Always Home: A Daughter’s Recipes & Stories

Equal parts memoir and cookbook, this new book from Singer (My Pantry) offers a loving tribute to her influential mother, Alice Waters, a James Beard Award winner and executive chef at Chez Panisse. Through intimate family stories and recipes, Singer recalls growing up in the family-centered atmosphere of Chez Panisse, where mingling in the kitchen with cooks and their children was the norm. She revisits her parent’s separation around age ten when her mother provided comfort through her school lunch: a homemade, elegant meal always accompanied by a bouquet of flowers and herbs evoking a spring garden. Unsatisfied with Yale’s food accommodations, her mother installed a chef’s starter kitchen in her daughter’s dorm room, subsequently establishing the university’s first sustainable food program. Much attention is also given to the family’s frequent culinary travels in France; going from Paris to rural locales, from vineyards to top restaurants, staying with friends and learning about terroir. Included are 60 recipes.