Search This Blog
2025 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)
2025 Cover Lovers Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)
2025 Literary Escapes Challenge
- Alabama (1)
- Alaska (2)
- Arizona (2)
- Arkansas (1)
- California (11)
- Colorado (3)
- Connecticut (1)
- Delaware (1)
- Florida (2)
- Georgia (1)
- Hawaii (1)
- Idaho (1)
- Illinois (1)
- Indiana (1)
- Iowa (3)
- Kansas (1)
- Kentucky (1)
- Louisiana (2)
- Maine (5)
- Maryland (1)
- Massachusetts (4)
- Michigan (2)
- Minnesota (2)
- Mississippi (1)
- Missouri (1)
- Montana (1)
- Nebraska (1)
- Nevada (1)
- New Hampshire (1)
- New Jersey (3)
- New Mexico (1)
- New York (8)
- North Carolina (4)
- North Dakota (1)
- Ohio (1)
- Oklahoma (2)
- Oregon (3)
- Pennsylvania (2)
- Rhode Island (1)
- South Carolina (1)
- South Dakota (1)
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (2)
- Utah (1)
- Vermont (3)
- Virginia (2)
- Washington (5)
- West Virginia (1)
- Wisconsin (1)
- Wyoming (1)
- Washington, D.C.* (2)
International:
- Australia (5)
- Canada (3)
- England (18)
- France (2)
- Greece (2)
- Italy (1)
- Japan (1)
- Norway (1)
- Puerto Rico (1)
- Scotland (2)
- Vietnam (1)
2025 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
2025 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge
Booklist Queen's 2025 Reading Challenge
2025 52 Club Reading Challenge
2025 Build Your Library Reading Challenge
2025 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge
2025 Medical Examiner Mystery Reading Challenge
2025 Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge
2025 Mount TBR Reading Challenge
2025 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge
2025 Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge
The 100 Most Common Last Names in the U.S. Reading Challenge
The Life Skills Reading Challenge
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Cookin' the Books: Perin Family Buttermilk Cake
9:40 PM
Opening Cooking with My Sisters by best-selling author Adriana Trigiani 
is like stepping into
is like stepping intothe middle of her big, loud Italian family. You can hear her and her four sisters teasing each other, see the ghost of their exacting Grandmom, and feel the warmth of the Trigiani parents. Most of all, you can smell the food - baking lasagne, cooling pastries and stewing minestrone. It's enough to make you want to be a Trigiani, or at least an Italian.
Cooking with My Sisters is more text-heavy than most cookbooks, but it's a heck of a lot more entertaining. With her usual humor, Adriana Trigiani talks about her family's love affair with good, authentic Italian food. She also remembers her colorful family members, from her army-deserting great-grandfather to her spoiled, piano-playing father to her Grandmom, who ruled her kitchen with exactness. Viola Trigiani, Adriana's paternal grandmother (called Grandmom) gets a starring role in the memoir, because she was central to the girls' culinary education. Nicknamed "Grambo" because of her "direct, bombastic" (ix) personality and her skill with a rifle, she was "definitely a handful" (32). But, she (along with Adriana's maternal grandmother and her own mother) taught the Trigiani girls the secrets of delicious Italian meals. On of those secrets is to use the freshest ingredients possible. Viola also liked to use fresh ingredients creatively. I loved this vignette:
During the summers in Pennsylvania, if you saw Trigiani grandchildren running alongside the road, you knew Viola had them out collecting something. It was reminiscent of that scene in The Sound of Music in which the captain is driving home with the baroness (hiss) and sees all his children hanging from the big trees lining the roads. The only difference between us and the von Trapps is that they were having fun (151).
Even when she's talking about other, less colorful characters, Adriana Trigiani writes warmly, and with great love for her family, her heritage and, of course, her treasured family recipes. Honestly, it's as entertaining (if not more so) than her novels.
The recipes range from more difficult (homemade noodles) to less so (cakes and cookies), but they all rely on fresh ingredients. In fact, before you try any of the meals (especially those involving pasta), you should stock up on Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, as it is a Trigiani staple. Most of the recipes look delicious (I'm a little skeptical of the Dandelion Salad), and I'm anxious to try them all. There was only one, however, for which I had all of the ingredients, so here it is:
Perin Family Buttermilk Cake
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c. (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small bits and softened (but still chilled)
1/2 t. salt
3 c. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
3 eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
2 c. buttermilk
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Place the flour, butter, and salt in a large bowl.
In a second bowl, mix the sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Add this mixture to the flour mixture. Combine, then measure out 1 cup and set aside.
Beat the eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk into the mixture.
Pour the batter into a greased and floured 9 x 12-inch cake pan. Sprinkle the reserved cup of flour-suagar mixture over the top of the batter. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, watching for the cake to turn a golden color.
Makes 12 servings.
My thoughts on the recipe: My husband and I both LOVE this cake. It's fantastic. It is more moist than most cakes, with a kind of cobbler/pudding cake consistency. I don't know how to describe it, but trust me, it's divine.
I also really enjoyed this cookbook. The memoir aspect is perfect - Adriana Trigiani's stories are warm, funny and lighthearted. The recipes are varied and look scrumptious. My only complaint is that they don't include nutrition facts (probably because we're better off not knowing). Other than that, Cooking with My Sisters is a treasure. I loved it.
Grade: A
5 comments:
Comments make me feel special, so go crazy! Just keep it clean and civil. Feel free to speak your mind (I always do), but be aware that I will delete any offensive comments.
P.S.: Don't panic if your comment doesn't show up right away. I have to approve each one before it posts to prevent spam. It's annoying, but it works!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(Atom)
Reading
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
Listening
Where'd You Go, Bernadette?
Followin' with Bloglovin'
Followin' with Feedly
-
More or Less Maddy by Lisa Genova5 hours ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
Top Ten Tuesday ~ Cozy/Atmospheric Reads14 hours ago
-
A short break...back soon...16 hours ago
-
Top 5 Tuesday ~ Travel Inspiration18 hours ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
TTT – Cozy Reads For The Win1 day ago
-
-
-
-
Haiku Reviews...2 days ago
-
Someone You Can Build a Nest In4 days ago
-
The Unseen by Ania Ahlborn4 days ago
-
Two Young Adult books4 days ago
-
A Review of Horsefly5 days ago
-
-
-
-
The Music of 2025: Q33 weeks ago
-
-
Sorry About the Spam…1 month ago
-
-
No Roundup this month5 months ago
-
Sunday Post #5686 months ago
-
February 2025 Reading Wrap Up7 months ago
-
One Big Happy Family by Susan Mallery7 months ago
-
-
-
I'm Still Reading - This Was My October11 months ago
-
Girl Plus Books: On Hiatus1 year ago
-
-
-
What Happened to Summer?2 years ago
-
6/25/23 Extra Ezra2 years ago
-
-
-
-
-
Are you looking for Pretty Books?3 years ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
Grab my Button!
Blog Design by:
Blog Archive
- ► 2021 (159)
- ► 2020 (205)
- ► 2019 (197)
- ► 2018 (223)
- ► 2017 (157)
- ► 2016 (157)
- ► 2015 (188)
- ► 2014 (133)
- ► 2013 (183)
- ► 2012 (193)
- ► 2011 (232)
- ► 2010 (257)
- ► 2009 (211)
- ▼ 2008 (192)
2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge
2024 - Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction
2023 - Middle Grade Fiction
2022 - Middle Grade Fiction
2021 - Middle Grade Fiction
2020 - Middle Grade Fiction
I just love Adriana Trigiani! I will have to check this out. What a wonderful combination -- cookbooks and Ms. Trigiani. I was afraid that I'd be disappointed, but with your wonderful recommendation....
ReplyDeleteThat cake looks and sounds wonderful. I'm sure it is so moist and dense. 3 sticks of butter. Yum! I'll have to watch out for this cookbook.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recipe! I love Adriana Trigiani's books I will have to find her cookbook! :)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE Adriana Trigiani!!! I've read everything she's written and she's called my book club twice! Some of the members even went to Atlanta to meet her! Her cookbook is displayed in my kitchen. I agree that you feel like you are standing in the kitchen with her family. Thanks for sharing. Happy Reading! Bitsy
ReplyDeletePS ~ another cookbook with fun family info is Pat Conroy's. Book club went to see him in Atlanta as well and learned about it there. It's fun, too.
Thanks for this. I've joined the Soup's On Challenge, as well but haven't even picked out the books I want to read, yet. The buttermilk cake looks delicious!!
ReplyDelete