Announcements
A year later…a new cover…my first baby on the way. A lot has happened since SPICED first came out last April, but the story inside is the same. I’m about to start a new chapter as my due date approaches (and yes, I plead guilty to being preoccupied with pregnancy–it’s clearly getting in the way of my blog posting!), and even food has started to seem new and different (since when do I want to have a cupcake…every day?) I’ll be getting some of my new recipes up soon…
Finally, my very first book is actually on the shelves! Writing, selling, finishing and promoting continues to be an exciting and arduous ride and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Spiced is Dalia Jurgensen’s memoir of leaving her office job and pursuing her dream of becoming a chef. Eventually landing the job of pastry chef for a three-star New York restaurant, she recounts with endearing candor the dry cakes and burned pots of her early internships, and the sweat, sheer determination, and finely tuned taste buds - as well as resilient ego and sense of humor - that won her spots in world-class restaurant kitchens. With wit and an appreciation for raunchy insults, she reveals the secrets to holding your own in male-dominated kitchens, surviving after-hours staff parties, and turning out perfect plates when you know you’re cooking for a poorly disguised restaurant critic. She even confesses to a clandestine romance with her chef and boss - not to mention what it’s like to work in Martha Stewart’s TV kitchen - and the ugly truth behind the much-mythologized “family meal.”
Following Dalia’s personal trajectory from nervous newbie to unflappable professional, Spiced is a clever, surprisingly frank, and affectionate glimpse at the sweet and sour of following your passion.
Available for pre-order at the following locations:
Amazon Barnes & Noble Borders Penguin Indie Bound
Here’s what people are saying about Spiced:
“Great insider stuff and a valuable addition to the annals of first-person culinary history”
—Anthony Bourdain, author of Kitchen Confidential
“This is a personal memoir of a young chef’s experience in restaurant kitchens. It is funny, interesting and – for me, as a chef and owner of a restaurant – an illuminating insight into how other kitchens work. I loved reading it and and plan to give this book to all my chefs.”
—Ruth Rogers, Chef Owner, The River Cafe, London
“The edgy ‘backstage’ atmosphere will be instantly familiar to fans of chef memoirs….the stories are never anything less than entertaining.”
—Publishers Weekly