"My Kitchen Year:" A Conversation with Author Ruth Reichl

My Kitchen Year follows the change of seasons—and Reichl’s emotions—as she slowly healed through the simple pleasures of cooking. While working 24/7, former editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine Reichl would throw quick meals together for her family and friends. After Gourmet closed its doors, she had the time to rediscover what cooking meant to her.

Imagine kale, leaves dark and inviting, sautéed with chiles and garlic; summer peaches baked into a simple cobbler; fresh oysters chilling in a box of snow; plump chickens and earthy mushrooms, fricasseed with cream. Over the course of her challenging transitional year, each dish Reichl prepared became a kind of stepping stone to finding joy again in ordinary things.

The 136 recipes collected in her book represent a life’s passion for food: a blistering ma po tofu that shook Reichl out of the blues; a decadent grilled cheese sandwich that accompanied a rare sighting in the woods around her home; a rhubarb sundae that signaled the arrival of spring.