In 1992 and 1993, respectively, I published my two ‘cooking’ cookbooks Rose’s Celebrations and Rose’s Melting Pot.(They are no longer in print but are usually available for a very nominal price through Amazon.)
In Rose’s Melting Pot, I included my recipe for tandoori chicken and the story of how I fell in love with the Indian culture and the wonderful month I spent in India attending a wedding of my friends’ family. As a result, I was invited by New Jersey Public Television to be the host of a show featuring the Indian communities of Edison, where so many settled in good part due to its proximity to Newark Airport.
I appear in several segments including a demo in the last one of tandoori chicken. And I did the “voice over” for the segments which feature religious festivals, music, art, and dance. When I took the train to Trenton, NJ, to the studio where I did the voice-over, I felt like it was a victory ride. When I was 19, and had left college, I worked in Trenton in a brake-lining factory, typing orders from one handwritten form to another. It was the most horrifyingly boring job I’ve ever had, causing me to make many mistakes in transcription, and it drove me back to continue my education in the hope that life would present a more promising occupation. I never would have imagined returning to Trenton all those years later as the host of a tv show , so beautifully produced by Linda Brown it was nominated for a Beard Award.
Apr 04, 2009 | From the kitchen of Rose
in Did You Know
That egg whites can be frozen for at least a year but to freeze egg yolks you need to add sugar to keep them from getting too sticky and unusable.
For 1 egg yolk/about 1 tablespoon/0.6 ounce/18 grams stir in ½ teaspoon/2 grams sugar. Don’t forget to remove the sugar from the recipe after defrosting the yolks.
My favorite healthful lunch is 0 fat Greek yogurt with 1 heaping teaspoon of lemon curd swirled in and a handful of blueberries.
I had such a delightful time with David Rosengarten as host, I been dreaming ever since of a regular show together--we could call it Rose n' Rosengarten!
This is a funny story! During the photo shoot for the upcoming book, the food stylist’s assistant Jan Fort had a small atomizer that she used to spray a fine mist of water on certain ingredients. I asked her where she had found the atomizer and she introduced me to a fabulous store in my very own neighborhood that I had walked by many times but never entered: Pearl River.
Many months passed until I finally had the chance to visit the store and no one seemed to know what I was talking about. Finally they passed me on to the owner, the very gracious and helpful Mrs. Chang who thought that perhaps I was referring to the atomizer for perfume that was very popular called Hello Kitty—so popular it was out of stock. I hadn’t a clue what “hello kitty” meant but I figured I’d risk it so I asked her if she would notify me immediate when it became available as I would be out of the city for the month of August. She said she could send it to me but the postage would be more than the cost of the atomizer. So I ordered two to justify the expense and to my amazement, when they arrived, they looked like this! And I quickly decided that though they don’t exactly match either my country cherry cabinets or semi-commercial stainless steel appliances, they are utterly charming. AND they do emit the finest possible spray for moistening breads before baking or my face when it gets too hot in the kitchen!
If you want one of these be sure to ask for Mrs. Chang as no one else may know what you’re talking about: 212-431-4770
Second Pass Page Proofs and the End in Sight (or should I say beginning)!
It doesn’t seem possible that it’s two months since I posted Phase 13!
The momentum is now stepping up at an incredibly dramatic pace so I want to be sure to keep you in the loop!
The most recent version of the first pass pages, the one where all the changes from me and the proofers were input, came back with Lillian the final proofreader’s comments and marks. At the same time, 80 double spaced single column pages of index arrived, due back in a mere three days. This index will be about 15 book pages and is the best index I’ve ever had for any of my books as it puts entries in several categories for example a chocolate butter cake will be under chocolate cakes, butter cakes, and also under the actual name of the cake. This makes it much easier to find things. But it made it sheer hell to proof! Woody and I went through each entry to make sure it was in the proper category and the proper order and word sequence. This took hours and hours but was well worth the effort.
On to the pages: Ava Wilder (dream production manager) assured me that the final proofer would find everything. Well! Not only did she find all but maybe one or two little things I had found from the last round, she found several more other ones that were quite important.
Apr 12, 2009 | From the kitchen of Rose
in Announcements
The blad is in! A blad is an abbreviation for book layout design and is produced mainly to show prospective book buyer accounts the general look and content.
To me, it feels rather like an ultra sound in color.
Of course the book will be much more beautiful but I thought it would be fun for you to enjoy all the various stages along with me.
Charlie Rose rarely if ever had cookbook authors on his show so I felt really honored and somewhat terrified to be invited down to Washington D.C. to be a guest. In fact, in the opening segment it seems to me I look rather like a deer in the headlights. But the amazing thing that happened was that I really really liked Charlie and he was so kind and gracious I gradually became less guarded and started to enjoy myself. It's fun to watch how I grew more and more comfortable with him to the point where I actually jokingly accused him of hacking away at my cake.!..you'll see......
This is Hector Wong's interpretation of La Porcelaine on the cover of The Cake Bible. My marzipan roses were rose red but of course Hector's are yellow like his "Yellow Kitchen." I would say he graduates with honors don't you agree? Here's his note:
Dear Rose, your La Porcelaine is a gem (short word for how beautiful I feel your cake deeply is). Your cake is BEAUTY-FULL. Working with your signature chocolate fondant was a pleasure, I loved it so much that I will consider this as the only fondant to work with! Deliciously chocolaty, naturally cocoa colored, tastes and perfumes of chocolate... we should rename this fondant: chocolate drapery!
(Click on the photo for a much larger version and to see the bottom collage in more detail.)
I made this cake for Luca’s birthday. When he saw the cake, he felt the truth: I made this cake for Rose, for the blog, and secondly for him! When I completed the cake, he joked in happiness: "so, am I suppose to act surprised when the restaurant brings the cake out to sing happy birthday?" This cake is yet my most intimate experience: a (literally) hard cover tribute to Rose, and a cake heart with Luca's wishes. The cake is La Porcelaine on the outside, but the inside is Luca's heart: white chocolate, biscuit a la cuilliere, and raspberry flavor... cake components most interesting for him.
Apr 18, 2009 | From the kitchen of Rose
in Announcements
For the many requests by people who missed seeing Baking Magic with Rose when it aired over PBS stations, it will begin posting on You Tube this coming week.
Thank you Hector Wong and Rachael Ashe who worked so hard to make this possible.
I was a very shy little girl but when it came to “show and tell” I forgot all about myself in my eagerness to share an exciting discovery. It was hands down my favorite subject in school.
Many years later, shortly before the Cake Bible was born, Barbara Kafka, renowned cookbook author and food editor of Vogue magazine, took me to lunch. Barbara is known for her sharp wit and generous support of people starting out in the food profession. Toward the end of the meal, she asked me: "What are your three wishes?" Not realizing that she was playing fairy godmother, and delighting in what I thought to be a hypothetical exercise, I started off with my biggest wish at the time: to have a baby. She looked a bit startled but quickly regained her composure saying: "I can't help you there; but I can tell you that when you're so busy you can't do another thing, that's when it will happen.” Then she prompted me for my second wish. "I want to write a cookbook" I said without hesitation. That's easy replied Barbara. I'll introduce you to my editor. My heart soared. “And your third wish” asked Barbara? I took the leap and dared to reply: "I want to have my own TV show." To my total shock Barbara’s dry response was: “you and der ganse velt!” When she saw my quizzical expression she translated it for me as: you and everyone else or literally: you and the whole world! She misunderstood my questioning look. Growing up with a Yiddish speaking grandmother I knew what the expression meant, I just wasn't expecting to hear it come out of so sophisticated a mouth!
I will always be grateful to Barbara. I learned from this experience that people can help just by encouraging you to give voice to your ideas and to put them out into the universe. I am now in the process of fulfilling my first and second wish with my ninth cookbook, but not in that order. These books, and the many people who follow my recipes and share their ideas and responses with me, have become my children.
Apr 21, 2009 | From the kitchen of Rose
in Announcements
i was wondering why no one was responding to any of my posts but was so busy with book production, you tube postings and other postings i didn't realize that something was wrong with my gmail notification so i had no idea there were any posts since march 1!
i've just now gone through them all, cleaning up those that were submitted two and three times (please be careful to post only once to avoid this) and answering things that no one else had.
i tried to answer everything at least everything that i had an answer to!
Ripen the bananas until they are full of black speckles and you will have the best tasting banana cake. Try baby bananas for a special treat. They are slightly sweeter and have a more intense banana flavor. THE RECIPES
I guess you could call it a pre birth announcement. Now that we have a final cover and presales has begun, it has become possible to add a link to blog home page for preorders from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders, and Jessica’s Biscuit.
It was so thrilling finally to see the beautiful cover on the top of the 8 book line up. And I now have one copy of the bound galley, which has the entire book with soft cover in color but black and white inside. This is created to send to publications with long lead times and though not nearly as beautiful as the final book will be it feels so good to see it all there in its near final permutation.
The wheels of publicity are turning and my old friend and publicist par excellence
Carrie Bachman has already lined up two major events coming up in August and October.
Last week the official book presentation was made to Barnes and Noble. This is the time when they are deciding the size of their first order so to “sweeten the deal” I baked two of my favorite cakes from the book to bring to the meeting: The Golden Gift Lemon Almond Cake.
Rebecca, editor Pam Chirls multi-talented assistant, and I both had bad colds (aren’t they always!) but this didn’t stop me from baking or her from choosing the most exquisite packaging for the presentation.
It was a sunny spring blossom golden day as we walked up Fifth Avenue, me to Jefferson Market to pick up a blue foot chicken for the weekend and her to drop off the cakes. It was a lovely moment to share.
I thought this cake was the absolute best orange chiffon ever until I revisited it as a layer cake without a center tube. Practice your skills with this recipe and you'll be ready for the new creation in the upcoming Rose's Heavenly Cakes! THE RECIPE
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