Pen & Palate: Mastering the Art of Adulthood, with Recipes

by Lucy Madison, Tram Nguyen

Overview

From the writers of acclaimed blog Pen & Palate, a humorous coming-of-age (and mastering-the-art-of-home-cooking) memoir of friendship, told through stories, recipes, and beautiful illustrations.

Getting through life in your twenties isn't easy—especially if you're broke, awkward, and prone to starting small grease fires in your studio apartment. For best friends Lucy Madison and Tram Nguyen, cooking was an escape from the daily humiliation that is being a twenty-something woman in a big city.

Pen & Palate traces the course of Lucy and Tram's devoted friendship through miserable jobs and tiny apartments, first loves and ill-advised flings, successes and setbacks—always with a shared love of food at the center of the narrative. A modern take on Laurie Colwin's classic Home Cooking, this coming-of-age memoir for the Girls set weaves together comical (mis)adventures and recipes meant to be shared with a best friend and a bottle of wine.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781455535057
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	05/31/2016
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Lucy Madison is a New York City-based journalist and editor, and a senior editor at Food & Wine magazine. She has worked for publications including W, Interview, Teen Vogue, Lucky, BonAppetit.com, Refinery29, The Awl.com, and more.

Tram Nguyen is Chicago-based illustrator and costume designer, who has built costumes and props for television, print, theater, and professional sports teams. Her work has appeared in Elle.com, Nylonmag.com, Lucky, and more.

Editorial Reviews

03/28/2016
No matter the distance between them, Madison and Nguyen have two decades of memories together, mostly involving food and friendship. They both felt like outsiders in high school, moved away from loved ones, scrounged for meals in college, and struggled to impress new bosses. As Madison and Nguyen check off these and other relatable growing pains, they offer countless delicious recipes and laugh-out-loud humor. When they met as teens in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., Madison discovered that “we had a mutual sense of respect for how the other ate.” Nguyen often felt like the odd one out with her elaborate Asian lunches; Madison thought she stuck out with hearty loaves of homemade bread and a lack of Capri Sun. They spent a couple of years apart, but were always only a phone call or recipe away. Then Nguyen reunited with Madison in Chicago to finish up her last couple of years at art school, and they ate their way through Chicago’s tasty neighborhoods. Madison later moved to New York to become a journalist, and Nguyen stayed in Chicago. Their mouthwatering recipes include pho-spiced braised short ribs; spicy lemongrass chili chicken wings; Thanksgiving tamales; and a beginner-friendly fried chicken. The book alternates sections written by the two talented, witty women with Nguyen’s illustrations and an array of clever recipes that readers will want to try immediately. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"It's cookbook as bildungsroman. The recipes are great, but greater still is the pair's unvarnished take on the comedic hideousness of being young and totally confused about everything from love to work to how much the steam heat in your crappy Manhattan apartment costs."—Bookforum

"Told with charming good humor, this millennial-girls-taking-on-the-world story will have readers immediately casting themselves and their girlfriends as either a Lucy or a Tram . . . An absolute must-have for young women and a perfect addition to food and memoir collections."
—Library Journal

"[Lucy and Tram's] advice on how to get through that fraught post-college decade: Good food, good friends, and plenty of wine. Oh, and listen to your mother (sometimes). . . . PEN & PALATE offers some lived-in advice for surviving your twenties—and eating well along the way."
—Food & Wine

"I have rarely devoured a book as quickly and as joyfully as PEN & PALATE. I paused in my reading only to snack-the book made me so happy, and so hungry. Besides being a brilliantly conceived, beautifully illustrated, funny and delicious book, PEN & PALATE is also the story of a real, deep, and wonderful friendship."—Emily Gould, author of Friendship and And the Heart Says Whatever

"PEN & PALATE is a modern tale of friendship and food. Lucy and Tram learn many of life's tough lessons: first, cold SpaghettiOs are not better than your mom's homemade caramel and coconut braised pork, and second, you can't hide from your true self (and it just so happens, your true self is actually pretty great)."—Amelia Morris, author of Bon Appétempt

"PEN & PALATE lets you tag along on the fun, sad, and sometimes kind of embarrassing journey of two young women stumbling into their own identities, while holding fast to one another. Weaving in the hallmark recipes of each chapter in their lives, Lucy and Tram have made a cozy and satisfying meal out of their stories-the kind that makes you want to sit at the table and chat all night long."—Kelsey Miller, author of Big Girl

From the Publisher