in the late summer I enjoy pflaumenkuchen (which is less exciting since we make it at home all summer) or feast on mushrooms when I drop by in the autumn. Delicious. So it is no surprise that Weiss’ descriptions of her German meals were my favourites, especially this passage about breakfast offerings:
As for the Germans, well, their breakfasts are legendary. Groaning boards piled high with thin slices of cheese, hams – boiled, smoked, and cured, sliced cucumber, boiled eggs, tomato wedges, coarse and smooth liverwurst, butter and Quark, plum butter and red currant jelly, all meant to adore slices of dark, grainy Vollkornbrot or freshly backed crusty rolls split in half.
And, at this time of year especially, we must acknowledge that Germany knows better than any country how to celebrate a proper Christmas. But this is not casual cookie baking; this is a serious production:
I made chewy little squares of gingerbread studded with candied citrus and snow-white anise-flavoured domed cookies that disappeared with a quick crunch. Meringue-topped hazelnut stars that crackled lightly under out teeth, nuggets of almond paste adorned with peeled almonds and baked until glazed and toothsome and snappy, spiced butter cookies shaped into narrow rectangles and decorated with a scatter of slivered almonds. Not to mention rich, winey fruit bread, damp, dark, and mysterious, and dense, buttery Stollen coated in a thick layer of powdered sugar.
I spent all day Saturday fighting the urge to go to the store and start buying the ingredients for some of her Christmas recipes – I have enough Czech Christmas cookies that I need to start on without adding these!
I have been busily copy recipes out of the book in anticipation of returning it to the library – Flammkuchen! Meatballs in Tomato-Chipotle Sauce! Those Christmas cookies that I say I shouldn’t make but am still ridiculously tempted by! – but that is only a temporary solution. I need to own this book.
Another book I need to own, that other much-anticipated book that came into the library with My Berlin Kitchen, is English Decoration by Ben Pentreath, which I curled up with on Saturday afternoon. If you are not already following Pentreath’s Inspiration blog, you should be. I have severely culled the number of design-focused blogs that I follow but his I will never drop.
English Decoration is a celebration of English (and Scottish and Welsh) rooms where, in Pentreath’s words, “the personality of the owner is […] woven into every fibre.” These are not grand estates nor have they been “done” by hired decorators. They are homes, usually of Pentreath’s friends, that have been decorated over time and, most importantly, have been thoroughly lived in. There are newspaper clippings and notes pinned up on walls and scattered across dressers; kettles, toasters and sugar bowls have been left on kitchen counters; and magazines are piled high on the floor underneath side tables. These rooms have clutter of the most functional, attractive sort and they all express their owners’ preferences and personalities.
The book is divided into chapters by types of room: foyers and halls, sitting rooms, kitchens and dining rooms, bedrooms, etc. It is an image-heavy book (there is nothing more disappointing than a book about interiors that is text-heavy) but the real joy for me came from reading the descriptions that accompany each photo, seeing everything through Pentreath’s eyes. It is easy for me to look at a photo and say “I like that” or “I hate that” but I don’t learn much doing that and I do so want to learn. Going through the book more slowly, taking the time to actually read it, helps me to appreciate even more the rooms I like and to consider more closely the rooms I am not immediately drawn to and the reasons why that is. Happily, this book is full of rooms I loved and the photos by Jan Baldwin are wonderful. Still, of all the houses featured, I think Pentreath’s own Dorset home remains my favourite:

credit: Ben Pentreath Ltd.
Needless to say, I will be handing out an updated Christmas list to my family with these two books added.
I’ve often drooled over Ben Pentreath’s website – that book looks wonderful.
If you enjoy the website, you will ADORE the book!
I’m so glad that the Weiss book finally came in – and that it was worth the wait. I too have a stack of recipes to try – and I too feel the lure of Christmas cookies.
Reading your review a few weeks ago definitely made the wait that much more difficult, Lisa, but it was definitely worth it.
I ordered Ben’s book pre-publication and I’m not disappointed – it’s lovely and I think will go down in decorating annals as perhaps “the” book of the current decorating era, a bit like those Englishwoman’s Kitchen … Bedroom … Garden … House books of the 1980s which were so popular. His style isn’t gimmicky (well, perhaps empty picture frames attached to a wall with just a postcard pinned to the wall within the framework of, a’hem, the frame, is a tad gimmicky) but we all make some mistakes, even the top designers!
I will now check out those other books/websites you mention.
Yeah, I can’t get behind the empty picture frames and tacked up postcards either but I am willing to allow everyone their own affectations if it makes them happy. And at least the frames he uses are nice!
You’re right that there isn’t a natural link of Germany with good cooking in my mind other than the usual suspects of Weiner Schnitzel etc.
Clearly, this is the book for you then!
I really want to read Berlin Kitchen. I’m in my mid-twenties and I definitely still feel that way sometimes. On paper I have everything I wanted but it can be hard to admit to yourself that you didn’t always want the right things.
If you’re feeling that way, I think you’d quite enjoy this.
Oh, I like the sound of your weekend. If you had culled her blog, it would have been a wash, but I’ve immediately subscribed! 🙂 I have to circle back to My Berlin Kitchen, because I love that sort of book. I had a request in at Netgalley for weeks, and when they finally approved it, the book was archived the next day!
It has been the best sort of weekend, truly! And try again to track down My Berlin Kitchen – it is a great book, especially if you already like this sort foodie memoir.
You’ve done it again, providing guaranteed-to-please gift ideas for my husband! Earlier this year it was The Laskett, which I gave him for his birthday and is now one of his most loved books for garden inspiration. English Decoration will be perfect for Christmas. Thanks so much!!
So happy to have been of service, Laura!
Those extracts you posted from My Berlin Kitchen sounded wonderful. I liked the cover, too. Some food bloggers can really write well. Have you read Orangette? Enjoy your weekend reading.
Weiss is definitely in the ranks of food bloggers who can write well! And to answer your question, I have been following Molly Wizenberg’s Orangette blog since 2010, beginning just after I read her A Homemade Life.
Laura, if your husband (and you) likes The Laskett, might I suggest – with Claire’s permission – an earlier book by Sir Roy Strong: A Country Life. This was published in 1994 and is a delight from beginning to end (and is illustrated with drawings by Sir Roy’s late wife, Julia Trevelyan Oman.) The book consists of the column that Sir Roy wrote for Country Life (the magazine) and are wide-ranging in their content but include gardening (of course!) and cooking and all kinds of things – I particularly enjoy the Winter section in which he writes about a country library, winter pruning, Christmas decorations, and even Tablescapes. No idea if this book is easily available now on Amazon or Abe, but do put it on your list!
Permission, obviously, granted! And thanks for this comment, Margaret. In suggesting A Country Life to Laura, you’ve reminded me how much I want to read it. Our library doesn’t have a copy but I can get it through inter-library loan and have placed the request.
Oh, these both sound like they need to be mine. I will put them on my wish list.
Mmmm. Meatballs in tomato-chipotle sauce sounds very good. I put chipotle powder in my pumpkin pie this year. Ended up making a second it was so good. Oh, dear – now I’m all hungry.
I think chipotle-pumpkin pie sounds delicious, Penny! As for the books, I do hope you can track them down as both make perfect winter reading.
I love that description of German breakfasts, and it brings back some very good memories of breakfasts I have had there. I think they have the best breakfasts in Europe, and I even found that youth hostels there had big buffet breakfasts at no extra cost. It made them really good value.
Though hardly exclusive to Germany, this style of breakfast is my favourite too, Ed.
[…] for ever since Weiss announced it was in the works. You may remember Weiss’ excellent memoir, My Berlin Kitchen, or know her from her outstanding blog, The Wednesday Chef. Now she has presented us with this […]