Cookbook Watch: 'Ripe' by Cheryl Sternman Rule, Paulette Phlipot

Celery pretty much equals boring, right? It conjures up images of stringy diet food or rabbit fare, and it's not exactly photogenic. Or is it?

If you flip to page 173 of the new cookbook, "Ripe: A Fresh, Colorful Approach to Fruits and Vegetables," you'll find a stop-you-in-your-tracks photo of celery that might best be described as a lovely, flower-tipped bouquet. Accompanying that is a suggested dish that probably isn't on anyone's diet plan: a braised celery gratin rich with butter, wine and Gruyere.

That's mission accomplished for the cookbook's authors, food writer Cheryl Sternman Rule and food photographer Paulette Phlipot, who set out to reset the nation's mindset about fruits and vegetables.

This is not a cookbook aimed at foodies -- although foodies will certainly find much to enjoy in its pages. Instead, Rule and Phlipot envisioned their audience as the very people who wrinkle up their noses at the thought of eating anything green and blanch at the thought of a meat-free meal.

"If I were eating broccoli or string beans boiled until they were gray, I would hate them too," said Rule, a Silicon Valley food writer and author of the popular food blog 5 Second Rule. "When people tell me they hate vegetables I ask them: 'How are you cooking them?'"

More often than not, she's met with blank stares. That's because they're not cooking their own vegetables, and have no idea where to start.

Enter "Ripe."

Bakespace and Cookbook Cafe out to 'democratize' the cookbook world

Hey you -- you look like a cookbook author.

Babette Pepaj, the L.A. entrepreneur who founded Bakespace, has created a D.I.Y. cookbook platform that turns everyone -- yes, including you -- into a cookbook author. The platform allows users to create both a searchable and interactive e-book and an iPad app that works across a variety of devices, no charge. The cookbooks are then made available at an online shop at Bakespace, called Cookbook Cafe, or on iTunes.

Pepaj says Cookbook Cafe aims to "democratize" the cookbook publishing landscape which, let's face it, leaves most of the food world on the outside looking in. (Unless you are a celebrity chef, a food blogger with a million followers, or the winner of Fox's "MasterChef," your chances of landing a cookbook deal are slim.)

"But everyone has at least one good recipe in them," says Pepaj. "This is a way to share that recipe with everyone, and get paid for it."

Cookbook Cafe only moved out of testing stage earlier this month, but it is already making a splash. It's a finalist at the International Assn. of Culinary Professionals Awards taking place on Monday in New York. It was nominated in the "Most Intriguing Use of Technology" category.

There is no charge for creating the cookbook, or making it available through iTunes via the Cookbook Cafe's storefront. "The only charge is if you make a sale," Pepaj said. However, Pepaj envisions that many of the cookbooks will be given away by charities looking to raise awareness about their cause, or food bloggers culling together their favorite recipes in a bid to build an online audience.

“We're finding that people have great ideas, but they can't get discovered. To even just get 'found,' to get past your friends and family, is really hard to do," she said. "With Cookbook Cafe, people can not only discover, they can get discovered."

Photos: Putting the L.A. Times' king cake recipe to the test

From the looks of it, our Mardi Gras king cake recipe was a hit.

Times Test Kitchen Manager Noelle Carter crafted a king cake recipe rich with butter, cream cheese, toasted pecans and apples. She said it was the perfect way to mark Mardi Gras -- the end of Carnival season -- before Lent begins. (Like we needed any convincing!)

The recipe was a hit with readers. Several shared images of the delicious results, including Adri Barr Crocetti of Sherman Oaks, who writes the food blog the Front Burner -- that's her festive photo above -- as well as Linda Geiler of Davie, Fla., who writes the food blog Savoring Every Bite. You'll find the photo gallery here.

Thanks for sharing your photos, Adri and Linda!

If you try any of the recipes from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen, we'd like to see the photographic evidence so we can showcase some of them on the blog and, occasionally, in print. You can upload your images here.

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-- Rene Lynch
Twitter / renelynch

Photo: Adri Barr Crocetti of Sherman Oaks.

Food bloggers' fundraising effort leaves a bad taste

Were you among the hundreds of people who donated money to Bloggers Without Borders, which ultimately raised well over $70,000 on behalf of New York food blogger Jennifer Perillo?

If so, you face a deadline today to ask for your money back.

The deadline caps a controversy that has been roiling the online food blogging community for months, replacing warm friendship with harsh words, hurt feelings and recriminations. This much, however, seems to be clear:

Earlier this summer, the online food community rallied to find a way to help Perillo, who writes the popular blog "In Jennie's Kitchen." Her husband, Mikey, died suddenly and unexpectedly, leaving behind Perillo and their two young daughters.

Bloggers Without Borders, a fledgling nonprofit, offered to wrangle donations and host online auctions on her behalf. All involved were astonished when the money began pouring in, with $76,000 raised in all.

The funds were ultimately earmarked as college seed money for Perillo's daughters. But that sparked a backlash online, with some questioning the need for such a fundraising effort. Amid the controversy, Perillo has refused to touch the money.

"I don't want anyone to think I am ungrateful," she said, "but if just .01% of the people gave money because they believed that I was in a dire financial situation, then it's just not right."

As a result, Bloggers Without Borders co-founder Maggy Keet said that all who donated or held an auction were sent an email last month giving donors a Dec. 10 deadline to ask for a full refund. The overwhelming majority have not requested it, she said. The money will be used for other charitable campaigns, especially those benefitting women and children, she said.

"There was a need, people in our community wanted to give, and we just created a way for everyone to do that," Keet said. "It's really sad how it has turned out."

For her part, Perillo says she feels humbled and blessed to know that so many people -- so many strangers -- were willing to open their wallets. She says, however, that the feeling is bittersweet.

"It breaks my heart all over again that some had the impression that my husband left me and my girls destitute," she said. "My husband lived a life of honor and integrity and left us very well taken care of. He provided for us. He provided for his family."

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--Rene Lynch
Twitter / renelynch

Image: Bloggers Without Borders

Food bloggers descend on Santa Monica to meet, eat -- and tweet

Ask chef Michael Moore what he plans to serve Saturday night at the International Food Bloggers Conference in Santa Monica and you are likely to get a cagey answer.

The Aussie celebrity chef with restaurants in New York, London and Sydney says something about "a salad with cheese" and a beef dish, and seasonal fruits with vanilla. If it sounds like he's being vague, he is. He wants flexibility to change the menu up until the very last minute, depending upon the produce he finds while trolling local farmers markets this week, including the famed Santa Monica Farmers Market.

After all, he has a room full of foodies to win over, and he wants to use every advantage he's got.

"I know they are going to be tweeting and photographing and making comments on the food before the main course hits the table," Moore said. "It really has to be a reflection of what is really in season right now.... I want it to be reactive to what is in California at the moment."

Although some chefs still hold bloggers at arm's length, sneering at their ability to pass judgment with the swipe of a smartphone, Moore said he embraces them. "There's a lot of resistance among some chefs, but I'm not anti-food blogger. They report what they see and experience and that has its own integrity." He asks only that bloggers be fair -- not snarky -- because a restaurant's livelihood could be at stake.

At last! I can safely bring the iPad into the kitchen

I don't put my cookbooks on a pedestal. I write in 'em. I bend over page corners to bookmark 
recipes. And if a page gets spattered or oil-stained, c'est la vie.

But that all changed with the arrival of my iPad. When I plunked down my hard-earned money for the Apple tablet this summer I envisioned using it as a chic digital cookbook. But reality dawned, and I realized I couldn't possibly let my beloved device anywhere near heat, liquid or marinara sauce. Cooking from the iPad became like a cardio workout. I'd do laps back and forth between the kitchen and the dining room, where my iPad was safely positioned out of harm's way.

But that gets old real fast.

Enter a clever little invention called Chef Sleeve. The name is self explanatory. The device is a clear plastic sleeve that surrounds your iPad and protects it from all kinds of messy kitchen mishaps. Shaped like a long envelope, you can even seal one end. And the sleeves are thin enough that you can still easily swipe and enlarge images as you cook and go. (Remove it for more involved browsing and e-mailing.)

The sleeves come in a box with a cutout that allows you to prop up the iPad in your kitchen. Maybe I'm just a worrywart, but I fretted over using a carboard box to protect the iPad, seen above, perched on top of my microwave, and worried about it ripping loose or tipping over. Now, I put the device in the sleeve and then prop it up in a cookbook holder.

Of course, I keep it away from the stove and anyplace where liquid might pool and somehow seep in, etc. But I find that if I take a little care with positioning the device away from the mess, I can easily reuse the sleeves more than once.

They are designed to fit the iPad, but I don't see why they couldn't be used with another 
similarly sized (or smaller) tablet or even a smart phone. They are about $20 for a packet of 25 sleeves. Have you used Chef Sleeve? What did you think? Do you have other iPad accessories to recommend for kitchen use?

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--Rene Lynch
Twitter / renelynch

Photo: The iPad in my kitchen. (Rene Lynch) 

Peko Peko: A cookbook to support Japan's recovery

By design, the emblem atop the Peko Peko cookbook evokes a red teardrop. Or a drop of blood. Or perhaps a drip of water -- or the red disk at the center of Japan's national flag.

"It symbolizes all those things," said Rachael Hutchings of Corona, better known in the blogosphere as "La Fuji Mama." She co-created the cookbook along with fellow bloggers Stacie Billis ("One Hungry Mama") and Marc Matsumoto ("No Recipes") in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan. At least 25,000 are either confirmed or presumed dead.

Are you taking the October Unprocessed challenge?

If it's October, then it's time to put down the processed food for the 30 days.

Los Angeles food blogger Andrew Wilder is hosting the Unprocessed October challenge for the second year in a row, encouraging the online food community to spend the month scrutinizing everything they eat -- and shunning anything processed.

Last year, about 200 people started the challenge at Wilder's site, Eating Rules. This year, 1,600 people have already signed the pledge to spend the month being more aware of what they eat.

"I wasn't sure I was going to do it again, it takes a lot of work," said Wilder, an Internet consultant who also does tech support for food bloggers at BlogTutor.com. "But this has clearly struck a chord, it has struck a nerve. There are more people who are interested in this, where their food is coming from and what the story is behind that food -- and is it a legitimate story, or a PR story?"

Fellow food bloggers reach out to support Jennifer Perillo

The news ricocheted throughout the food blogging world, via Twitter and Facebook, and even old-fashioned email: Popular New York food blogger Jennifer Perillo's husband, Mikey, died unexpectedly this month, leaving behind two young daughters.

Again and again, food bloggers asked: What can we do? What does she need? How can we help?

Those questions helped give momentum to a fledgling nonprofit organization, Bloggers without Borders, and an extraordinary fundraising effort to provide financial support for Jennifer, who works from her home as a freelance food writer and now finds herself facing tough financial questions about her future. She has amazed onlookers with her ability to put one foot in front of the other and is chronicling this walk in heartbreaking fashion at her blog, In Jennie's Kitchen.

"Jennifer has shown such grace and strength through all of this, and we were all asking ourselves, 'What can we do?' " said Shauna James Ahern, known in the food blogging world as Gluten-Free Girl. Shauna and Jennifer met like so many food bloggers do -- online, via Twitter -- but they became friends in the real world as well. Shauna had recently spent the day with the Perillos, and recalled Mikey as a man who lived for his daughters and wife.

Enter Bloggers without Borders, a co-founded by food bloggers Maggy Keet of Three Many Cooks and Erika Pineda-Ghanny of Ivory Hut. The goal of the organization is to help harness the power of the blogging community to help others.

They are currently auctioning off a number of items at their Facebook page, with 100% of rhw money raised going to Jennifer. The offerings including new cookware, goodie baskets, a private dinner party served up by Shauna and her chef husband, and a day on the job with famed food photographer Penny De Los Santos. (At last check, the bidding for a day with De Los Santos was up to $3,800.)

"When I heard about what happened to Jennie I knew I wanted to do something, anything, to help," De Los Santos said. "It's amazing how the food blogging community has come together to help. I'm so moved by it and I'm so glad to be part of it."

So far, nearly $14,500 has been raised through auction items and donations.

"We are overjoyed (but not surprised) by your overwhelming generosity," announced the Bloggers without Borders site. "It’s a testament to the warmth and strength of this community as well as your love and respect for Jennifer Perillo. What a woman she is!"

If you know of any other fundraising efforts on behalf of Jennifer, please let everyone know in the comments section below.

-- Rene Lynch
Twitter / renelynch

Today's no-bake dessert: Chocolate-hazelnut swirl ice cream

Today's no-bake dessert recipe from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen: Chocolate-hazelnut ice cream.

If you try this or any of the recipes from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen, we want to see the finished dish so we can showcase it on the blog and in print. You can upload your photos to this gallery.

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-- Rene Lynch
Twitter.com / renelynch

Photo: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times