Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Cedar Fort whereupon I am thankful to have such a diverse amount of novels and non-fiction titles to choose amongst to host. I received a complimentary copy of “Ally’s Kitchen” direct from the publisher Front Table Books (imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc) in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Why travelling by a sensory experience through food encourages our spirit:
Any traveller will lament the same as I have recently, the best part of experiencing a culture is through their food. When you travel to a different country (or even a different city, province, or region of your own) you have the chance to spend a particular amount of time experiencing the spice, the flavour, and the essence of what makes that particular place in time a riveting adventure of the senses by trying foods which might take you outside your comfort zones! Food has a language and courtesy of insight in of itself – food by definition is a living spirit of communication by giving us an editable road map into traditions and culture where the ingredients speak the words of historical artifacts of a person’s life.
I love seeking out foods from other places – both as a visitor on a holiday journey or as a foodie who wants to try a new method of cookery delight by walking into a restaurant serving dishes made with ingredients and spices not as well-known to my palate until I become introduced to them on the plate! I love the excitement of eating something that not only has smelt delish as it arrives on the table but visually it is a curiosity of origin and of taste. Seeking out new ways to put ingredients together inasmuch as how complimentary veg and other components in a meal can come together to create a wicked new experience is part of the joy of exploring culturally enriched foods and the traditions of how food can become transformed simply by using a different approach to placing them inside a meal.
Dr. Phillips wasn’t kidding when she said you’ll take a culinary adventure with her cookbook – by the first moment I stole a glimpse inside this beautiful hardback collection of journal entries and recipes, I knew I was in for a lifetime of wanderment to seek out the ingredients I would need to re-create the meals within! She tantalises your curiosity by selecting stories to share which are co-dependent on the dishes themselves to reveal a piece of who they are and who you are as you consume them.
Experiencing food in this way encourages my own spirit to soar because I love being able to step outside something my own family might consider traditional (although technically speaking, I have a melting pot heritage so what is deemed ‘traditional’ by our standards isn’t quite akin to someone else’s family!) and find a new vitality in embracing the foods of the world! If you missed my journalling about Mexico, be sure to read about my memories of the country and the cuisine before you leave today! As you will understand a bit about what I am referencing as I share my thoughts on Ally’s Kitchen!
Ally's Kitchen: A Passport for Adventurous Palates!
by Dr. Alice D' Antoni Phillips
Source: Direct from Publisher
Great flavour knows no boundaries!
After years travelling the globe, popular food blogger Ally Phillips has tasted almost everything. Now she's bringing you the best eats the world can offer in a one-of-a-kind cookbook that shares recipes, meal ideas, and entire cultures.
Whether you're in the mood for something tantalizingly unique, like Jerusalem Eggs with Forbidden Rice & Quinoa, or comfortingly familiar, like Picasso Belgian Waffles, this book lets you wander the world without ever leaving your kitchen.
Take your taste buds travelling through the exotic flavours and textures of:
Lemon & Almond Basbousa
Avocado Radicchio Wasabi Salsa
Jamaican Jerk Caramelized Onion Burgers
Makai Paka
With ingredients you can find anywhere and easy-to-follow instructions, these recipes will bring the world's favourite foods to your dining table so you can impress all your friends and family. Fresh, vibrant, and full of life, this inspiring collection of global recipes is guaranteed to turn your ordinary meals into memorable masterpieces.
Places to find the book:
Published by Front Table Books
on 12th May, 2015
Format: Paperback
Pages: 240
Published By: Front Table Books (@FrontTableBooks),
an imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc (@CedarFortBooks)
Available Formats: Paperback, Ebook
Converse on Twitter via: #AllysKitchen & #travelfoods
.@allyskitchen Whilst prepping my review of #AllysKitchen via @FrontTableBooks have simply FALLEN IN LOVE w/ journalling style #cookbook! :)
— Jorie Story 📖🎧 (@joriestory) May 20, 2015
I am a curious creature who loves to find the hidden stories which are a compliment to every person’s evolving life story – in fiction it’s a bit natural to find a fusion of where writer and novel intersect to become one of a whole. In non-fiction, depending on the subject matter your exploring the story is a bit harder to pull forward, but if you know where to look, you can find a story in each medium of written voice you choose to carry into your conscience. When I picked up Ally’s Kitchen I was in good hands straight out of the gate, because Dr. Phillips has a natural tendency to tell a story simply through her approach to leaving behind an essence of how she lives by the way in which she greets foods head-on in her adventures.
I’ve been an adventure seeker myself – the more experiences I could undertake throughout my childhood and into my adulthood the better. Adventures rooted in the purity of discovery and the benefit of making a connection to a person, place, setting, timescape, or sensory experience which allows you to take a part of where you’ve gone with you after you’ve left that place; you’ve forged a way to draw in a well of spirit-memories where you can recollect a thought, an emotion, a sound, or an evocation of where you were by a taste your still very much aware of having experienced. Our senses give us a clear and precise perception of where we are inasmuch as where we traverse because it is through how we internalise our experiences we gain the most back in return.
Finding a journalling styled cookbook, wherein your learning as much as you are experimenting is the quintessential hope for all cookery pursuers who want to make a stronger connection than merely trying a new recipe; to seek a grounding of a food’s history and an ingredient’s legacy, whilst giving it equal measure attention and compliment.
Her no-nonsense attitude about making do with what you have on hand and undertaking the joy of putting together foods which stimulate a sense of enjoyment out of consuming what you may not expect to find placed in front of you, is essentially how I was raised myself. I hadn’t truly thought about how I became Bohemian myself, but the roots of it stem out of a childhood filt to the rim with culinary delights not dependent on my own heritage but embraced for how we felt as we took a taste of what the finished result would be like on our palate. Each of us are drawn to different tastes and different combinations of food which invigorate how we approach eating as much as a healthy attachment to vitality.
Her Author’s Note is an acknowledge of who she had been blessed to find on her journey of self-discovery and food discovery; merging the two into a note of gratitude. I love reading Author’s Notes which take an intra-personal step towards relating back to the reader a small bit of knowledge of who they are behind where the cookbook begins and the life they lead continues the circle of who they are. If you read Dr. Phillips Author’s Note, you know it’s the personal connections and the inter-connecting stories of how she met the people she holds most dear are just as important as the pursuit of seeking new knowledge wherever her feet take her to travel. Travelling is akin to breathing for Dr. Phillips because it’s a renewing sense of living in the moment of awareness. She seeks out new experiences as much as I would presume her soul seeks out a way to smile each day her heart feels blessed.
When she lead-forward with a note to the reader to make her recipes our own, I loved her tenacity for inclusion on common ground principles of inspiration! It’s a forward-thinking approach to casting out your cookbook – to acknowledge some of us might have to make adjustments per ingredient or recipe, based on allergies or budget constraints or just preference of choice – yet with the full blessing of the chef behind the storied recipes is a blessing to me! It’s why I appreciate getting to know more chefs through blogging about their cookbooks (again a nod of gratitude to Front Table Books, who let a bookish soul embrace her cookery side) as a segue towards understand my own cookery pursuits. If I could attach a big hug to this review, I would – Dr. Phillips definitely must have a lovely circle of friends celebrating her way of sharing her life, because as a reader who loves finding stories, I definitely can see the appeal of being inside her circle! The joy would be wickedly doubled in happiness to hear what she might share next!
Everyone should embrace the word: ‘boholicious’! I know I am!
No two of us act alike, think alike, or cook alike, and my philosophy is to encourage you to find your own boholicious style. Dive in and get your hands dirty and let there by splatters, spills, and glorious smudges of goodness! Food, like life isn’t perfect – it’s about encouraging your inner child to play in the kitchen and not being afraid to take chances with flavours, textures, and unexpected combinations. Reach for the edge! That’s where you’ll find your own happy place. – Dr. Alice D’ Antoni Phillips, Ally’s Kitchen (taken from the Introduction; see sources below)
What follows from her words of encouragement is a cornucopia of world fusion cuisine where one woman’s travels has endeavoured to bridge together the cultural divides which can form a gap of communication between people. Food has become an entry-way of breaking down the hidden barriers and allowing us to find a connective thread of like-minded curiosity whilst giving us a footprint of insight into how to use the ingredients we might not have had the pleasure of meeting! Each recipe is an invitation to gain knowledge about a spice, an herb, a vegetable, or a method of cooking which will hopefully re-inspire you to re-create your own variant of what is writ on the page!
Full-bodied photographs where you can nearly reach out and *touch!* the food on the stilled frame of capture give your heart a quickening pulse of excited page turning! This is a cookbook that lifts your spirit for it’s coloured variety of choices between food and the experience you want to gain by consuming the dishes provided for your pleasure of experimentation. There are little touches of eloquence in how the pages are laid out – shifting between a diary entry from Dr. Phillips to pre-set the mood of why the page is being included to an easy to read guide (i.e. ingredient list and directions) whilst an earmark reference point at the bottom leads you to take the recipe a bit further if you dare. Passport stamps are peppered throughout the book, to draw your attention to the global jaunt your undertaking.
I have the tendency to outline a list of recipes I want to attempt to create when I have the chance to gather the ingredients needed to produce them, however, today I wanted to talk about how reading this cookbook is a light of joy for the reader who has wanderlust in her veins and an apt level of joy in trying new foods per cultural influenced style that makes her heart giddy as a mouse with a piece of cheese!
Aromatherapy plays a large role in why I love breathing in the spices and scents of cultural foods, but more than that, I like feeling as if the world isn’t this big globe of faraway dots on a map – but rather a closely connected palate of food where you communicate a conversation by accepting a plate of food which re-defines how food can greet you. I cannot wait to dive into this book of foodie dreams and see what emerges out of my own kitchen once I take up the challenge of following the author’s footsteps!
.@allyskitchen Each #recipe inside #AllysKitchen is a STORY of how a #foodie soul can breathe lifeblood of joy out of food @FrontTableBooks
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) May 20, 2015
Ally’s Kitchen Book Trailer via Ally Phillips
Inspired to Share: The author talks about how the inspiration behind this cookbook started rooted in her childhood growing up in the Appalachian mountains. Her fusion of adventure with locavore principles of locally grown fruit, veg, and proteins are a beat-step into my own cookery heart because if you can make the direct connection between where your food is grown and where you place it on the plate – to me this is seeking a nirvana of foodie blissitude on Earth! I love the spirit of life in this book trailer – the food is central focus but so is the effect of living in-tune with where your own spirit is seeking to take you through a sensory experience!
This Blog Tour Stop is courtesy of Cedar Fort, Inc.:
One thing I have wanted to seek out is a way to talk about what befits a book blogger’s soul – part of what makes our soul happy is the food we consume, which is why time to time I will be showcasing a healthy-minded cookbook or baking book to augment this side of my life into my book blog. For this reason, I am still quite grateful Front Table Books and Cedar Fort gave me my initial chance to feature a cookbook — as it marked a transition moment for me, as I started reviewing for their Front Table releases in 2014 whilst continuing now in 2015, I will be regularly featuring non-fiction titles as much as dipping into the Foodie Fiction section of literature which compels my heart to discover.
Follow future installments by: #TheBookishFoodie
Virtual Road Map of “Ally’s Kitchen” Blog Tour can be found here:
Find out which Front Table Books I’ve hosted in 2014 + will be hosting in 2015!
Visit with me again soon!
In conjunction with a *NEW* Feature on Jorie Loves A Story:
This post marks my fourth tie-in on my bookish blog where I am going to be highlighting both fiction and non-fiction Foodie delights! I have always appreciated “Foodie Fiction”, but I am also an amateur sous chef who likes to experiment in the kitchen with her Mum! I grew up with a keen interest in savory and sweet decadence from a Mum whose culinary wanderings spanned the world. We were always a family who were considered to eat ‘bland’ food due to the fact we limited our salt intact, and we never used black pepper! Ironically, it was through the herbs and spices my Mum always fused into our cooking adventures that first sparked my own interest in getting a bit more involved than merely developing a ‘taste’ for what I appreciated. I developed my own yearnings for Indian spices (i.e. Curry Powder, Garam Marsala, Turmeric, etc) and foods, as much as I always had a hankering for extra garlic cloves due to a high concentration of Italian foods I consumed growing up. I wanted to merge my bookish joy of reading ‘Foodie Fiction’ with my quest to uncover a healthier and more vibrant way to eat, live, and thrive. Therefore, I decided to begin featuring what I consider fit under this new Feature of Jorie Loves A Story: The Bookish Foodie! As I am *exactly!* what the title eludes — I’m a bookish girl who has a Foodie soul! Drop back and spend time with me to see where this Feature takes me!
{SOURCES: Author Biography, Book Synopsis and Book Cover of “Ally’s Kitchen”, Blog Tour Badge and Cedar Fort badge were provided by Cedar Fort Publishing & Media and used with permission. Permission granted in notice of copyright for ‘brief passages embodied in critical reviews’ which is why I selected a small quotation to share on my review with the permission of the publisher. Post dividers badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets were embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. Cookery Delights | Savoury & Ambrosial | Cookbook reviews by the Bookish Foodie Banner created by Jorie in Canva. Photo Credit: Unsplash Public Domain Photographer Monstruo Estudio. The Bookish Foodie badge created by Jorie in Canva. Comment box badge created by Jorie in Canva. Book trailer for “Ally’s Kitchen” via Ally Phillips had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share more about this novel by way of the creature inside it.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2015.
Tweets on Twitter in regards to “Ally’s Kitchen”:
.@allyskitchen | @FrontTableBooks Ambrosia of BoHo #foodie delight entices #cuisine travels http://t.co/zt2HQkx1Av! pic.twitter.com/RBglXWud25
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) May 28, 2015
Each #recipe is a STORY of how a #foodie soul can breathe lifeblood of joy out of food @JLovesAStory @BBCFood @chefsroll @KarieEngels
— Ally Phillips (@allyskitchen) May 29, 2015
.@allyskitchen @BBCFood @chefsroll @KarieEngels Yes, exactly why I tweeted that out as I was #amreading your #cookbook! <3’d it! :)
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) May 29, 2015
@JLovesAStory has FALLEN IN LOVE w/journaling style of my #cookbook! *happy* @bbcfood @FrontTableBooks @KarieEngels @foodandwine @chefsroll
— Ally Phillips (@allyskitchen) May 29, 2015
Thank you thank you! ***hugs*** @JLovesAStory @FrontTableBooks
— Ally Phillips (@allyskitchen) May 29, 2015
You’re most welcome, @allyskitchen! A true delight & joy of mine to find #AllysKitchen esp w/ how you convey your passion @FrontTableBooks
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) May 29, 2015
There is a lot to fall in love with- Stories, recipes, photos @allyskitchen @JLovesAStory @BBCFood @FrontTableBooks @foodandwine @chefsroll
— Karie Engels (@KarieEngels) May 29, 2015
.@KarieEngels A full immersion of #foodie love w/ style of #amwriting a #cookbook uniquely brilliant! @allyskitchen https://t.co/x8bBbRqtXj
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) May 29, 2015
Blog Book Tour | “Ally’s Kitchen: A Passport for Adventurous Palates” by Dr. Alice D’ Antoni Phil… http://t.co/pDEwTMhxw8 via @JLovesAStory
— Karie Engels (@KarieEngels) May 29, 2015
Jorie, I loved your “bookish ruminations” (and review) of Ally’s cookbook! So glad it touched your heart and fellow wordsmith (and flavorful) soul. :) Much appreciated!
Good afternoon, Ms Bultman!
Thank you for your lovely compliment about my review! I was truly inspired by the living lifeblood of joy Dr. Phillips has knitted into her cookbook, as much as I felt a true uplift of literary joy being able to step through another woman’s journal — peering into her private hours as I might have lived them. I love Epistolary novels, and this felt like a variant of that style. Bless you for stopping by my blog and letting me know how much my post and words resonated with you! Wicked lovely!
Love the “bookish foodie” connection!
Why thank you, Andrea! :)
It was a pure joy to talk about what you can find inside Ally’s Kitchen! It truly spoke to my ‘bookish foodie soul’! :)