A Year in Reading: Edan Lepucki

December 19, 2006 | 4 books mentioned

My good friend Edan got married this year (to Millions contributor Patrick no less), got published in the LA Times West Magazine, and taught her own fiction workshop. She’s also one of the gang I worked with at Book Soup in Los Angeles, where she regularly wowed customers with her literary knowledge. In spite of being enviably well-read, Edan has once again gone the cookbook route for our year end series, as is her wont:

Since ALL of my favorite books of 2006 – The Echo Maker by Richard Powers; Everything that Rises by Lawrence Weschler; and The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan – have already been sufficiently lauded by other Millions contributors, I figured I’d instead sing the praises of one cookbook:

coverBrunch: 100 Recipes from Five Points Restaurant by Marc Meyer and Peter Meehan I purchased this fabulous book for my husband, who seems to have conquered the kitchen on Sunday mornings because I can’t, just can’t, rise before ten. It’s easy to get into a scrambled eggs-and-potatoes breakfast rut, but this book, with recipes for Bourbon Vanilla French Toast, Ricotta Fritters, Asparagus and Artichoke Baked Eggs and Applesauce Muffins (among 96 others), ensures amazing spreads each time. The book has lovely, drool-inducing photographs for motivation, and chef Marc Meyers (5 Points, I’ve learned, is a well-known NYC restaurant), urges us to make more bacon “than you think you want (or than you think you should eat).” Bless this man.

Thanks Edan!

is a staff writer and contributing editor for The Millions. She is the author of the novella If You're Not Yet Like Me, the New York Times bestselling novel, California, and Woman No. 17. She is the editor of Mothers Before: Stories and Portraits of Our Mothers As We Never Saw Them.