The Art of Eating In : How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove

In the city where dining is a sport, a gourmand swears off restaurants (even takeout!) for two years, rediscovering the economical, gastronomical joy of home cooking Gourmand-ista Cathy Erway's timely memoir of quitting restaurants cold turkey speaks to a new era of conscientious eating. An underpaid, twenty-something executive assistant in New York City, she was struggling to make ends meet when she decided to embark on a Walden- esque retreat from the high-priced eateries that drained her wallet. Though she was living in the nation's culinary capital, she decided to swear off all restaurant food. The Art of Eating In chronicles the delectable results of her twenty-four-month experiment, with thirty original recipes included. What began as a way to save money left Erway with a new appreciation for the simple pleasure of sharing a meal with friends at home, the subtleties of home-cooked flavors, and whether her ingredients were ethically grown. She also explored the anti-restaurant underground of supper clubs and cook-offs, and immersed herself in an array of alternative eating lifestyles from freeganism and dumpster-diving to picking tasty greens on a wild edible tour in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. Culminating in a binge that leaves her with a foodie hangover, The Art of Eating In is a journey to savor. Watch a Video In the city where dining out is a sport, one daring gourmand swears off restaurants and commits to cooking at home in a manifesto for a new generation of conscientious eaters. Named one of Publishers Weekly's most exciting cookbook deals, Cathy Erway's timely memoir of quitting restaurants cold turkey speaks to a new era of conscientious eating. An underpaid, twentysomething executive assistant in New York City, she was struggling to make ends meet when she decided to embark on a Walden-esque retreat from the high-priced eateries that drained her wallet. The Art of Eating In reports on the delectable results of her twenty-four-month experiment, with thirty original recipes included. What began as a way to save money left Erway with a new appreciation for the simple pleasure of sharing a meal with friends at home, a trove of original recipes, and a greater awareness of take-out food waste and whether her ingredients were ethically grown. She also explored the antirestaurant underground of supper clubs and cook-offs, and immersed herself in an array of alternative eating lifestyles from freeganism to picking tasty greens in the park. The Art of Eating In is a personal journey that transforms the reader as it transformed the writer, about the joy of getting back in the kitchen and turning something seemingly ordinary into something completely extraordinary. Watch a Video In the city where dining is a sport, a gourmand swears off restaurants (even takeout) for two years, rediscovering the economical, gastronomical joy of home cooking. Includes thirty original recipes.;Introduction: Eating out in New York -- The start of my restaurant fast -- Breaking into bread -- Mise en place -- Chilaquiles and meringues: cooking quirks and characteristics -- Getting dirty: trash diving, freegans, and frugalistas -- From the land: urban foraging 101 -- Not ordering in: less haste, less waste -- Giving thanks: communal feasting with friends and family -- Going solo -- New lows: the search for the perfect date meal -- Underground eateries: supper clubs and the exclusive SOS -- Hanging over in New York: the Mexican menudo incident -- Cooking up a storm: competitive cooking and collaborations -- The end of an era -- The opposite-week experiment -- Epilogue.